Review Category: Books

SHARK PUNK

It seems that if you wish to create a new subgenre, all you need to do is shove the word ‘punk’ on the end of it. Snowbook’s latest anthology, SharkPunk, doesn’t really create a new wave of shark-themed literature, but what it does do is bring together some very interesting talent to tell a whole bunch of stories about everybody’s favourite villain of the seas.

The editor, Jonathan Green, has curated an interesting collection and has presented them in the best possible order; some of the tales are deep psychological horror, others are deeply silly parody. It takes a firm editorial hand and a keen understanding of the tone of each piece to make a collection this diverse work, and Green makes it look effortless.

The sharp-toothed festivities begin with Peter and the Invisible Shark by Jon Oliver, a tale that sets the tone for the collection; subtle menace, psychological horror and humour. Things get sillier with the fantasy comedy tale The Lickspittle Leviathan, which showcases author David Lee Stone quite well by cramming a complex yet interesting world into a very small space. The fun continues with Toby Frost’s Deep Black Space, which is another gloriously daft Space Captain Smith story which features space sharks, of all blessed things.

Other highlights include Alec Worley’s Sharkcop 2: Feeding Frenzy, a parody of the detective genre more than anything else, though we really do want to see an American police procedural drama were the main character is a Were-shark. It’s not all daft fun though; Den Patrick’s Blood in the Water is a powerful tale of body horror and slow insanity, set in a world disturbingly close to our own. Similarly, Jenni Hill’s The Serial Killer Who Thought She Was a Shark offers us an all too likely scenario that will send a sharp shiver down the spine.  Robert Spalding’s Rise of the Ubershark is the most cinematic of the lot; Pacific Rim meets Jaws. Shirley by Amy and Andy Taylor asks that popular pub question “Who would win in a fight between a shark and bear?”, but adds a deliciously sinister spin to it all. With a total of twenty stories, there is plenty of killer fish action to go round.

Al Ewing and Sarah Peploe finish off the collection with YOU ARE THE SHARK. Despite the title (which is a joke at Jonathan Green’s expense), this is not a small choose-your-own adventure piece. Instead, it’s a rather thought-provoking tale of childhood trauma and loss, with the commercialisation of all things shark-like as its backdrop. It’s a powerful conclusion to a great collection, and one that is a must for those who love the terrors of the deep.

INFO: SHARK PUNK / EDITOR: JONATHAN GREEN / AUTHOR: VARIOUS / PUBLISHER: SNOWBOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

MARKED

Professional psychic Lucky de Salle is having a bad week. Not only has a routine ghost-banishing job put her in the path of an immortal assassin, but now her lifelong ghost girl companion Kayla has been summoned back to the Underlands, the world of demons – sorry, daemons – where Lucky ends up embroiled in a power struggle for the king’s throne.

Marked feels like the sequel to a book that doesn’t actually exist. Right as it begins, Lucky is immediately thrust into a world weirder than the one she already inhabits, but this happens without first properly establishing what for her is – relatively speaking – normal. Thus, the first chapter having a shark-mouthed daemon unexpectedly appear where only a couple of rogue spirits should be loses its true impact.

Much of the revelations of the ongoing intrigue within Underlands, and also the nature of the magical realm itself, comes courtesy of Lucky’s two potential love interests; the handsome and noble angel Jamie and maroon-skinned bad boy death daemon Jinx. Comic relief comes courtesy of a little and large duo of Mr. Kerfuffle and Mr. Shenanigans, while rounding out Lucky’s quintet of companions is Pyrites, a dragon with the protective temperament of a loyal dog.

Jamie and Jinx are both seductive and alluring in different but equally appealing ways, but the fact that for the most part Lucky ignores their advances makes a refreshing change from the constant romantic dithering that blights so many fantasy heroines. Unfortunately, their refusal to give her any straight answers about what’s going on gets a bit frustrating, instead uttering only vague allusions to events and talking about her as though she weren’t there.

The history between Lucky and Kayla is apparent in their every exchange, and Lucky’s feelings of betrayal at her only friend lying to her for her entire life makes you sympathise with her anger over the danger she has been thrust into without her knowledge or consent. The developing relationship between the two now that the truth of their situation is revealed will likely be a recurring element of the series.

The attempts to justify the malevolent brutality of daemon nobility’s idea of entertainment by equating it to sadistic examples of human behaviour falls a bit flat. Okay, some of the more extreme of human atrocities might be kind of comparable, but that doesn’t actually offer any justification of why Lucky is somehow supposed to be okay with it.

Now that Marked has got all the character introduction and scene setting out of the way, hopefully the next book in The Soulseer Chronicles can build on its foundations and create something more compelling.

INFO: MARKED / AUTHOR: SUE TINGEY / PUBLISHER: JO FLETCHER BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

RAGING HEAT

Castle is a popular Amercian police procedural drama, starring Nathan “Firefly” Fillion as a crime writer, which frequently features genre references and meta-humour. Part of the show’s gimmick is that Castle uses his adventures with the New York Police Department as inspiration for his novels. Never one to miss a marketing opportunity, these books are ghost written and sold to eager fans. Raging Heat is the sixth such book (it even features a picture of Fillion on the back as Castle).

Raging Heat starts off like most good crime novels; with a dramatic and suspicious death. A Haitian immigrant is found dead in the planetarium and it seems he’s been pushed from a passing plane.  Once again, Detective Nikk Heat must team up with Pulitizer Prize-winning journalist Jameson Rook to fight crime and bring the killer to justice. Things go wrong when Heat and Rook disagree about the details of the case, and Rook becomes convinced that Heat has the wrong suspect in custody. In the background, a hurricane is about to hit New York.

If you’ve seen the TV show, you immediately (and correctly) assume that these are fictionalised versions of Richard Castle and Detective Kate Beckett. This helps with the book’s immersion; you’ll recognise most of the main cast very quickly and the author plays with your expectations a little. Those who haven’t seen the show shouldn’t worry, however, as the protagonists aren’t terribly complex.

The book does things that the show could never do; for a start Rook does his own stunts and there is a very nicely done sex scene in the middle. In many ways, this is a by-the-numbers crime thriller. This makes sense as the character of Richard Castle is meant to be a very successful creator of airport thrillers (no one pretends that he’s highbrow, except maybe Richard himself). It is a little too knowing in places; the ghostwriter knows that this is meant to be a bit cliché and can’t resist playing around with this. This is what makes it fun and even non-fans will get a sly laugh at some of the key scenes. If you’re looking for steamy thriller for a long plane journey (and something to read casually whilst lazing in the sun) then this is ideal, especially if you’re a fan of the show.

INFO: RAGING HEAT / AUTHOR: RICHARD CASTLE / PUBLISHER: TITAN BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

BEOWULF: A TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY, TOGETHER WITH SELLIC SPELL

If we are to run with the school of thought which has it that The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy form Tolkien’s literary answer to the grand operatic bombast of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, how did the maestro tune up? As his Germanic musical equal did across Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), Die Walkure (The Valkyrie), Siegfried and Gotterdammerung (Twilight of the Gods), the author turned to myth and legend. But here their paths would veer off – while Wagner took up his baton and delved into Norse myth of the sort which Tolkien would later be said to have been inspired by in telling his tales of Hobbits and all-powerful rings, first ‘twas time for J.R.R. to let his mind drift off towards Olde England…

And though his translation of the epic Beowulf was finished by 1926, long before he ever thought to take a trip to Mount Doom, only now can we really analyse his treatment of it. If you’ve studied English and/or Classics, you may well know the basics. 3,182 lines of alliterative verse isn’t the half of it, but it’s a solid start. Scandinavia is the setting, the hero of the title proving himself quite handy at slaying things before a great dragon seeking to reclaim its treasure snuffs him out. Any similarity to The Hobbit is probably not entirely coincidental!

No prizes for guessing the source of Smaug’s motivations. And indeed those of Fafner, the fire-breathing nasty from the earlier Siegfried. Strong men proving just how strong they are while travelling great distances? Piece of cake, whether on stage or paper – Christopher Tolkien’s various annotations here lending his father’s work something of the feel of a libretto. The dragon is but the final battle for Beowulf, the final act of his own saga. Grendel the troll is but the warm-up, and his mum also feels the sting of the blade.

Where Beowulf has Naegling as his stabby-stick of choice, Siegfried has Nothung. Neither seems to know the meaning of the word ”fear” either. Far from being a ponderous exercise in classicism, the operatic analogy just might actually help the first-time reader of such material make sense of it all – split into easily digestible chunks or acts, the task of reading Beowulf surely becomes much less cumbersome than that of the man who translated it and evidently found it enough of a labour of love to return and liberally pinch ideas for his own later work?

INFO: BEOWULF: A TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY, TOGETHER WITH SELLIC SPELL / AUTHOR: J.R.R. TOLKIEN / EDITOR: CHRISTOPHER TOLKIEN / PUBLISHER: HARPERCOLLINS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

HARRY POTTER: MAGICAL PLACES FROM THE FILMS

The Harry Potter films were a box office behemoth, raking in over $7 billion at the box office – second only to Marvel as the biggest franchise of all time. Whilst the debate will doubtless rage forever about the quality of the films vs. JK Rowling’s books (for the record: the books are superior by a substantial distance), the sheer scale and spectacle of the film series was nonetheless an astounding achievement.

In Magical Places from the Films, author Jody Revenson revisits a number of key sets from the movies, along with substantial input from production designer Stuart Craig. Virtually every major location from the series is covered in loving detail, including plentiful behind the scenes photos and some stunning concept art. As you’d expect, a sizeable portion of the book – around half – is devoted to the series’ primary location of Hogwarts. But the likes of King’s Cross, Diagon Alley and the Ministry of Magic all get their own chapters, in enough minute detail to please even the most ardent Potterhead.

Revenson also conjures up lots of trivia regarding the series. Whilst a lot of it may not be news to the series’ more obsessive fans, for the less devoted, there’s plenty to discover. Did you know that Platform 9 ¾ was actually located between King’s Cross’ platforms four and five? Or that Alan Rickman requested that any personal items be removed from Snape’s home? Or that the interior of the Hogwarts Express was inspired by A Hard Day’s Night?

The book also charts how the series progressed. For the early films, in particular Philosopher’s Stone, many scenes were shot on location, partly for budgetary reasons, partly because Warner’s were unsure whether the series would be a hit. Once the films became a phenomenon, however, the locations, including the entire street where Harry lives, were painstakingly recreated at Leavesden Studios, where much of it still stands today as part of the studio tour.

Being an official companion book to the series has its downside, of course. There’s very little in the way of gossip here. The payoff is, of course, lots of exclusive behind the scenes stuff you won’t find anywhere else. The concept art in particular is stunning and shows what a labour of love the series was for those who created it. Another minor gripe – in a series so quintessentially British, writing the book from an American perspective is occasionally grating. For example, the first film is constantly referred to by its U.S. title, The Sorcerer’s Stone, as well as numerous other concessions for an American audience.

As a behind the scenes book, Magical Places is hardly ground-breaking but is detailed enough to avoid feeling like the cheap cash-in often associated with books of this type. If you don’t know your Accio from your Engorgio, you’re not going to find much here to enjoy. But for Potter fans, get yourself a couple of chocolate frogs, crack open a Butterbeer, and indulge yourself.

INFO: HARRY POTTER: MAGICAL PLACES FROM THE FILMS / AUTHOR: JODY REVENSON / PUBLISHER: TITAN BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE ALBINO’S TREASURE

It is with pleasure that we take up our pens again to report on a new outing for the great detective. This one comes to us courtesy of Stuart Douglas, a man who has form in chronicling the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. In 2013, his story The Adventure of The Locked Carriage appeared in the Titan Books anthology Encounters Of Sherlock Holmes and is one of the few whose solutions we actually remember offhand (that is, without having to get up and walk all the way to the STARBURST bookshelf to look up the finer details).

Barring the somewhat cliché-ridden ‘this tale was too sensational to be published at the time’ introductory twaddle that we’ve come to expect of recent Holmes novels, Douglas weaves a clever and occasionally humorous scavenger hunt of a novel, and with so many characters in play you never know quite who to trust. Also, Fu Manchu (referred to here as the Lord of Strange Deaths) is a pivotal part of the story, so fans of that character will be pleased by his appearance here.

It’s not perfectly told, sadly; characters would turn up and announce their plans, meriting a hasty flick back through the pages to find out just who the hell they were. But when the plot becomes clear near the end, it makes total sense and the author thankfully didn’t have to resort to too much exposition. Holmes does make a few missteps, but they are just as logical in their own way as the right answer turns out to be, as the errors in his thinking come about through making the most of the information that is available to him at the time.

If you’re looking for an idea of what kind of Holmes story this is, think The Six Napoleons flavoured with a touch of The Musgrave Ritual and just a dash of National Treasure. We’ll certainly be coming back to it for another go in our free time and are looking forward to Douglas’ next outing.

INFO: THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE ALBINO’S TREASURE / AUTHOR: STUART DOUGLAS / PUBLISHER: TITAN BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: MAY 29TH
 

THE ART OF MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

Now we’ve all had the chance to see the glory that is Fury Road (what? You’ve not? Go – NOW!) we can fully appreciate this (somewhat inevitable) tie-in coffee table art book.
Through a collection of amazingly-reproduced photographs, storyboards and pre-production artwork we can re-live the film, picking out fine points which may (and probably were) missed in a blur of sand and screeching wheels. Get to see the elaborate tattoo etched onto Max’s back before he becomes a living blood bank, Nux the War Boy’s chest scarification, which is meant to be an internal combustion engine, as well as marvel at the stunningly detailed set design of The Citadel. As everyone has sat in awe in the cinema at George Miller’s stunning vision, it’s glorious to be able to take one’s time and immerse yourself in the world once more. 
There’s plenty to devour here, and tasty facts on almost every page; such as Max’s jacket being modelled on the original Road Warrior leather, which was found in the building of producer Kennedy Miller Mitchell, mouldy and dirty. The wardrobe department recreated the look right down to little details, as well as keeping the famous American football shoulder pad and missing arm.

There’s several interesting revelations; such as the aforementioned Nux, who in the early Brendan McCarthy illustrations looked like a cross between Bullseye from Daredevil, and Tank Girl; the detail in the twisted macabre adornments in the cars and on the sets, the masks and weaponry.
Oh, and those cars… there’s plenty for the petrolheads to feast their eyes on as each of the supped-up vehicles get their spot in the limelight. From Max’s famous V-8 Interceptor to the elaborately knocked-together monsters such as Immortan Joe’s imposing Gigahorse, which incorporates two Cadillac bodies mounted (intentionally) very sexually on top of each other.

It’s also fascinating to read how much of the effect and stunt work was done in-camera. Sure, there’s CGI shots filling out the expanse of The Citadel, and the terrifying toxic storm couldn’t have taken place without computer enhancement, but the sheer volume of practical props, effects and sets makes this an absolute pleasure to flick through and absorb. Like the film itself, it’s a pleasurable assault on the eyes, and certainly an essential addition to any film fan’s collection.

INFO: AUTHOR: ABBIE BERNSTEIN / PUBLISHER: TITAN BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

BILL, THE GALACTIC HERO

Harry Harrison’s classic story of the hilarious perils of deep space, Bill, the Galactic Hero, is reissued following its recent adaptation as an indie student film by director Alex Cox.

Bill, the Galactic Hero sees our hapless hero face countless perils, more than often resulting in hilarious atrocities. From that first unfortunate recruitment into the Space Troopers after being drugged and hypnotised, to a lost week spent on the planet Helior, more than often ending in disaster for Bill.

Bill dreamed of being a technical fertilizer operator, but Space Trooper officer Deathwish Drang has other plans for him, recruiting him for the endless fight against the Chingers.

After his unfortunate recruitment into the Space Troopers, Bill tries to constantly avoid danger, but he more than often finds himself being thrown head first into it, and when he’s not facing the towering lizard enemies in the form of the dreaded Chingers, or being unwillingly recruited as a spy, he’s more than often finding himself being thrown into imminent danger and heroism. With each accidental feat of heroism more than often resulting in some of the most amusing mishaps that seem to be never ending, poor hapless Bill just can’t catch a break, even when he’s gifted with an extra right arm.

A hilarious read with a sinister streak and who’s influence is still felt in science fiction today, from the humorous and more than often perilous adventures of Futurama‘s Fry and Bender, to the unfortunate and hilarious mishaps of Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Bill, the Galactic Hero has helped to inspire countless others, bringing a touch of sinister hilarity to the science fiction genre.

Definitely worth a read if you’ve never picked it up before, and if you like your sci-fi with a pinch of sinister humour and satire then you’ll certainly find it entertaining.

INFO: BILL, THE GALACTIC HERO / AUTHOR: HARRY HARRISON / PUBLISHER: GOLLANCZ / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

HOW STAR WARS CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE: THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF A MULTIBILLION DOLLAR FRANCHISE

Mashable’s deputy editor Chris Taylor has painstakingly compiled the definitive guide to Star Wars and its much maligned creator George Lucas. From the informative and witty introduction which taps into Navajo culture making for a surprising vantage point to dissect the franchise. By conjuring some of the spirit of ’77 with all the self-assured style of a novelist, Taylor lets readers glean a little bit of that magic for themselves.

The prose is smart, but never overwhelmingly so; potentially dense, but written in a way that is neither solely academic nor journalistic. Instead it’s an honest and welcoming style that feels like conversation between fans. The book is exhaustive at well over 400 pages, but the quality of the writing and impressive research and wit will keep you committed. Crucially, Taylor makes clear that Star Wars, nay sci-fi, was counter cultural, and that sci-fi was as embryonic of youth culture as much as rock ‘n’ roll. It’s hard to imagine after the CGI daze of the prequel trilogies, but then there’s the five stages of prequel grief to help you work that out.

The book takes a worldly view, uncovering all pockets of fandom in perhaps the only true global cultural phenomenon. Taylor puts Star Wars in a historical context as far back as the 1800s. Much of the early chapters explode the formative years and crucial early influences of Lucas. At its core, the book is a comprehensive biography of The Creator, but as always, Star Wars was more than just the brainchild of one individual.

Chapter 3 is all but dedicated to the tragic birth of the 501st legion and its surprising and meteoric rise. Chapter 4 is particularly fascinating as it explicitly outlines the 12 key influences and factors that informed Star Wars. Chapter 5 is a theological exploration of the force and the spread of Jedi as a religion on the census and beyond. Spoof Wars, Chapter 9, is a heady and exhaustive look at the slew of Star Wars parodies. Chapter 16, Being Boba, is an intimate insight into the beloved and fleeting character. Even Ghyslain Raza, AKA Star Wars Kid, gets a look in and, as always, there was much more to the story than a kid practicing his lightsaber moves.

But perhaps Taylor’s greatest accomplishment with the book is granting a new found respect for Lucas, or just a greater understanding of a man who has worn a Star Wars-shaped shackle around his ankle for almost 40 years. With the incessant speed of the web, there’s already parts of the book that feel out of date, pre-empting, no doubt, a series of re-issues and revisions to come.

INFO: HOW STAR WARS CONQUERED THE UNIVERSE: THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF A MULTIBILLION DOLLAR FRANCHISE / AUTHOR: CHRIS TAYLOR / PUBLISHER: HEAD OF ZEUS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN HORROR FILM: A HISTORY OF MAD PROFESSORS, STUDENT BODIES, AND FINAL EXAMS

While Andrew L. Grunzke’s new book, Educational Institutions in Horror Film: A History of Mad Professors, Student Bodies, and Final Exams has a title longer than we’re ever willing to type again, it’s a surprisingly readable book. Grunzke takes the titular concept and stretches it further than you’d initially suspect, making the book about far more than just the mad scientist pictured on the cover, although one would be hard-pressed to believe so in the earlier chapters.

For those familiar with horror films, and the history of them which ostensibly starts at the Universal era, the second chapter of Grunzke’s book will be a bit of a slog through “been there, done that.” “Is There a Doctor in the House?” covers the mad scientists who set the standard for the trope: Abraham Van Helsing and the various Doctor Frankensteins. If you’re familiar on any level, even somewhat vaguely, with the films being discussed, it’s something you’ll try to speed through, as it’s essentially just setting the groundwork for what will come later.

Working Van Helsing in as a “doctor,” and thus man of science, does at least offer up an intriguing example of where modern thinking and superstition collide, but other than that, this part of the book had us worried that it was going to be yet another retread of familiar tropes and topics.

It’s the chapter on Dr. Jekyll, along with his various alternate identities, that really starts to broach ideas of which I’d never considered. Grunzke makes a very interesting point, in that despite what Jekyll may turn into – be it Ms. Hyde, Mr. Hyde, or some other brutal creature – the basic plot of the story never really changes. The settings may vary, Jekyll may be anything from a chemist to a virologist, and there might be elements of gender or race introduced into the story, but despite these changes, “the story of Dr. Jekyll was told and retold for 70 years with only minor variations.”

Where things really get interesting are the chapters on high school, college, and summer camps as loci of educational horror. Grunzke’s point that modern horror takes the familiar and renders it frightening is explored fully in these three chapters. Student Bodies, on high school, introduces the concept that, starting with Psycho in 1960, horror would move toward “a more quotidian setting,” that of urban or suburban places. It’s also worth noting that the high school horror film utilized to great effect the way in which revenge fantasies can play out. Many of the films cited – Prom Night, Carrie et al – deal with vengeance against bullies.

This personal writer’s favorite chapter is Final Exams and Greek Tragedies, exploring college-set horror films, because while it looks at college-based horror as a whole, the focus on the fraternity and sorority system really provides an interesting bit of contrast to the idea that college is the last place where a mad scientist can exist. The horror of the mad scientist type – Re-Animator, for example – has the image of the solitary person against the world counterbalanced by the Greek system films, wherein the threat of impending horror binds a group together.

The reason for being solitary or bound together is the same: there’s usually a precipitating event which sets the group against the individual. With the mad scientist films, the individual is the protagonist fighting off the department wishing to shut him down,, whereas the Greek system films have the group binding together to fight off a threatening individual. In both cases, the protagonist created the threat against them, be it research which has brought authority down on them, or a sorority killing someone and needing to hide the body and fight off whomever is seeking revenge.

The final chapter of analysis, Survival Training, takes the concept of college-based horror – young people away from home and free from adult influence – and places it in a rural, rather than urban, setting. The chapter outlines the history of summer camps at its outset, a necessary means of making this non-scholastic setting into a locus of educational horror. Focusing mainly on the Friday the 13th and Sleepaway Camp movies, the chapter is brief but makes the excellent suggestion that as camps were originally set up to morally improve the lives of youth, the manner in which the characters learn the lessons of morality and survival skills is perhaps a bit different than the original camp founders might have intended.

In conclusion, Andrew Grunzke takes a concept which could have been tired and sad – the mad scientist working in his lab – and expands the idea of the learning institution as a setting into so much more. The author’s exploration of tropes, plots, and the contrasting means in which different settings are used makes for a read that will have you reconsidering some of your favorite films, as well as seeking out new discoveries for further study.

INFO: EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN HORROR FILM: A HISTORY OF MAD PROFESSORS, STUDENT BODIES, AND FINAL EXAMS / AUTHOR: ANDREW L. GRUNZKE / PUBLISHER: PALGRAVE MACMILLAN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW