Thank You, Derek Jeter

Today’s post will be a little different than the usual fare here at the ‘o Stuff considering I don’t write about sports that much. Hell, outside of SFF, the only thing I’ve posted about consistently is my dog. I know sports and SFF don’t always intersect, but I know some of my fellow SFF geeks are sports fans. Others…aren’t.

I have been a fan of the New York Yankees my entire life (and a Batman fan, too), I may have been three years old when my parents took me to my first game and I recall going to Helmet day during a very rainy day as one of my first baseball memories and memories overall. If I was three years old, then that puts my first Yankees game in 1978, when they were in the midst of their second Championship season in a row. It was a long time before they would return to the World Series and win it in 1996, the intervening years were not that great, to put it mildly. There were some highlights, for sure. Dave Righetti’s no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox on the fourth of July in 1983, with Wade Boggs striking out to end the game is a big one. The following year, the emergence of Don Mattingly as the face of the franchise and his run for the batting title to the last day of the season with teammate Dave Winfield. Then…not much else, sure Righetti converted to closer and broke the single season record for saves. The Yankees had another no-hitter thrown by Andy Hawkins, which they lost.

The famous jump throw

That’s a lot of preamble to get to 1995 and the debut of Derek Jeter, and him being awarded the everyday shortstop role in 1996. How did he handle that role in 1996? Oh, he only won the American League Rookie of the Year Award. Like many, I immediately couldn’t help but love him as a player, appreciate his skill and heart. He and I are also the same age, he was born in NJ, and grew up a Yankees fan. As if I needed any other reason to identify with him and root for him. With Dave Winfield as one of his favorite players (a Hall of Famer in his own right), Derek took it upon himself to start the Turn 2 Foundation his rookie year, before he was a multi-millionaire. He helped the Yankees get through the playoffs (and Jeffery Maier may have helped Derek just a bit in the ALCS) into the World Series to beat the Braves for their first championship in nearly 20 years. To put it another way, I lost my mind and I think a cloud of my screams of excitement after Charlie Hayes made that catch is still hanging over New Brunswick, NJ. My voice hasn’t been the same since October 26, 1996.  From that point on, the expectations of greatness for the Yankees was always high.  My then fiance and now wife and I went to a few games a year and to playoff games during this run. We came out, announced as Mr. and Mrs. Bedford to the "Here Come the Yankees" song and our ice sculpture at our wedding was the interlocking NY.

Circling the bases after the Mr. November HR

Jeter was an emerging superstar, which was further cemented when Michael Jordan hand-picked Jeter as the first athlete to endorse the Jumpman Nike brand. Jeter would go on to help the Yankees appear in five more World Series in old Yankee Stadium, the House that Ruth Built and win three of them in a row. Jeter’s critics like to say he’s overrated, he doesn’t put up numbers he hasn’t won a regular-season MVP (he finished 3rd in final voting from 1998-2000 and he was second in 2006 when many thought he should have won). How about the fact that he’s (thus far) the only player to win the All Star MVP and World Series MVP in the same season? The nickname "Mr. November" has been given to him, both because he is the first player to hit a home-run in November, has a .351 World Series batting average, (and .309 in the postseason overall). Not too shabby, these numbers gave rise to Jeter’s other nickname “Captain Clutch,” because he always rises to the occasion. His 3,000th hit? A home run. How does he finish his final game at Yankee Stadium? With a walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth inning.

While it would have been as fun to watch Jeter play while I was a younger fan, I think the fact that he was on the Yankees when he was allowed me to truly appreciate what a special player he was. The younger me might not have realized the level of greatness and legendary player we as Yankees fans had the opportunity to watch play every day from May through October (except three years when it was through September). 

The Dive

As great as his on-field accomplishments have been, Jeter has been a model athlete. He plays the game hard, he played the game the way it should have been played. He never got into trouble and he did the impossible for a NY athlete – he (along with manager Joe Torre) helped to soften George M. Steinbrenner AKA “The Boss.” Steinbrenner often focused his ire on his star players, hiring private investigators to spy on Dave Winfield and telling Don Mattingly he needed to cut his hair. The one time The Boss criticized Jeter (for partying too late) they turned it into a credit card commercial. Jeter also “dated” quite a few Hollywood women including a couple of Jessica Biel, Mariah Carey (he did not play well when they were dating), and most recently, Minka Kelly among others. He also hosted Saturday Night Live.

Jeter always said the right things, always acted the right way. You don’t have to be a sports fan or baseball fan to appreciate the kind of person (or persona) Derek Jeter projected into the world. His parents, at least his father, became a fixture at Yankees games and it is from his parents (and grandparents whose house in NJ he’d visit in summers) that Jeter learned how to be the person he is.

The shame of it all, is that Jeter is a player who is praised for simply doing things the right way – applying oneself, hustling, working, practicing his craft, learning his craft and being a student of the game. So many players don’t hustle and give very little effort or showboat after they succeed (a protracted homerun trot or touchdown dance, for example).

The Flip

Now that Derek Jeter’s last game has been played, he is the all time hits leader for the New York Yankees (which he achieved in 2009). Think about that, the New York Yankees, the most storied franchise in all of sports with some of the most legendary players and Jeter holds the team record for hits. He is also 6th on the all-time hits list. To have any top 10 achievement in baseball, with its lengthy history, is quite a feat.

What will he do once he’s retired? Last year, Jeter started a publishing imprint, Jeter Publishing, with Simon & Schuster. Who knows how much of a day-to-day hand he’ll have in that, but ultimately, the goal of the imprint will publish nonfiction books for adults, children’s picture books, elementary grade fiction, and books for children who are learning to read.

Will he be involved in baseball? That’s the tougher question. Jeter’s a close-to-the vest guy, but if he wants to manage, coach or work for the Yankees front-office, he’d excel at such positions.

All I know is that his play on the field will be missed. I was lucky enough to watch his entire career and be a fan of the team during one of their brightest periods.

So, thank you Derek Jeter for being you and putting everything into your time with the New York Yankees.

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.

Waking from March

It’s been a while since I posted, Mrs. Blog o’ Stuff and I were hit last week with the worst colds we have ever had. Sleeping and clear breathing were just not options, let alone spending more than a half hour on my computer after a day in the office.

I put up my latest review, Peter F. Hamilton’s The Dreaming Void, which I really enjoyed. A lot of people were looking forward to this book and I doubt any of them will be disappointed. Epic and vast are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to describing Hamilton’s latest.

I’ve also got to mention that a couple of weeks ago, BantamSpectra published the US edition of John Meaney’s Bone Song, a book I reviewed when it was published by Gollancz about a year ago. After a few correspondences with the US editor, I’m really thinking of listening to this song once again. At the very least I can’t wait to read the sequel, Dark Blood when it publishes in about a year.

Baseball season is officially on and I’m really excited. I didn’t realize how many players switched teams in the off-season, so it should be another fun season. That is of course unless the Red Sox win it all again.

2007: A Review of Rob's Readings

Well, everybody else is doing it, so why not me. Right? I’m of course referring to a brief summary of what books I liked best from my readings in 2007. Sure, I mentioned a few books in my contribution to the annual SFFWorld round up, but that was limited to only those books published in 2007. As is the case with most readers like myself, not all of my reading is comprised of books published in that specific year. Though in my personal ratings, no book I read last year received a “10,” quite a few received a “9.”

The best science fiction book I read last year was Robert Charles Wilson’s Hugo-award winning novel, Spin. As I said on the blog a few weeks ago:

On the whole, I really REALLY enjoyed this book. I thought it was an extremely human look at a near future where people were confronted with a technological event far beyond anything people in the world are capable of doing. I am not surprised it received the Hugo and think it will be considered a top SF book for a while. The ending was a little frustrating because I wanted to see what would happen next, but I also consider the ending to be appropriate.

The best collection, perhaps the best overall fantasy book I read last year was Jeffrey Ford’s The Empire of Ice Cream. The book contains award-winning stories, which is becoming par for the course with Mr. Ford’s collections. Here’ what I said back in Novermber:

I don’t know if this collection is better than his previous World Fantasy Award winning collection, The Fantasy Writer’s Assistant, but it isn’t any lesser a collection. What we have here is a writer unrestrained by bounds of genre and imagination. Jeffrey Ford’s writing has such an authenticity about it, you cannot help but trust that the stories he tells have a ring of truth to them. More importantly, you want to believe them as real and year for the next stories to be told.

Every year has it fair share of debut novelists, the three whose work most connected with me were Joe Hill’s Heart-Shaped Box, Joe Abercrombie’s The Blade Itself, and the “hot new star” Patrick Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind. I reviewed both of these for SFFWorld. Here’s a snippet from my review of Heart-Shaped Box:

Where the story transcends both the genre and just being a “good story” is how effectively Joe Hill puts forth the reality of Jude’s situation. One gets the sense that the story could be an episode of VH1’s Behind the Music after taking a very dark turn. Even though Jude is a living legend of an almost Ozzy Osbourne status, Hill paints a picture of a real man haunted by his past and current demons.

Here's a snippet of what I said about The Blade Itself when Pyr delivered the book to US readers:

I thought the novel started a bit slow, I was thinking all the hype surrounding the book upon its UK release last year was going to leave me disappointed. It has happened with other books in the past for me. Thankfully, Abercrombie’s story, and more convincingly, his characters pulled me into the story unheeded. ... Abercrombie is a damned frustrating writer. He writes so well and his story is so infectious it is difficult to stop reading and even thinking about the layers of his story and world.

From The Name of the Wind (which I was lucky enough to read before much of the hype took hold of the book):

Where will The Name of the Wind stand at year’s end and over the next few years in the genre? At least for this year, Rothfuss has set the bar very high for any other author publishing their first novel in 2007. As for where the book will stand in the years to come, it will likely stand as the start of one of the bright careers in fantasy fiction. Suffice it to say, the book is very good and has all the elements of greatness – characters with which the reader can empathize, a fascinating backdrop where these characters live, and the key ingredient: leaving the reader wanting for more. Since this is just the first book in a trilogy, that want will be met.

Though not a new author, I came across her work for the first time in 2007 and the book turned out to be the Science Fiction novel I enjoyed the most, Bright of the Sky by Kay Kenyon.

With a rich and vivid setting, peopled with believable and sympathetic characters and fascinating aliens, Kay Kenyon has launched an impressive saga with Bright of the Sky. My only criticism involves some of the scenes where the narratives point of view character switches from Quinn to those who interact with him in the Entire. The transitions aren’t entirely smooth and I found myself re-reading passages to be sure to whom the words were being attributed. These scenes were very few, but did jar the otherwise smooth and quick pace of the story. That said, Bright of the Sky, like the best novels opening a larger sequence, balances closure with open plot strands.

Scott Lynch’s second book was just as good as his first. This is not surprising because he made Locke Lamora and Jean pirates. I loved the dialogue and interplay betwixt the two and really liked the non-straightforward timeline Lynch used to tell the story in Red Seas Under Red Skies.

As sequels go, Red Seas Under Red Skies is fabulous and a more accomplished, more tightly written novel than its predecessor. Considering what a top notch job Lynch did with his debut, this is impressive. As importantly, Red Seas Under Red Skies doesn’t work so bad as an introduction to the Gentleman Bastards. I found myself smiling throughout most of the book, grinning at the dialogue, and riding right along with Jean and Locke on their pirate adventure. At its heart, Red Seas Under Red Skies is pure fun.

Even though I knew the events that form the backdrop of the book, Buster Olney’s The Last Night of the Yankees Dynasty was a superb book. Being a Yankees fan for the past 30+ years, I’ve followed the team through ups and downs, and none were more “up” than the championship run at the turn of the Century. Even knowing much of the outcome, Olney managed to keep my glued to every word on the page.

The Author I rediscovered in 2007 was Steven Erikson. I’m still slowly making my way through the Malazan Book of the Fallen, but the saga took hold of me fully in the summer of 2007 when I read the first two books whilst serving Jury Duty in May and June.

Another series I rediscovered, after breezing through much of it a few years ago, was Steven Brust’s Vlad Taltos series. Specifically, the latest book, Dzur, which I liked very much.Other books that stood out for me were Peter David’s Darkness of the Light, Tobias Buckell’s Ragamuffin, David Anthony Durham’s Acacia Book I, and the two books in Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy.

I also read a couple of stinkers last year, David Keck’s In the Eye of Heaven. The book seems to be somewhat polarizing, I’m in the camp that didn’t care much for it. Gail Z. Martin’s The Summoner didn’t work for me either, I couldn’t even finish the book. I hate when that happens, but buy the halfway point, nothing worked for me and I felt it was a story I read many times before with more originality. Brian Ruckley’s Winterbirth didn’t work so well for me either, I just couldn’t find anything in the story about which to care. The book, coincidentally, is the January 2008 Fantasy Book Club of the Month at SFFWorld, others have reacted differently than I did. The most disappointing; however, was Robin Hobb’s Forest Mage. I love Hobb’s writing, but this story angered my like almost no other book I’ve read.

So that’s it, the brief summary of the highlights and lowlights of my 2007 readings.

Just in time for Hallowe’en, I posted my review of the H.P. Lovecraft collection, The Horror in the Museum. Well, the stories are re-writes/ghost-writes/co-written by Lovecraft, but most were still pretty damned good. As I say in my review, my only other foray into Lovecraft’s writing was Black Seas of Infinity, which I thought was a superb collection edited by Andrew Wheeler.

The Yankees named Joe Girardi their new manager today after the unsurprising firing/non-acceptance of contract by Joe Torre. As much as Don Mattingly was my favorite player, I think Girardi is the right choice as manager. I liked him as a player and probably more as an announcer on YES. Granted, the way Joe Torre was not brought back was sloppy, I think Girardi is a step in the right direction. The best news out of Yankee-land is Alex Rodriguez opting out of his contract.

Somehow the fact that a film version of Stephen King’s The Mist is coming out in November slipped by me. I liked the story a lot when I first read it years ago. Even more so, I enjoyed the Cool Audio version of the story released more than a decade ago. On the good side, Frank Darabont wrote and directed it, who also had a hand in The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption. On the other, Thomas Jane (who I thought was great as Mickey Mantle in 61*) was also in the King clunker, Dreamcatcher.

The more I watch Reaper, the bigger my crush grows on Missy Peregrym. I like the show and make sure I see it every week, it reminds me a little bit of Ghostbusters. Ghostbusters is one of my favorite, most quotable, and most quoted movies.

The life of o’ Stuff has been interesting and hectic the past couple of weeks. I picked up a new car a little over a week ago, sold the old one, and my company moved its office 7 miles closer to my house. 7 miles may not seem like all that much to some, but when those 7 miles less are in North Jersey, it makes a considerable difference.

I thought the premiere of Reaper was pretty enjoyable and the second episode is turning out pretty well, too. I’m glad Heroes is back and like last season, the show keeps me hooked and anticipating the next week’s episode. I'm hoping Christopher Eccleston comes back this year, I really liked the small role he played last season. Right now, Peter's story is working the best for me even if it might be a small re-tread of his arc last year.

I posted my review of Joe Abercrombie’s The Blade Itself today. Right now it is near the top of my list for 2007 reads, Abercrombie’s snarky writing reminded me of Scott Lynch. He really built up a lot of tension and has me eager to read Before They Are Hanged.

I'm sure most of the same people who follow my blog, at least the fantasy fans, also follow Aidan's blog. If you don't and are a fan of Steven Erikson's Malazan Empire, click on over. I've been waiting for the right time jump back into Malazan after plowing through the first three a couple of months ago and now seems as good a time as any.

Surprise, surprise the Yankees made the playoffs again. I like their chances against Cleveland and think the Red Sox will be tired out by the Angels; hopefully. How about those Mets? Wow, that has to be as bad as the Yankees being bounced by Boston after their collapse a couple of years back. The National League is really wide open.

A Feast of Books Continues

The latest review I’ve posted is today’s: Feast of Souls by C.S. Friedman, the first book in her new Magister Trilogy. Ms. Friedman is no stranger to fantasy and science fiction readers, but this book seems to have flown under the radar since it published in February. Shame really, because Friedman is an excellent writer.

I suppose her writing will always hold a special spot on my shelf because her Coldfire Trilogy was what I read on the beach in Hawaii, and the plane to and from the Island State when Mrs. Blog ‘o Stuff tied the knot over seven years ago.

The only books I haven’t read by her are The Wildling and This Madness Season. I remember liking This Alien Shore quite a bit when I read it.

That’s the long of it. The short of it is that I really enjoyed Feast of Souls, check out my review.

Over the weekend, I watched Pan’s Labyrinth, which was sitting on my TiVO for a few weeks. It was dark, both in the fantastical elements and real elements. The costumes/creatures were great, the acting worked for me, and I just really enjoyed the movie.

I don't see much talk about The 4400, which happens to be a pretty entertaining show. Part X-Men, part, Heroes, part conspiracy. The only surprisng thing is that it is on USA and not SciFi.

Rutgers is 2-0 and the Yankees have a healthy lead in the wild card. Sports are looking good from my vantage point.

Slow blogging, what can I say. I recently passed the one-year mark at the "new job," I guess it isn't so new anymore. In the year I've been there, a decent amount of change has occurred, much of it working in my favor. The work has been more challenging than past jobs, but I am realizing just how much I can accomplish.

I posted my review of Justina Robson’s Keeping it Real yesterday. A very fun book that managed to throw many fantasy AND science fiction clichés together in an original manner. Hobbit reviewed it about a year ago and my review is based on the recently published Pyr version of the book. A lot of the books I’ve been reading lately are review books for SFFWorld, so I should be posting a spate of reviews over the next few weeks.

It seems like the rains are finally over, thankfully. I was able to cut down the jungle of grass in my yard and will soon be getting the pool ready for the warm weather. And with the warmer weather comes one of the beer highlights of the year for me – Sam Adams Summer Ale.

The Devils got ousted rather unceremoniously. I don’t know what happened, they’ve had Ottawa’s number in the playoffs in the past, but not this year. They looked great against Tampa Bay but like last year, fell apart in the 2nd round. Until next year I guess in the new arena. My biggest complaint about the team the past few years has been actually going to and from the game in the Meadowlands.

The worst news, and something I was dreading as a Yankee fan, has come to pass. Roger Clemens is a Yankee, again. I never cared for him all that much, and after coming out of retirement following the most over-hyped retirement tour to play for the Astros a couple of years ago, I liked him even less. Now, with the Yankees pitching rotation in shambles he gets to come in like the returning hero and look like the savior. It has always been about him and not the team, this only proves it more.

Writin' & Ramblin'

I finished up Tim Powers' pirate novel, On Stranger Tides a couple of days ago. I liked it quite a bit, even if the ending wasn't as strong as the first 2/3rds of the novel. It was a cool mix of pirates, magic and history. I think I need to read more of Tim Powers' books.

I also posted my latest review today, One Million A.D. edited by Gardner Dozois and published/offered by the Science Fiction Book Club. The book is a couple of years old. In fact one of the stories, Charlie Stross's Missle Gap was (or will be) offered in a limited edition by Subterranean Press.

In beer news, I recently had Samuel Adams' White Ale. I don't recall enjoying it, or rather I was somewhat noncommittal in my taste. However, in the past I had it in bottles, this time I had it on draught and it was suprisingly delicious.

I've been plugging away daily at the new story I'm writing, or rather the story I started many months ago and picked up last week.

Lastly, baseball season is just 'round the corner and Alex Rodriguez just cannot keep his mouth shut.

A Rant-worthy Week and Two Reviews

It has been a relatively trying seven days. Nothing major or life shattering, but rather more frustrating than anything. Last week, my car battery died, but thankfully I was only a couple of miles from home.

Saturday, driving home, I hit a deer with my car. Or rather, the young deer ran into my car. In the area of NJ where I live, I see about one dead deer on the side of the road for every couple of miles I drive. One could say I live out in the country. In fact, when I first moved into the house last year a deer was hit right outside my house (not by me). I was woken by the gunshot which put the poor creature out of its misery. Between where I live now and where my In-Laws live, I've been avoiding deer on the roads for a while, I've become relatively skilled at spotting them. However, this little guy came out of nowhere and with the hour being dusk, it was even more difficult to see the road and my surroundings. I pulled over to check the car and glance back at the deer, the deer struggled for a minute or so, got up and bounded away. The car is driveable and Mrs. Blog o' Stuff and I are fine, just a little shaken and stirred.

Sunday, the Yankees lost to the Tigers. Considering the tall goofball who pitched on Sunday, and the whiny prima-donna who pitched on Saturday, I'm not too suprised. The Yankees loss is another rant, which I don't care to go into at the moment.

Monday, I had some plumbing issues in the house and had to have Roto Rooter come out today. Getting ready for work today, I lost a contact. Luckily, I had a spare set. Getting into the car, I spilled coffee all over my seat.

So while on the whole, life is generally "OK," I still (as I told my wife) would like to, if they were a perseon, take the past 7 days outside in the back yard and beat it about the face with a large frying pan.

I joined the revolution today and signed up with MySpace. What I'll do with it, is probably minimal.

Last and not least, I posted a couple of reviews in the past week:

The Black Tattoo by Sam Enthoven - a little bit epic fantasy, a little bit horror, and a little disappointing.

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor - A retelling of Alice in Wonderland vis a vis Gregory Maguire's Wicked.

The venerable Hobbit of SFFWorld posted his review of Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts, making me want the book even more.

The new seasons of Lost and Battlestar Galactica are doing exactly what they did last season - leaving me wanting more.

Latest sign of the apocalypse: Mr. T. has reality Show.

Enough ranting for now.

A Genre Reawakening

Infoquake just might be THE Science Fiction novel of the year, if not the past five years. David Louis Edleman has done so many things right in this book, from the plausible next steps in human society to the characters, all the notes ring true.

The future history only begs for MORE background, to the Reawakening to the Three Jesuses to the typical lunar colonies, he has it all mapped out and Infoquake is only the tip of the iceberg. Edleman has a fascinating background and timeline mapped out at http://www.infoquake.net.

I hope most of my reviews are fair, though I know a share of them tend to be enthusiastic. I hope my earlier praise of some novels doesn't lessen my enthusiasim for Infoquake. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Pyr is publishing some great books, but this might be the book that puts them over the top in terms of US genre publishing.

The last book I read when it first came out (I know that is something of a qualifier) that had me this enthusiastic was Greg Keyes' The Briar King.

I also posted my review of Wayne Thomas Batson's fine young adult fantasy Rise of the Wyrm Lord.

I need to see thos motherfucking snakes!

Boston Massacer 2006 - Holy Crap! I expected the Yankees to win three, but a sweep. That was very nice.

Sports, Books, and Midgets

Nine years a row and counting for my two favorite sports franchises - the Devils making the playoffs and the Yankees winning their home opener. Last night’s clinching game for the Devils was very exciting, but they way they’ve been letting leads slip in the third period is a bit worrying as they head into the playoffs. On the other hand, last night’s victory was their 8th in a row, so they just might be the hottest team in the league right now.

Some nice news from Gary and Gabe, I think this will be great for both of them.

I posted my not-so-positive review of The New Wave of Speculative Fiction – The What If Factor edited by Sean Wright.

As much as I was pained during my reading of Savage Messiah, Hal Duncan’s Vellum is having the opposite effect on me. So far, the book is living up to all the hype it received last year when the UK published the book first..

Lastly, via Hornswoggler, battle of the midget Kisses. We all knew it was inevitable.

Baseball, Throning, Comic-ing, & Bakking

I guess this big post makes up for a week's absence here at 'o Stuff.

Finished up my re-read of A Game of Thrones last night, and my god, I didn't realize how powerful this book really was. I say this because I didn't realize how many of the scenes really remained strongly ingrained in my memory, even almost 10 years after originally reading it. Scenes like the Stark's discovery of the Direwolves, Bran's initial enncounter with Jaime and Cersei, everytime Tyrion speaks, his interactions with Jon and the powerful, spectacular ending with Daenerys. I don't think I'm reinventing the wheel by saying this, but A Game of Thrones is such a sprawling epic, constructed so tightly by Martin. I also forgot how much happens in this book. One aspect of the novel that affected me more on this reading was the overall sense of nihlism. From the beginning, everything in the story seems to build towards a crumbling, destructive end of what has been the norm for many years. Nothing good happens to anybody in this book, and Martin makes this spiraling chaos so goddamned entertaining.

With both the Yankees and Cardinals not in the World Series, I may not even watch. Sure it is a compelling series, the Sox haven't won in almost 90 years and this is the first trip for the Astros, but as I said last week, Fox does everything to make watching baseball all but unwatchable.

After reading Infinite Crisis last Thursday, I've become more excited about comics again. Not that I wasn't enjoying them lately, but this issue really re-invigorated my passion and interest in reading and acquiring comics. Which is ironic or timely, because something very odd happened last week. Since moving into the new house, I've somewhat reoganized my comic books. Rather than have them in stacked on top of each other, we bought two stackable shelving-units. The packaged stated the shelves could hold up to 500 pounds. No problem, I put a few long boxes, each long box holds between 250 & 300 comics and I had 12 long boxes all together. I know they are heavy, but I didn't think combined all 12 would be five hundred pounds, so I figured things would be ok. I also bought these really great new plastic boxes and wanted to transfer from the decaying, old cardboard boxes into the new corrugated plastic boxes. I figured they were about half the size of the long boxes, so I bought 25 of the plastic boxes.

Well, the reorganization project was set in motion a bit earlier than I anticipated. Last Monday into Tuesday evening, at about 2:30AM I hear a loud bang, which woke up my wife and I. I've only been in this house since July, so I'm till growing accustomed to the noises in the neighborhood, but this was really strange. So, groggily I grabbed a baseball bat and skulked through my house, down to the basement. I opened the door and what do I see? One of my two comic shelving units tipped over. Apparently it fell over and the sticker stating it could hold 500 pounds was bullshit. So there I was 2:30AM beginning my comic book reorganization project. The 12 long cardboard long boxes turned out to be more than 25 short boxes, so I have to buy more of the plastic boxes. I only picked up the stuff off the floor, and thankfully none were really damaged. But damn, 15-17 years on and off comic book collecting really adds up.

Two nights ago, another sound woke Mrs. Blog o' Stuff and I from a deep slumber at about the same time. No, no, the comics didn't tip over again, this time it was gunshots! Right, I lived in New Brunswick, NJ for a couple of years - not exactly the most peaceful city, and I never heard gunshots. I move to farmlands, right around the corner from two farms and I hear gunshots, which I find quite ironic. Apparently, a deer was run down in the road and the police came and mercy-killed the deer, which is the right thing to do. But still, at 2AM, it is a bit jarring.

Lucky me! Scott Bakker sent me an ARC of The Thousandfold Thought, which arrived yesterday. This is the concluding volume to his stupendous Prince of Nothing trilogy, but most people who read my blog already know this. This book is/was right at the top of my anticipated read list, so I am excited and read the "what has gone before" this morning. I really like when authors do this in their multi-volume sagas, it such a big help in triggering the memories of the previous books. Going between GRRM's saga and Scott's saga should prove a definite glut of reading enjoyment in the very near future.

And lastly, I joined http://www.nanowrimo.org/ last night. I am putting the current novel I'm working on on-hold and starting fresh for nanowrimo, with an idea that's been boiling and clanking around my head for a couple of years. 50,000 words in one month should prove very challenging with work and the responsibilities of a new house, but I'm looking forward to it.

Catching up

I finished a couple of good books this past week, the Moorcock/Constantine collaboration Silverheart and Robert Buettner's Orphan's Destiny. I liked Buettner's book a little more, and that isn't just because my review of Orphanage was blurbed on the very first page of the book. Self congratulations aside, I was really sucked into the story and I hope Buettner continues the storyline. I'll be posting reviews of both books in the next couple of days.

Lost last night, I thought, was good and better than the first two episodes. Maybe that is because there was some forward progression in the story as opposed to two episodes telling almost the same story from different viewpoints. Even though more of the specifics of the hatch and the others are being revealed, more questions are raised, and in my mind, that makes for good, addictive storytelling. The writers should be careful not to raise too many more questions though, since that would offput many people.

The season opener of Smallville last week was better than the whole of the previous season. Of course showing the Phantom Zone, helps. I think I will just have to suck it up and deal with the fact that all super-powered threats on that show are dispatched or dealt with at the 8:43PM or 8:44PM mark. I'll be TiVO-ing the whole season, at this point, I'll stick around.

NHL Season is now underway! The Devils started off with an impressive win over Pittsburgh, this Zach Parise kid looks pretty good. This is going to be a really good season, I think, with the rule changes and adress changes of many players.

Even though Anaheim evened things up last night, I still see the Yankees winning the next two games and playing Chicago in the ALCS.

Notafinga!..I TRIPLE-dog-dare ya!

So for the third year in a row, Mrs. Blog o' Stuff and I are having both sets of parents, my aunt/uncle with their kids (the youngest of whom is our Godchild, the eldest is the hockey team we follow, the middle will be a gold medal winning gymnast) and my wife's aunt/uncle and their daughter (who should get a few athletic scholarship to college) over for the holidays. This is always a hectic thing and somewhat stressful since both my mother-in-law and father sometimes speak a little, shall we say, out of turn, and have diarrhea of the mouth. Anyway, it has turned out to be very nice day each of the last two years, Mrs. Blog o' Stuff does a spectacular job with the spread of food and everybody brings beer, so I'm usually well stocked for the subsequent month as our invitation always clearly asks the invitees to "bring libations and good cheer." The first year, we thought our hot water heater was dying the day before the party and this year, our vacuum cleaner died just as we finished trimming the tree this past weekend. Let's just say the dust-buster doesn'tt quite cut it when picking up the needles from the tree. I always hope to get one of those trees where the needles don't fall off.*** So those are my weekend plans.

Closing out the year-end list from a couple of days ago... are two debut novelists who really impressed me this year. (clicking on the title of each book will take you to my review of the book.)

Robert Buettner – His debut novel, Orphanage, published last month and is receiving a lot of good reviews and hefty words of praise. It is military SF, and with Buettner's military background, he is keeping up the fine tradition of stories of interstellar war set out in books like Heinlein's Starship Troopers and Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. Buettner's writing has a cinematic quality and the pace keeps the pages moving quite briskly. The sequel to Orphanage publishes next year and I can't wait to read it.

Minister Faust – Canadian media personality made quite a splash this summer when his genre-defying novel, Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad, was published by Del Rey books. This book mixes almost many genres – Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Mythic Fiction, Mystery – and the final product is a fun, entertaining read.

For about the 800th time in the past couple of years, Randy Johnson is almost a New York Yankee. I've got mixed feelings on this one. Sure Johnson is a great pitcher, but the Yanks are doing what sent them down the river in the '80s, flushing out their farm system for older pitchers. When George gets a hard-on for a guy, he usually winds up getting him in the long run (See Clemens and Giambi).

The NHL players' union took a big step in reducing salary by 24%, but they are still far from complying with what the NHL owners want to do. Why can't the players just get it through their heads and go with the NFL-like system the NHL owners are proposing?

Beer of the week: Tillburg's Dutch Brown Ale. Similar to Newcastle, but better, plus, it has a funky Jeroen Bosch painting on the bottle. Found this one at a local liquor store after talking beer with one of the guys working there, told him I liked Newcastle and he suggested I try Tillburg's, the rest is history.

Writer of the week, well, I think the five I highlighted the past couple of days will suffice.


***paraphrased from what the mother in A Christmas Story says when the family goes shopping for Christmas trees –"this isn't one of those trees where all the needles fall off, is it? " The greatest Christmas movie of my generation and ever, IMHO (yes, even better than It's a Wonderful Life in my personal canon of Christmas entertainment).