Star Wars - The deleted scenes

I haven't done much writing recently, but I am slowly getting to the stage where I will be picking up where I left off at the start of book 2. In the meantime, now that more eldest boy has discovered Star Wars or "Dun Dun" as he calls it (the start of the Imperial March music), I have been inspired to write a silly sketch about a scene from Star Wars that no one ever got to see:

Empire Strikes Back:

Setting: Lando has just betrayed our rebels by leading them to a dining room where Vader awaits. After effortlessly disarming Han, Vader says, “we would be honoured if you would join us.”

Han, Leia, Lando and Chewbacca enter the room and the doors close. Begin deleted scene:

DV: Tea anyone?

LE: Do you think we would drink tea provided you?

HS: Actually I am quite thirsty. Have you got blue milk?

DV: Blue milk?

HS: It is all the rage on Tatooine.

DV: Tatooine….I sense something, something I haven’t sensed since….

LE: Since?

DV: No matter. (Turns to a Stormtrooper) Get Solo some of the blue milk, in fact blue milks all round and a bowl of water for the dog.

CB: Grrrrrrr werr wen wer.

HS: He is a Wookie not a dog.

DV: (shrugs) 5 Blue milks it is.

HS: Can I have mine with ice please?

DV: It is milk. It is kept in the fridge.

HS: Oh, I would still like some ice.

DV: (Turns to the Stormtrooper) and some ice please (he shrugs in apology and  nods to HS in a “what can you do” kind of way.)

HS: I saw that.

DV: Hmm the force is strong with you.

LE: No it isn’t. It was just really obvious what you did.

DV: I decide who the force is strong with, not you.

HS: I just want a little ice.

DV: So you like ice do you? Interesting. I will bear that in mind.

HS: What does that mean?

LC: Hi, I know there are rumours that I have only been brought into this film because of equality, but I haven’t had a line in quite some time. Even the dog has had a line.

HS: He’s not a dog.

CB: Wrrr wen wer

HS: Not now Chewy. God you are so embarrassing.

CB: (More furiously), Wrrrrrrrrrr

DV: What does he want?

HS: (Sighs) He wants to know if you have a bone to go with the milk.

LC: Told you he was a dog.

July reviews:

The month that thousands have waited for came at last. Was it worth it? Well I will get on to that. But first before I get on with the reviews I would just like to say that sometimes there are some unusual coincidences when reading.  How many times do you read or hear about something for the first time and then literally everything you read subsequently contains reference to your newly discovered knowledge. You then wonder why you have never heard of it beforehand. I don’t think I could have made that sentence anymore incoherent but let me demonstrate.

About a fortnight ago, someone started a thread on the Palace forums I go to entitled, “photos that shook the world.” Numerous photos were posted, most of which were harrowing to say the least. A couple of them really stayed with me.

One that made me sick to the stomach was a young emancipated child crying and huddled in a desert whilst a vulture lingered behind and the other was the picture of hundreds of dead bodies littering the ground. The caption of the photo read “mass suicide at Jonestown.” I had no idea what this referred to and spent the next hour or so researching the shocking events that took place before my time. I will not go into details here but basically as astonishing as the events were, there was something in a mad religious fanatic convincing his followers to commit suicide and murder their children that resonated with the author in me. I thought it would make a compelling story. Which finally brings me onto the aforementioned coincidence as the next book I picked up following this article was…

Tess Gerritsen – The killing place

By a series of circumstances, Maura Isles finds herself stranded in a seemingly empty community. It appears that the residents of the said community have all upped and left. As Maura uncovers more of the mystery surrounding her location, Jane Rizzoli desperately tries to find her friend.

This is a departure from Tess’s usual style and as much as I enjoy her Rizzoli and Isles books, I must say it was refreshing. Tess explores her characters in new environments and the fact that there is no clear killer on the loose makes for an interesting change.

Maura takes the lead role in this book whilst Jane is left to stumble around after her. Maura’s character is developed nicely. Her unsatisfactory relationship is challenged and her yearning for motherhood is touched upon nicely here.

The book is not without its flaws. Some characters introduced early in the book leave the story mid way through. This is frustrating as the reader has already invested a lot of time in them. The fact that they depart from the story is not the issue, it is more that Maura does not seem to react to this.

The conclusion is also a little bit of a let down for me personally. It is satisfying in regard to the story but having recently read an article on Jonestown, I was hoping for a story that reflected those events.

My rating: 8.6

On stranger tides – Tim Powers.

This is the book that the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise drew inspiration from for its 4^th outing. I wanted to read the book before seeing the film and as a result of my tardiness will now have to wait for the film to come out on DVD.

I love pirates, I wish there were more novels surrounding pirates, (anyone that wishes to point me in the right direction please feel free).  However, the few I have read, all seem to leave me feeling the same.

It is very rare I finish a book and can’t decide whether I enjoyed it or not. “On stranger tides” joins this list. Like other pirate novels I have read, there were moments where I really enjoyed the experience and other moments where I was reading but not really taking the story in.

For example, the whole Fountain of Youth episode stood out as a really good piece of writing, Tim Powers really portrayed a great sense of atmosphere and claustrophobia. The sense of voodoo magic poured through the swamp like settings and the character’s distress at their real or imaginary visions was quite disconcerting.  However, if you asked me what the purpose of the whole scene was and what the characters achieved, I would struggle to tell you.

There are also some good characters. The pirate captain Phil Davies, the evil Leo Friend and the loyal Skank spring to mind. However it is difficult to route for the main character Jack Shandy who spends long periods feeling for himself and drowning his sorrows.

I think the biggest problem with the novel is the lack of direction. I like my plots to be clear, I don’t mind complicated but I like to know the motivations of the protagonists and their overall objectives. With “on stranger tides,” the main character “Shandy “seems to stumble from one scene to another with no real purpose. There is some vague mention of an uncle he wishes to confront and then later he wants to rescue a girl who at the beginning of the novel he did not care for.

The timeline is never consistent. A chapter might end and the next may start up immediately after the event or some months after. I found myself not discovering which until I had read a good few paragraphs of the chapter first. This is probably summed up in the loosely entitled epilogue, which is really just the final chapter of the book taking place seconds after the ending of the previous chapter and in no way representative of an epilogue whatsoever.

It sounds as if I really didn’t enjoy the book, but I don’t think that is a fair reflection. I just felt the story was more of a mesh of cool scenes loosely tied together than a clever tale. The only constant being Shandy’s half hearted pursuit of a girl he did not want to encourage in the beginning. Overall, I enjoyed it then… I think.

My rating: 7.1

A Dance with Dragons – George R R Martin.

The book that thousands have been waiting years and years for, finally came out on July 12^th. Early spoiler free reviews ramped up anticipation levels and talked of scenes reminiscent of a Storm of Swords. With such high expectations the initial feeling about A Dance with Dragons was one of disappointment and frustration. Did I feel this way? In short no…

I am in the minority of people that really enjoyed the book. I can see what people are disgruntled about, there are after all loads of plot threads unresolved. Whilst this is the middle of the series and one might expect this, there is at least one event that several POV characters were all involved in where a suitable climax was needed.

Like many other readers I also expected Dany to be in a certain place by the end of the book and to have interacted with certain characters and so was disappointed when she was not.

However, both those points are solely down to my expectations. When the dust has settled and I actually reflect on the book and remembered how much I enjoyed it throughout, I realise how great Dance actually is.

The writing is superb, contrary to the popular opinion, a lot actually happens. George takes us on a journey with his characters, throwing in the usual twists and subtle hints. Characters we previously despised we begin to sympathise with, characters we loved we learn are not as competent as we thought.

The three characters we yearned for (Jon, Tyrion and Dany) all appear in abundance. These three characters are generally the most popular, the ones we can most identify with. Yet Martin cruelly exposes there weaknesses and demonstrates that when in a position of power there are fallible. Very intriguing stuff.

 Yet it is the other characters that steal the show. Theon’s chapters are the best thing in the book; Davos and Asha are also very strong. Whilst Bran’s had me feverish with excitement and Barristen beaming with respect.

There are a few minor quibbles. Tyrion could have lost a chapter or two as could have Dany. Jaime appears in one brief chapter that really should have been saved for the next book. I think GRRM bowed to public demand to include this chapter just so we knew the fate of a certain character from Feast of Crows.

One of the things I love about the series is that no matter how much I pay attention when reading, I always miss something. With Dance it was no exception. After going on the forums, I literally kicked myself at some of the things I did not pick up on. Still it is part of the fun of reading and so the endless wait and speculating begins again.

Star Wars has always been my favourite world by a country mile. With A Dance with Dragons, the song of ice and fire saga is definitely catching it, if not over taking it.

My rating: 9.2

Bone - Complete collection – Jeff Smith.

It has been years since I have read a comic. This huge collection has been sitting on my shelf for at least 7 years. I have always been aware of its popularity but for some reason have never got round to reading the series. Maybe because I was worried that I would find it over rated (Sandman, V is for Vengeance and Watchmen I am looking at you – all good but I don’t see how they are amazing).

With Bone, I needn’t have worried. The story tells the story of three cousins who find themselves lost in a world unfamiliar to them. What starts off as a small intimate story, progresses into an epic war with multiple characters and spans over 1,300 pages!

Jeff Smith manages to tell his tale in a humorous, yet heart warming way. The three main bone characters are all excellently portrayed, with Phoney being far and away my favourite. The supporting cast is also great. Nan and Lockjaw being particularly strong.

However, the collection is not flawless. There are times when the story does feel a little repetitive, for example when our heroes encounter the rat creatures yet again.  However, overall this is one comic collection that does live up to the hype.

My rating: 8.8

Sleep? What is that?

Just a quick post to apologise for the delay of my monthly review column. I may not post regularly but one thing I have managed to do in recent months is keep to posting the reviews of the books I have read each month. July's reviews will probably not appear until Tuesday next week I'm afraid but I have a very good reason for that:

On the 20th July at 4:10 in the morning this little fella came along:



Jamie Lucas Donovan has entered the world and where as we thought it would be easier trying to cope this time round we couldn't have been more wrong. As one son eventually goes down to sleep the other awakes. Still I'm sure you will agree he is gorgeous and I am ecstatic to be a Dad again. My wife was heroic in giving birth, I honestly don't know how women do it.

Will post soon.

  

June Reviews

So this is it - The final month before the biggest release of the year for me. At long last we will be getting A Dance with Dragons in July. Maybe it was because I was so excited about this that I went on a reading frenzy this month. A whopping seven books read and enjoyed:

1)    Hyperion – Dan Simmons

I am not a science fiction fan. There I said it. For some reason, as much as I adore Star Wars as soon as space or any techno babble is mentioned, I switch off and my eyes glaze over. I have never understood it because I love the idea of stories set in space and uninhabited worlds.  I have found that whenever I have tried to embrace the genre, the book are needlessly littered with complicated instruments and equipment that makes you feel you are reading a textbook to a complicated computer rather than enjoying a novel.

Despite this irrational hatred towards science fiction, one book I always felt I should try is Hyperion. Having read and loved the Terror by Simmons, I knew that the man could write and write well. I had purchased the book ages ago and I was just waiting for the inspiration to strike me to start reading. This month said inspiration struck.

After the first couple of pages I thought I had made a mistake. There was techno babble in abundance and try as I might I struggled to engage with it. This all changed once the pilgrims began to tell their stories.

For any of you that don’t know, Hyperion follows a similar format to the Canterbury Tales. 6 strangers are thrown together and seem to have a common goal. They decide in order to achieve this goal they need to understand their pasts. What follows is essentially a collection of short stories tied together by the same goal.

Each of these stories vary in style and tone. Simmons expertly provides individual voices to each character and makes you care for them. Some of these stories are excellent. The standouts for me are the Priest’s tale and the Scholar’s tale. Not surprisingly these two are the least sci-fi esque of the 6 but the other four stories (Soldier’s tale, Poet’s tale, Detective’s tale and the Scholar’s tale) are all compelling, as is the Shrike, the mythical creature they all set out to meet or destroy.

Has Hyperion made me more inclined to read sci-fi? Yes and no. I really enjoyed this book but there were times when I felt my mind wandering during the mention of various ships and weapons. Having said that, I will definitely be reading the sequel – it is impossible not too after the cliff hanging ending.

My rating: 8.5

2)    The Unremarkable Heart – Karin Slaughter

 

I was not aware of this short story until it was recommended on the Kindle. Of course it being on the Kindle it is difficult to know exactly how big it was, but I think it came in around the 72 page mark and therefore worth reviewing. I’ve only read one short story by Karin before and whist I thought it was good, unlike her full length novels it was instantly forgettable.

This story on the other hand stuck with me. The premise is rather grim, a woman is dying of cancer and the opening of the tale begins with her dealing with this. It is not until the relationship of her husband is truly explored that the plot begins to become intriguing.

What follows is a story that is slowly and cleverly revealed to the audience. I have to admit I read this in two sessions and simply had to know the truth behind the family. The conclusion does not disappoint and stays with you. It has made me realise that I must read Karin’s last book before her new one comes out.

My rating:  8.8

3) The Five – Robert McCammon

 

Robert is easily one of my favourite authors, probably my favourite. His versatility and ability to produce great stories is unsurpassed. The Five came with strong praise especially from Stephen King – another favourite of mine. However, I have to admit the premise of the Five did not grab me at all. I mean a book about a band touring how interesting can that be? It turns out very.

I loved the book. It made me want to visit local pubs and soak in the vibe from small acts trying to break into the big time. The characters of the band members stayed with me – I found myself routing for Nomad, Ariel and the like as they struggled to deal with the tragic events that befall them. Despite never having heard the song, I defy anyone not to be humming “Bad cop” by the end of the book.

If I have one criticism, it’s that there were some sub plots or side stories that hinted at events which were so cool, I wished they were explored further. Nevertheless, they would make fantastic books in themselves if Robert ever wished to tackle them.

The five has been hailed as McCammon’s best book yet. Although it does not quite reach the heights of Swan Song or Boy’s Life it is still a very good read and better than 95% of other books out there.

My rating: 9.3

4) Seahorse in the Sky – Edmund Cooper

 

About a month ago I got Lost withdrawal symptoms. I lamented that there was not another TV show that captured the imagination like that show did. I use to love sitting at work, wondering what was going on and coming up with various theories. I “googled books like Lost” and the most common answers were, “Lord of the Flies” and “Hyperion.” Both books are excellent, but only Hyperion comes close to posing the level of mystery I was after.

Then on one forum someone suggested Seahorse in the sky. I immediately checked the book out and the blurb sounded exactly what I was after. 16 people wake up in are on a flight to London and then suddenly wake up in coffins in a deserted town. Food and drink is mysteriously replenished and they can all speak the same language despite coming from different parts of Europe. They also encounter humans from a different time period.

This book filled the whole left by Lost. The prose is tight but effective and the characters intriguing enough. My only problem is that the book is so short. 190 pages in fact. Normally, I find books are unnecessarily blotted. In this case I was lamenting that it wasn’t. I wanted a series made of this story. I would quite happily have read a trilogy of books. No disrespect to Edmund Cooper, but I couldn’t help rue the fact that Stephen King or Dam Simmons had not come up with this premise and run with it. I wanted the books told from multiple points of views and the mysteries to keep layering themselves on top of each other.

Instead, what I was left with was a very good story, intriguing and satisfying but more of an outline to what could have been fantastic. The conclusion to the mystery is excellent. In fact as much as I liked Lost and had no problem with its finale, I wish they had gone with the explanation that Cooper came up with.

I will be checking out more of Edmunds work though, so that can’t be a bad thing.

My Rating 7.8

5)    Solomon Kane – The Complete Tales – Robert E Howard.

 

I really enjoyed the film of Solomon Kane and was disappointed that it was not popular enough to procure sequels.  I think Hollywood missed a trick by not believing in the franchise but hey what do I know?

I was pleased to discover the complete tales available on the Kindle for a very reasonable price. I purchased them immediately (I love the fact that I can do that) and settled in to enjoy Solomon’s adventures.

To begin with I was reading with a big smile on my face. Solomon was the true hero, putting right the evils of this way. However, after a while the stories all felt the same, Solomon would wander through the jungle, stumble across some evil and then be determined to defeat it. The formula became jarring, so jarring that it became a chore to carry on. I stopped reading the book and read something else. I then came back to the book and groaned. Don’t get me wrong, the stories are not bad and the writing holds up quite well in today’s times but it is like watching the same episode of Quantum Leap over and over. Other than the obstacles Solomon faces nothing changes. Even the way he is introduced (a tall puritan dressed in black wearing a hat with no feathers) is the same ever story. Quantum Leap was great because it stuck to the same formula but no two episodes felt the same.

There are some stories that stand out above the others. My picks are: The moon of skulls and the footfalls within. However, I would recommend you read this book slowly over time and not all in one go.

My Rating: 7.2

6)    Re-Read – A Feast of Crows – George R R Martin

A Feast of Crows gets a raw deal in terms of the A song of Ice and Fire series. It is largely thought to be the weakest of the four books with many fans feeling cheated at the lack of key POV characters. I suppose it matters when you read the book. I began reading the series in 2007 and about from A Dance with Dragons, never had to wait for any of the books to be released. I also knew that half the characters would be missing well in advance of reading the book. Having said that, whilst I enjoyed Feast of Crows the first time round, I couldn’t help but acknowledge it dragged a little in places (Brienne I am looking at you).

So has my opinion changed upon the re-read? Yes. 100% yes. Having enjoyed all of the books the second time round, I probably enjoyed FoCs the most. Armed with the several theories that fans have suggested, it was fun to appreciate the book and all it tried to achieve. Where I first thought the Brienne chapters were there merely to illustrate the horrors of war on the common folk, I now appreciated the way they were used to set up future events. Cersei and Jaime’s point of views are superb and the chapters dealing with Dorne and the Iron Islands are all expertly handled.

As I write this, it is just over 2 weeks to go until a Dance with Dragons is released. I cannot wait.

My Rating: 9.2

7)    Pet Sematary – Stephen King.

I knew very little about this book going in. I did not even read the blurb on the back. I had a preconceived notion that it would be about pets coming back to life and haunting a family judging by the covers I had seen over the years.

I was not expecting the excellent story that unfolded. This story has heart and bundles of it. Don’t get me wrong, it is definitely creepy in places, but what makes it such a great book is how easily I could identify with the main character Louis. Louis is in his 30’s, married and has too kids and a pet cat. We are about to have our second child and have a dog.  Therefore everything that happened to Louis and his family deeply resonated with me. I was so caught up in the emotion of this book that I genuinely couldn’t wait to get home and hug them tightly at the end of each day.

You can guess where the book is going very early on, but the skill in which King unfurls the plot reaffirms why I regard him as one of my favourite authors. I don’t wish to speak too much about the plot but the ending is one that will stay with me a long, long time. I also love the reference to Cujo the King makes. Little tips of the hat to the reader really ingratiate me to an author.

If you haven’t read King I strongly recommend you try this book. You will not be disappointed.

My rating: 9.5

My history with fantasy books and comics

This rather long entry is inspired by an article posted by Niall over at Speculative Scotsman last week. Niall talks of his love for comics and how despite drifting away from the medium, he is now subsequently finding his way back. It is an excellent read and can be found here: http://scotspec.blogspot.com/2011/06/coming-back-to-comic-books-introduction.html

As always, if you comment on one of Niall’s posts, he gets back to you quickly – a sign of an excellent blogger and an action I am very remiss about. Niall responded to one of my comments and stated he would like to know the full story about why comics got me into reading fantasy. The more I thought about it the more I thought it was something that others might find interesting.

So let me take you all the way back to the summer of 2000. I had just started a new job and soon established a friendship with a colleague that would swiftly become one of the closest friendships I have to this day.

Said friend was interested in everything I was interested in. Football – check, massive star wars fans – check, films – check. We shared the same sense of humour and soon became the darlings of the office with our cheeky chappy attitude and the ability for management to both hate us and love us at the same time. Our attitude was that as long as the work got done, then we were not harming anyone and giving management no cause to complain. This led us to start up a weekly newsletter where we would humorously mock events that occurred in the office that week. It was affectionately known as the Back-Office news and was a major hit. I think I still have a few copies lying around somewhere.

Anyway, the only thing I was not interested in that my new friend (let’s call him Utah Khan –his nickname) was, was his devotion to comics. Every Thursday, I would accompany him to Forbidden Planet or A Place in Space and wait for him to buy his weekly trades.

It was not that I didn’t like the medium, I was aware of it, but had no interest in getting bogged down in collecting a comic that would take me 15 minutes to read a month.

Time passed and Utah persuaded me to try some comics. He leant me the first three trades of Bendis’ run on Daredevil. Needless to say I was hooked. I promptly purchased, X-men, Wolverine, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Spiderman (both the amazing and ultimate). I never liked the DC universe, I don’t know why it just didn’t grab me. I liked Batman but Superman was a no, no.

As the months went buy, I increased the titles in my collection until I was collecting well over 20 issues a month. I began to go online and see what other comics were available. It was then I discovered the amazing company that was Crossgen comics (or not so amazing if you look at their infrastructure). Crossgen was filled with titles that had ongoing stories, and I mean proper ongoing stories not just arcs where a superhero would fight a new supervillain and then move on to another.

The idea behind the company was that although the stories were all isolated, the main characters were all linked by a “sigil” and you knew that one day all the titles were going to cross over.

I was enthralled by the concept as with the many titles. I was soon devouring the likes of: Brath, Scion, Meridian and Route 666. Later El Cazador – a pirate comic (how many of them do you see these days?) and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang entertained me. However the best of the bunch was “Sojourn.” Man I loved that comic, pure fantasy entertainment. The illustrations were beautiful and the story compelling, with  great characters.

I soon found the Marvel titles formulaic. I purchased them every week out of habit. I would read them and forget all about them seconds later, The Crossgen titles were different. I actually looked forward to the Crossgen titles every week. Fantasy became cool again and more than just about Lord of the Rings or the Dark Crystal to me.

But then, disaster struck. Crossgen announced it was to fold. The authors were instructed to wind up their stories as quickly as they could. The much anticipated Negation War” cross over was rushed and although it began well, like all the titles was not completed or not completed in a satisfactory manner.

The day that Crossgen went under, was the day my wallet was better off but my reading habits wasn’t. I still collected comics for a couple of years, but my interest had waned severely. The only titles I really enjoyed were: Fables, Y: the last man and the Walking Dead. These three were not enough to keep my interest sustained. The Walking Dead often failed to meet its intended publication date and I found myself not going to the comic book shop on a Thursday for weeks at a time and then having to fork out £40 when I did to purchase all the titles that had been reserved for me.

It was whilst trying to fill this void left by Crossgen that I started to pay attention to fantasy books. Before then I read mainly thrillers or crime books. Fantasy books always held a stigma of the geek in his room with his computer. I don’t know why it took me so long to realise the hypocrisy of that narrow minded view, as reading comics often had the same stigma. I guess it was because I used to visit the shops on a Thursday and never once saw these stereotypes and therefore did not associate the comic market with them. Instead I saw normal every day guys (they were predominantly guys) enjoying a medium that was frowned upon.

I had tried Robert Jordan when I was around 16 and thoroughly enjoyed him but, socialising and girls interested me far more than reading and so I only got up to book 4. I had no interest in re-reading Jordan again (I have only just changed my views on re-reading books) so other than Tolkein I had not read any fantasy. My first real fantasy book as an avid reader was Raymond E Feist’s “Shadow of a Dark Queen” book one of the Serpentine War Saga. I don’t know why I opted for this book but it was on the shelf in a comic book shop one day and I bought it on impulse.

After reading the prologue I thought I had made a massive mistake. It made no sense to me, talking about portals etc. However, after that initial prologue that seemed to have no relevance on the rest of the book I might had, I was swept away in an engaging story experiencing enjoyment levels not dissimilar to when I read Crossgen. I read the saga over the coming months and thoroughly enjoyed them

I enjoyed the saga so much that I immediately rang up my friends at A Place in Space and cancelled my folder they kept for me, reserving all of the marvel titles. Why spend £2.95 on a comic that takes 15 mins to read, when I could spend £6 on a book that would take 10 days to read – I was a slower reader back then.

I began to research the best fantasy books out there, which led me to George R R Martin, to Hobb, to Abercrombie, to Lynch etc etc. The rest as they say is history. I now read lots of fantasy to the extant it is the predominant genre I go for. I look back and laugh at the man I was then for shunning such as a great wealth of literature. It is a genre that is completely underrated and I feel sorry for those that ridicule it. I don’t blame people for their narrow minded opinions, only recently I found myself ignoring historical fiction for ignorant and juvenile reasons but that is a story for another time.

Fantasy has opened up a whole new world of happiness for me. I love perusing the various blogs on the subject, visiting the forum and gauging others opinions and theories on the latest offerings from the highly skilled authors. It has even inspired me to write my own book and hence set up this blog.

Niall recounted his love affair with comics and whilst there were many similarities with my history, he couldn’t pin point why he gave up reading comics. I can, it was when Crossgen comics folded and I no longer got my fantasy fix. I loved that comic company but if it had never have folded I doubt I would have discovered fantasy books in such a big way.

Mind you, Marvel have apparently bought the rights to Crossgen it will be interesting to see what they do with titles. I don’t think they will persuade me to go back to reading comics but I will keep my eye on the situation.

Oh and in case you were wondering about Utah, he works in another office far away. He still collects his titles and we make the effort to meet up once a week, never on a Thursday though, you know… just in case the lure is too much.

May reviews

Before I start with the reviews, some of you may well be wondering what is happening with the writing and the seeking an agent part of my life. The short answer is nothing. This is not really anything to do with writer’s block or a lack of passion but to do with circumstances at the moment. My wife is pregnant with our second child and unfortunately been seriously ill. As much as I am dedicated to writing, I am finding it too difficult to give my full attention to the project at the moment.


There are 7 weeks before the baby is due and until that time, I have decided to have a break from writing. Who knows? When my first boy was born I was inspired to write Ritual of the Stones and never looked back. It is a shame because the completed chapters I have so far are actually very good in my opinion.

Anyway on with the reviews:

1) The Keep – Paul F Wilson

I have been meaning to read this book for a while. Every time I tried to buy it from Amazon it was out of stock or listed at a very high price. Having recently acquired a Kindle I was pleasantly surprised to find this book in the store for just over £1.

The story was better than I hoped to be honest. The Keep oozed with atmosphere, every brick seemed evil and in a world where vampire tales are aplenty this older story really comes up trumps.

If I am honest I found the first half of the book stronger than the second. The characters that are initially compelling seem to fade away in favour of a love story. One of the main POV characters seemed to just stop (you pretty much assume what happens to them but having read about them throughout the novel it just seems a bit too abrupt). Having said that I really liked the explanation behind the monster and thought the loose ends all came together nicely.



I will definitely be checking out the other books in the Adversary cycle, I just wish they were on the kindle too!

My rating: 8.1


2) Twilight – Stephanie Meyer.





Surprise! Yes after reading many horrid reviews about the series and been reliably informed that the books are badly written and for teenage girls only, I decided to hide behind the anonymity of the kindle and see for myself.

Well the surprise was on me. To begin with I wholeheartedly agreed with the reviews. The opening chapters are badly written and definitely for teenage girls. If I had to read about Edward’s azure eyes one more time I would have pulled my own eyes out. But a strange thing happened. When I went to put the book down, content in the knowledge that I had given them ago, I found that I couldn’t. I picked up the book and read a bit more and then a bit more. Even though nothing happens for the whole novel expect for gushing over Edward, I could not stop reading. I would even go as far to say (infuriating as it sounds), I was enjoying the book.

Twilight is not the greatest novel in the world but I can see why it is popular. It is sort of akin to liking a James Patterson book. You know it is not great writing but it works.

My rating: 7.8


3) A Storm of Swords – George R R Martin (Re-read)


 A Dance with Dragons is little over a month a way now and the anticipation is reaching fever pitch. Once again, I was pleased that I took the plunge and re-read the books before the 5th one arrives.


Simply put, this book is the best book in any series. Every chapter seems to be a pay-off. Martin seems to be at the height of his writing skills. Each character is riveting, delivering excellent lines of dialogue and even though I knew what was coming (mostly, I had still forgotten parts) the impact was just as great.

Jaime and Brienne are new POV characters and both are excellent. Martin handles their awkward alliance deftly and their friendship and distrust of each other is one of the highlights in a book filled with massive events.

Only Feast of Crows to go before I am ready for Dance. I cannot wait.

My Rating: 10


4) Gone – Mo Hayder



I have read all of Mo Hayder’s books. The early ones are a lot stronger than the latter ones. That is not to say that I am not a fan of the Walking man series. They are still good and better than the majority of books in their genre.

With Gone, Mo has returned to her glorious best. Someone is stealing kids from the back of cars and Jack Caffery and Flea Marley are making all the wrong decisions in their pursuit of the Jacker.

Whilst the killer is easily identified from very early on in the novel, it is a credit to the book that it did not detract from my enjoyment of the story. The grieving parents are well portrayed and Caffery’s and Marley’s characters as well as the walking man’s are developed nicely.

My rating: 8.6

April Reviews

April is done and boy have we had some nice weather. It sure was a good month for reading. Apart from when I have been sprawled out by the pool on a holiday I have never got through 6 books in a month before. A new record.


1) Conn Iggulden – Wolf of the Plains



I have heard good things about Conn’s books for quite a while. I was determined to pick them up when one day I read a couple of negative reviews detailing how inaccurate they were. This immediately put me off, especially as I did my degree in Ancient History and get annoyed when things are wrong. However, I think I have mellowed a bit. Recently, I don’t care if the book is accurate or not, it is the story and characters I am interested in and if they are good then what does it matter if a particular dress style was not common in the period the book is set in. Even so I decided to start with Conn’s Genghis Khan series as I know virtually nothing about the period.

I loved it! I thought the story telling was spot on, the character’s great and the overall setting excellent. If there is a minor criticism, it is that Conn had a tendency to shift POV’s sometimes between paragraphs. However, this did not ever get confusing and is more of a personal gripe as I know writers are not supposed to do that.

There are some genuinely moving scenes contained within the book and some shocking ones too. You root for Genghis and his brothers from the first page. I will definitely be checking out more of Conn’s work. My rating: 8.6



2) Robert McCammon – Gone South


The man that is fast becoming my favourite author delivers again in another genre. So far I have read historical fiction, horror, contemporary fiction and now I guess you would call this book action, all written by Robert McCammon and all thoroughly enjoyed.

I have to admit the premise of this book did not grab me, but I trusted in the author and was not disappointed. At times I was laughing out loud, in the bounty hunters Robert has created some of my favourite characters.

I never really knew where the plot was going to end up, but it did not matter as the journey was just so enjoyable. The swamps oozed life and the final scene was fantastic. I like how McCammon ends his books, they are satisfying and for some one like myself who likes dark endings normally, not too cheesy.

The Five is due out next month. I urge anyone who reads this blog to buy it and support this author. He deserves to be more recognised more in the UK. My Rating: 8.8


3) Re-read: George R R Martin - A Clash of Kings



Having enjoyed the re-read of A Game of Thrones much more than I thought I would last month, I was looking forward to getting my teeth into this one. It did not disappoint. Once again, I had knew the basic story but had forgotten most of the detail. I forgot how Brienne comes into the book for example a nice surprise. I won’t talk about the plot as I don’t want to ruin it for those of you watching the TV series without having read the books. They get better in my opinion. My Rating: 9.4

4) Aesop’s Fables:

A random choice I hear you say. You would also be correct. I left my book at work and was wondering how to feel my time in on the inane bus journey (I need something to tune out some of the less savoury characters in our society). I have the kindle link on my phone and Aesop’s fable was one of the books they offered for free.

During my many years studying ancient history, Aesop was one of the texts I never studied so I thought I would give him a whirl. If you were to read this book all in one go you would struggle. Some of the fables are so short that it is difficult to adjust moving on to the next and then the next and then the next. I often found myself reading but not taking them in. The best way to read the text is little and often.

Having said that, there are some amusing fables contained within, some of which have inspired some sub plots for my writing. In that regard the book has been invaluable. I was also surprised to discover how many classic stories originate from these fables: The hare and the tortoise, the north wind and the sun, the boy who cried wolf. I had no idea these came from Aesop. Ultimately however, I found that after a while the fables all seemed to be telling the same kind of story and it became a bit of a chore to finish. My rating: 6


5) Stephen King – Just After Sunset



Look at reviews for Stephen king and you will generally get positive reports from his fans and mostly positive reviews from everyone else with gripes about his inability to produce satisfying endings. When it comes to short stories it is almost universally agreed that the man is (excuse the pun) the king. Criminally despite owning most of them, I have not read any of his short story collections. I decided to start with what is generally perceived to be the weakest.

Overall I really liked Just After Sunset. There isn’t a bad story in this collection which is rare for an anthology, but I have to say the majority of the stories fell into the category of “good” rather than “great”. The great stories being: “N” the story of a patient with OCD; “Mute” the story of a man who picks up a mute hitchhiker and “A very tight space” the story of two warring neighbours. Other good stories are the “Gingerbread girl, “Rest Stop” and “Ayana.” My rating 7.8

6) Matthew Reilly – Seven Ancient Wonders

In 2006 I was at Gatwick airport awaiting the flight to sunny Florida. I was in Waterstones searching for a quick and easy read. After all, I was off to Disney, how much time would I have. I discovered the Contest by Matthew Reilly. As the holiday progressed so I found myself in love with the book. This book was fast paced action that never let up. I had never read anything like it. I lent it to my brother in law expecting him to love it as well – he hated it. He thought it was the worst written book he had ever had the misfortune to read. I then looked at the reviews on Amazon and found many others were split down the middle regarding Matthew Reilly’s work.

I decided to give Ice Station ago and loved it even more, followed by the Temple with the same result. Whilst I appreciate the writing is not brilliant, the stories were great escapism, very unrealistic but read like an Indiana Jones movie.

I subsequently read Matthew Reilly’s other novels. They were good but not as good as Ice Station and the Temple. Therefore I had no hesitation in purchasing Seven Ancient Wonders. After all what could go wrong? A new protagonist in Jack West jnr; a great subject matter in the seven ancient wonders and Reilly’s ability to write action sequences like no other. The answer - everything. This book is bad. Maybe it is because I now have a couple of years of discovering the common errors in writing behind me, but Matthew seems to tick an awful lot of them. Adjectives are used in plenty, the book is littered with illustrations to depict what Reilly seems to have an inability to describe and the characters are none existent.

From the word go the reader is thrust into the action. This would normally not be a bad thing but there is never a pause for breath to flesh out the characters we are supposed to be caring about.

Maybe, it was just the mood I was in when I read it. With the contest I was in the right frame of mind, with this maybe I wasn’t. There are some excellent action scenes contained within the novel. The Hanging gardens of Babylon is well done for example. However James Rollins seems to do the whole thing a lot better.

Am I done with Matthew Reilly? Of course not, I enjoyed his other novels too much even though I recognise they are flawed. Let’s hope the next one is an improvement though. My rating: 4.5