Posted by: Fence in Books
Author: Naomi Novik
Book 4 in the Temeraire series.
ISBN: 9780007256747 DDC:
See also: LibraryThing ; Other reviews ; Novik’s LJ
“Send up another, damn you, send them all up, at once if you have to,” Laurence said savagely to poor Calloway, who did not deserve to be sworn at: the gunner was firing off the flares so quickly his hands were scorched black, skin cracking and peeling to bright red where some power had spilled onto his fingers; he was not stopping to wipe them clean before setting each flare to the match.
Dragons and the Napoleonic wars. What could possibly be better? Well, I suppose there really isn’t too much of the Napoleonic wars in this book. Laurence and Temeraire are back from their trip to China, but they had returned to a plague. The dragons of Britain are ill; some are dead and more are dying. So off they head to maybe track down a cure. And of course they get embroiled in plenty of adventures along the way.
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7 Stars,
813.6,
alternate history,
Britain - Napoleonic wars,
dragons,
Empire of Ivory,
fantasy,
historical fiction,
Naomi Novik,
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sff,
Temeraire
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Dir: Steve Barker
Writ: Rae Brunton
- Ray Stevenson … DC
- Julian Wadham … Hunt
- Richard Brake … Prior
- Paul Blair … Jordan
- Brett Fancy … Taktarov
- Enoch Frost … Cotter
- Julian Rivett … Voyteche
You can’t kill what’s already dead! Nazi-Zombies! An 18s rating! That should tell you everything you need to know about this horror flick. Oh, and it has Ray Stevenson (Rome) as an ex-marine mercenary type.
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Tags:
7 Stars,
creepy,
death,
Enoch Frost,
ghosts,
horror,
Julian Rivett,
Julian Wadham,
mercenaries,
nazi,
Nazi-zombies,
Outpost,
Paul Blair,
R18,
Rae Brunton,
Ray Stevenson,
Richard Brake,
sff,
soldiers,
Steve Barker,
tense
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Posted by: Fence in Books
Author: Michael Collins
ISBN: 9780753820605 DDC: 823.914
See also: LibraryThing ; MichaelCollinsauthor.com ; Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind ; Lizzy’s Literary Life
In the Friday-afternoon lull within the English Department of Bannockburn College, E. Robert Pendleton sat listening to the sound of life outside his window.
The E. Robert Pendleton of the title is a professor struggling to keep his tenure at Bannockburn College where he lectures in English. He is also an author; although recently he has been suffering from writer’s block. He hasn’t had any successful books in years. And he is feeling the strain. A strain made even worse when an old rival shows up to give a guest lecture. This rival is a best-selling author; in many ways he represents everything that Pendleton yearns for.
It all seems to much for Pendleton, he has suffered previous break-downs, and he attempts to commit suicide. But graduate student Adi finds him and gets help for him. Pendleton had left his writings to her, for her thesis, and so she takes it upon herself to look after him as he recovers. Along the way she discovers a self-published novel, Scream, which details the abduction, rape and murder of a young girl. It is a true work of art, she feels, and helps arrange to get it re-published. But then discovers that the details match up with a real murder. Could Pendleton have been responsible?
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Tags:
7 Stars,
823.914,
academia,
Death of a writer: a novel,
IMPAC nominee,
Michael Collins (author),
murder,
mystery,
The Secret Life of E. Robert Pendleton
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Writ & Dir: Neil Marshall
- Rhona Mitra … Eden Sinclair
- Bob Hoskins … Bill Nelson
- Alexander Siddig … John Hatcher
- Malcolm McDowell … Kane
- David O’Hara … Michael Canaris
- Leslie Simpson … Carpenter
- Chris Robson … Stevie Miller
- Sean Pertwee … Dr. Talbot
- Darren Morfitt … Dr. Ben Stirling
- Craig Conway … Sol
- MyAnna Buring … Cally
This film really is utterly preposterous. Unbelievable in the extreme; plot holes every where. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. It still kicks ass though. Hugely enjoyable.
It is set in the future, after a virus struck Glasgow the British govt decided the only way to deal with it was to wall off Scotland. Leave the dying to the dead and make sure no one gets through. And so Scotland is abandoned. But years later the virus makes an appearance in England. So a team is sent north, through the wall to the survivors to see if they can find a cure.
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Tags:
7 Stars,
Alexander Siddig,
apocolyptic future,
bloody,
Bob Hoskins,
Britain - future,
canibals,
Chris Robson,
Craig Conway,
Darren Morfitt,
David O'Hara,
death,
Doomsday,
Leslie Simpson,
Malcolm McDowell,
MyAnna Buring,
Neil Marshall,
preposterous,
R18,
Rhona Mitra,
Scotland,
Sean Pertwee,
soldier,
virus
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Dir: Jon Favreau
Writ: Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway. Based on characters created by Stan Lee , Don Heck, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby
- Robert Downey Jr. … Tony Stark
- Terrence Howard … Jim Rhodes
- Jeff Bridges … Obadiah Stane
- Gwyneth Paltrow … Pepper Potts
- Leslie Bibb … Christine Everhart
- Faran Tahir … Raza
- Sayed Badreya … Abu Bakaar
Ever since Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang I’ve loved Robert Downey Jr. and that is the main reason I wanted to go see this film. Sure, I enjoy superhero films, but I know nothing at all about Iron Man, so it wasn’t any grá for that character that made me go. For those of you who share this non-knowledge Iron Man is Tony Stark, a genius of a weapons-dealer. When things go wrong for him in Afghanistan he ends up thinking that the only route forward is to give up the whole destruction business, obviously enough his share-holders object slightly.
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Tags:
7 Stars,
Art Marcum,
based on comic,
Don Heck,
Faran Tahir,
Gwyneth Paltrow,
Hawk Ostby,
Iron Man,
Jack Kirby,
Jeff Bridges,
Jon Favreau,
Larry Lieber,
Leslie Bibb,
Mark Fergus,
Matt Hollowat,
R12A,
Robert Downey Jr.,
Sayed Badreya,
sff,
Stan Lee,
superheroes,
Terrence Howard
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Posted by: Fence in Books
Author: Joseph Campbell
ISBN: 0586085718 DDC: 291.13
See also: LibraryThing ;
Read for Once Upon a Time Challenge (mark II)
Whether we listen with aloof amusement to the dreamlike mumbo jumbo of some red-eyed with doctor of the Congo, or read with cultivated rapture thin translations from the sonnets of the mystic Lao-tse; now and again crack the hard nutshell of an argument of Aquinas, or catch suddenly the shining meaning of a bizarre Eskimo fairy tale: it will be always the one, shape-shifting yet marvellously constant story that we find. together with a challengingly persistent suggestion of more remaining to be experiences than will ever be known or told.
I think maybe I’m just not in the mood for studious type books. At least, that’s the excuse I’m making for not really enjoying this book. Then again it may simply be that we’re all aware of these great themes that so many myths and fictions retell over and over again. Back in 1949 it was all original and new and so of course deserved all that attention. Now? Well the writing style is a little on the ponderous side and I think I’ve read most of these arguments before.
That being said, I’m still glad I read it. I simply don’t have a lot to say about it.
Tags:
291.13,
7 Stars,
Challenges,
Joseph Campbell,
myth,
non-fiction,
Once Upon A Time Challenge,
The hero with a thousand faces
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Posted by: Fence in Books
Author: Scott Lynch
ISBN: 9780575079755 DDC: 813.6
Book 1 of The Gentleman Bastards Sequence
LibraryThing ; Scott Lynch’s site ; Shards of Delirium ; Ficsation ; The Core Dump ; Speculative Horizons ;
At the height of the long wet summer of the Seventy-Seventh Year of Sendovani, the Thiefmaker of Camorr paid a sudden and unannounced visit to the Eyeless Priest at the Temple of Perelandro, desperately hoping to sell him the Lamora boy.
Locke Lamora doesn’t meet the usual standards of fantasy hero. He is slightly built, doesn’t have much skill with a sword, and then of course there is the fact that he is a thief and a conman. A conman even to the other thieves of Camorr. To them he is a small time gang leader, competent but insignificant. And if they were to learn that he was the real person behind the legendary Thorn of Camorr he’d be in quiet a bit of strife. He, and the other Gentleman Bastards spend their lives hiding who they really are, and the fortune they have amassed through their cons. But trouble is heading their way. Capa Barsavi, leader of the thieves of Camorr, is facing an outside threat. A figure known only as the Grey King is killing off various gang leaders. And pretty soon Locke finds himself trapped in the middle of the conflict.
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Tags:
7 Stars,
813.6,
crime,
Fantasy Favorites,
group read,
Scott Lynch,
series,
sff,
The Gentleman Bastards,
The Lies of Locke Lamora
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