Books

EVERYTHING LEFT TO KNOW ABOUT THE TRILOGY is the subtitle for the newly released STAR WARS FAQ. That's serious word choice when you consider how knowledgeable the fandom is that surrounds the original Star Wars Trilogy. I'm 41 years old, so I grew up with these films as a part of my life...scratch that, the Saga has become such a part of me, it's burrowed down to conjoin with the very depths of my soul. So much so, I've watched, read, and collected just about anything that was available to my greedy mind and body. And I've got to say, much to my surprise, Mark Clark delivered a well researched, in-depth exploration of the creative exploits of George Lucas and so many of the others that played in his sandbox.

In 490BC, in the early hours of the morning before the Athenian will go to war with the Persians, Leander recounts his life up to that point, and how he not only came to be where he is, but how all of Athens arrived at this point. It's a story of political intrigues, assassinations, and behind-the-scenes manipulation of information and advice, a morass of dirty tricks and dirty politics, all with the goal of slipping an idea into the consciousness of the masses: Democracy.

Leander's story starts when he is a younger man, just beginning to take on responsibilities in his father's business. At a political meeting held by the brothers Hippias and Hipparchus ends in bloodshed and the assassination of Hipparchus, the people react accordingly, assuming a rebellion is at hand. The DEMOCRACY creative team of Alecos Papadatos and Abraham Kawa put forward that there may have been another reason for Hipparchus' killing, but that the event was taken advantage of by Cleisthenes.

When I first met Bird and Squirrel, they were on the Run. And my boy and I loved them! The pairing of the brave, cocky, devil-may-care Bird with the skittish, paranoid, defensive Squirrel made for the least likely of friendships, but they made it work. (They even made their own theme song.)

Now the pragmatic squirrel and plucky bird are back, in BIRD & SQUIRREL ON THE EDGE! They're trying to make their way back home, and they've made a new friend: a baby bear cub. They've also made a few enemies along the way as well, in the form of a pack of wolves who've got their hearts set on the taste of bear, with a little bit of squirrel appetizer. Fortunately for Squirrel and Cub, Bird is there to distract the wolves and send them running.

Reading any of the COMPLETE FUNKY WINKERBEAN volumes is like opening a time capsule. Tom Batiuk brings the crew into the 1980s with this fourth volume, and the cultural references pervade the pages from cover to cover.

The advent of Space Invaders, Defender, and other arcade video games chews up a decent amount of space -- as it should in a strip focused on high school students. And the latest STAR WARS movie has its impact felt on not only the characters, but on the readers who were allowed to submit their own STAR WARS jokes to Batiuk and have them drawn into the strip.

THE WATCHMEN OF PORT FAYT from David Fickling Books, and available in hardcover on August 25^th is the first novel by English author Conrad Mason and the first book in his TALES OF FATE Trilogy.

Conrad Mason is a graduate of Cambridge University and is an editor of children’s books. So while he's no stranger to children’s literature, THE WATCHMEN OF PORT FAYT is his first novel. Based in a mythical town called Port Fayt, inhabited by humans and elves, imps and ogres, trolls and fairies, goblins and dwarfs, Conrad weaves a well-constructed, thought-out story of mystery, intrigue, monsters, magic and mayhem. The book even has a rudimentary map displaying the town and surrounding oceans, islands and old worlds a la Tolkien and a glossary of many of the various beings mentioned above cleverly written as part of the book.

Galaxy Zack: Hello, Nebulon! 

Written by: Ray O'Ryan
Illustrated by: Colin Jack
Published by: Simon & Schuster (2013)
Cover Price: $4.99

Kira: HELLO, NEBULON!  is the first book in the GALAXY ZACK series.  GALAXY ZACK is about a eight year old boy named Zack who explores space.  Zack used to live on Earth, and in this book, he moves to the planet Nebulon.

Mike: How does Zack feel about moving?

I don't really do comic reviews that often these days. It's not that I don't read comics, they're still a staple of my pop culture diet, but after writing regular weekly reviews for many years, I prefer to write about other forms of entertainment. When I heard about the graphic novel STEVE MCQUEEN: FULL THROTTLE COOL from Motor Books, well, I needed to read it and write a review. In all my years of online journalism, I've never had the chance to talk about my passion for the filmography of Mr. McQueen.

After requesting the review material, I was a little worried. What if the book was horrible? I mean, I own his movies, a replica of his jacket from THE GREAT ESCAPE, several McQueen dolls, figures, cars, you name it. It would be a shame to have to write a scathing review about the King of Cool. Or worse, what if it was a mediocre mess that couldn't inspire any emotion whatsoever? Writing one of those reviews is just not fun, at all.

There's a magic in the comic strip format that allows serious subjects to be broached with gentle humor and delivered in manageable bites. Tom Batiuk has tapped into this magic, both in his long running series, FUNKY WINKERBEAN, and with this collection of CRANKSHAFT strips entitled ROSES IN DECEMBER: A STORY OF LOVE AND ALZHEIMER'S.

WHO IS STAN LEE?

Written by Geoff Edgers
Illustrated by John Hinderliter
Published by: Grosset & Dunlap (2014)
Cover price: $4.99

Blizz Richards, the Yeti, is back for another adventure with his fellow cryptid friends. This time, it's to answer a lonely call for help from Vanessa -- Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster.

So Blizz, Gunthar the goblin, and Alexander the Elf head east to Scotland to see what can be done -- because when a cryptid becomes unhappy, there's an increased likelihood of being seen. Fortunately, Alexander knows exactly where to find more monsters like Vanessa. Unfortunately, they're all 65 million years in the past.

Over the years, I've picked up more than my share of books at science fiction conventions -- usually the only place you could find them, because they were books being promoted by their authors. And, more often than not, there was a good, evident reason why the works weren't picked up by major distributors.

In the case of David J. Pedersen's ANGST, it's the distributors who are the ones losing out.

When Kate Hood is beset by a pack of wolves while taking a weekly load of groceries to her Nan's isolated house in the woods, it's just the beginning of a very creepy adventure. Narrowly escaping the creatures, she finds Nan's house empty, save for four tapestries of exquisite craftsmanship but showing surreal tortures: a girl in chains, holding a comb, her hair shaved; a boy and girl, huddled in a cell, sweating from surrounding heat; a young maiden huddled on the floor to avoid being pricked by walls lined with needles; and a quickly scrawled message: It should have been you!

My wife and I took our two-year-old son Nathan to the beach today. It was a beautiful day both for weather and general family fun, and memories. Nate played in the sand, wiled away in his little pirate tent, cackled as the waves crashed over him and dad, and he collected some shells for mom. It was the type of perfection that washes away the thoughts of traffic and parking issues in a tide of happiness. The shells will hopefully be the start of a collection that Nate will love for many years.

SCHADENFREEZERS! by Jason Kreher and Matt Moore

Hardcover - $13.99 ($11.15 on Amazon)
Kindle - $10.37
Published by Adams Media
128 Pages

Your baby has been kidnapped by a force from an erased timeline. Your immortal father arrives moments after in a time-traveling spaceship to help you get her back from where she was hidden in time -- but only after she's been allowed to grow up into an adult, alone, because somehow during her new life she stops Earth from being annihilated.

What do you do?

When I was a kid, I learned how to make paper airplanes. I can now make three different kinds -- the basic kind, the skinny basic kind, and the one that somewhat looks like a Star Trek scout ship. When pressed, I can make a paper sailboat (or maybe it's a hat), and once I made a swan. I don't think paper fans count.

That's me.

And then there's John Montroll.

John Montroll is the author and designer behind DC SUPER HEROES ORIGAMI. Which I absolutely had to have, because I'm a fifty-years-in-the-making fan of all things DC Comics. And I thought it would be fun to share this with my seven-year-old through art projects of origami.

I learned that I knew nothing about folding paper -- but that I could be taught.

I've been blessed by God with a GRITS -- a Girl Raised In The South. I've got the waistline to prove it. Which is why, when she asked me to write a review on her newly purchased cookbook, I was only a little disappointed.

It wasn't that there was anything wrong with the book itself. It's just that there were so many non-surprises for me in it, because they were things I have on a regular basis: things that were regular Sunday dinners, things that were made on a weekend that carry the family through to Tuesday -- with tupperware contained lunches to boot!

Of course, we're also familiar with Big Smo, the fledgling country singer, through his reality show, and the food from Momma Smo -- June Smith -- is as regular a character there as anyone else, as any viewer can tell you.

Finders Keepers is part of a trilogy of Stephen King books that started with last year’s Mr Mercedes.  In Mr Mercedes, a madman named Brady Hartsfield drives a stolen car into a crowd of people waiting to get into a job fair at City Center.  Brady taunts a retired police detective named Bill Hodges to come out of retirement to stop him from killing again.  Hodges (along with his associates Jerome and Holly) manage to stop Brady, who ends up in a coma after Holly gives him a thorough ass kicking.  . 

"Losers and weirdos stick together through thick and thin. Amen."

That's the unifying credo between brainiac preacher's daughter Genesis Beam and Nate Harlow, the unluckiest boy alive. Nate's notorious unlucky streak comes to a head when he's playing miniature golf -- on his eleventh birthday, on the eleventh of the month -- and he gets hit by lightning.

After his miraculous recovery, Nate's luck starts to turn around. It's little things at first, but it starts to grow and grow until people are simultaneously awed by him and afraid of him. And the more popular he becomes, the less time he wants to spend with Gen, cutting her off from the only friendship she ever shared.

I can't deny, my childhood was pretty great.  My parents gave me everything I needed, and a lot of what I asked for.  Don't get me wrong, I wasn't a spoiled brat, but I was mostly happy.  That said, my teenage years were a bit of a mess.  There were years of ennui and general angst.  Much of it was from a lack of female companionship at a young age.  It took me time to grow into myself and develop enough confidence and personality to get out and meet people.  I grew up in the '80s and early '90s which was a time of huge changes in pop culture and politics.  In my mind, it's every bit as seminal a time as the late '60s.