Review Category: Books

THE COMIC GALAXY OF MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000

BOOK REVIEW: THE COMIC GALAXY OF MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 / AUTHOR: CHRIS MORGAN / PUBLISHER: MCFARLAND AND COMPANY / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

The good news is that someone’s finally written a book focusing on the illustrious cult classic television program, Mystery Science Theater 3000. The bad news is that it isn’t particularly noteworthy. Chris Morgan’s new book, The Comic Galaxy of Mystery Science Theater 3000: Twelve Classic Episodes and the Movies They Lampoon, might as well have been a series of blog posts.

Morgan begins with a solid concept, in that he’s going to present an overview of MST3K by focusing on one episode from each season of the program, as well as one chapter each on the MST3K movie and the myriad short films featured on the show. It’s a sound idea, and that particular aspect of The Comic Galaxy works rather well. The author is able to trace the history of the show from its public access roots to its death on the SciFi network.

In this vein, Morgan succeeds: as you read along, you see how MST3K began humbly as a time-filler on Minneapolis public access station KTMA, then grew to take shape on the nascent Comedy Central, which in turn outgrew it, and finally, how it came to end its 197 episode run on SciFi. You meet the principle actors, you see how they come and go, and even get a sense of where they are now.

However, that’s essentially the end of The Comic Galaxy‘s high points. The bulk of Morgan’s text consists of episode/movie plot summaries, with opinion following each, wherein the author explains how he thinks this fits in the overall arc of MST3K. Morgan’s not fond of certain jokes (most notably, he seems to regard anything regarding an actor or actress’ appearance to be rather low), but neither is he fond of brevity. Each film’s plot is related in full, and same goes for the episode’s plot. It gets a little repetitive, especially given the fact that it’s all Morgan, and that’s where The Comic Galaxy really fails.

What would’ve made The Comic Galaxy an excellent read would’ve been a voice other than Morgan’s. As stated earlier, this may as well have been a series of blog posts, because it’s basically just plot summary, opinion, and some background details gleaned from Wikipedia and last year’s oral history in Wired magazine. At no point does the author engage in research of his own. It would’ve been worthwhile to have read more regarding how the directors and actors in the films being riffed regarded their work when it was originally released, to say nothing of speaking with those at Best Brains behind MST3K, but everything in that regard is limited to already-extant work.

Also worth noting is the concluding chapter, What Do You Think, Sirs?, wherein Morgan admits that he “did not touch on every significant, notable episode.” It’s a valid argument that, given the show’s nearly 200 episodes, that’s a tough order, but even within the confines of how Morgan chose to write The Comic Galaxy, he doesn’t use the possibilities available to him. Case in point: the first episode covered, Gamera, makes mention of the fact that MST3K would later redo the film in its third season. Why not take the opportunity to compare and contrast the two, showing how the show grew? Why not take the opportunity to show how the program would call back to previous episodes, as they showed a full five Gamera films in a very short period?

When it all comes down to it, Chris Morgan’s new book, The Comic Galaxy of Mystery Science Theater 3000 is more an exercise in what could have been, rather than a book worth owning. Hardcore MSTies will already know everything being presented, and casual fans will find themselves quickly bored by the lengthy plot summaries and pedantic opinion. Here’s to hoping that someone will take the ideas presented here and do something rather more ambitious.

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CROW MOON

BOOK REVIEW: CROW MOON / AUTHOR: ANNA MCKERROW / PUBLISHER: QUERCUS / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 5TH

A worldwide energy crisis – and a long-running war in Russia for any oil reserves that exist – has caused a dramatic shift in society, the creation of the Greenworld and the Redworld. In the Greenworld villages, like the one sixteen year old Danny lives in, people have dedicated themselves to cleaner living and a profound respect for nature. It’s effectively a pagan existence, and Danny’s mother is the Head Witch of her village, who all the other villagers look to for protection and guidance.

The Redworld is what all the towns outside the Greenworld are called, forbidden places that have no power and where lawlessness reigns.

Danny isn’t a witch. He’s a cocky teenage boy who’s more interested in impressing girls and when one of those girls asks him to steal his mother’s valuable tarot cards – just for a while, just so she can look at them – and the tarot cards end up being destroyed, it launches Danny onto a journey of danger and romance, and the realisation that he has witchcraft powers of his own.

But when Danny agrees to become a witch and learn how to develop his skills, he discovers he is strongly psychically connected to one of his teacher’s previous students, a sinister Redworld gang leader called Roach who visits Danny in dreams and wants Danny ‘to let him in’ to share Danny’s power – but Roach has an even deeper agenda than that, and if he isn’t stopped he will destroy everything.

Bookshelves are packed with stories about young girls who become witches to realise their destiny so it is to Anna McKerrow’s credit that she’s tried to level the playing field by making Crow Moon’s trainee witch a teenage boy who, initially, only agrees to become a witch because he’s got a thumping hard-on for another witch’s daughter. But this ‘twist’ is also where Crow Moon trips over because, apart from hormonally-challenged Danny, the story is exactly like every other teenage girl-oriented witchcraft-fantasy out there – apart from the odd comment about staring at boobs and rubbing a girl’s kiss into his cheek as ‘a salve for horniness’ (note to author: that phrase would never enter a horny teenage boys head – trust me, I was one) Crow Moon’s Danny could just as easily be another girl-destined-to-become-a-witch-destined-to-have-to-go-on-a-big-adventure.

To put it more clearly, despite her good intentions and the fact that Crow Moon is generally very well written and Anna McKerrow has obviously done plenty of witchcraft research, she can’t write in a male voice. And when that male voice is the one that’s telling the story, it kills the whole idea stone dead (or stoned the crow…?) Disappointing.

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IN SEARCH OF LOST DRAGONS

BOOK REVIEW: IN SEARCH OF LOST DRAGONS / AUTHOR: ELIAN BLACK’MOR, CARINE-M, JEZEQUEL / ARTIST: ELIAN BLACK’MOR, CARINE-M / PUBLISHER: DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT/ RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Dynamite Entertainment has just released a beautifully illustrated, hardcover (or eBook) work titled In Search of Lost Dragons. It is the English translation of a French art book – Sur La Piste Des Dragons Oublies – and has to be seen to be believed. At over 200 pages, there are countless full colour illustrations and odd steampunk/Victorian-style sketches and notes making this book truly different.

This is not a comic book, rather the journal of an illustrator documenting journeys across Europe in search of dragons of all kinds, taking in the Middle East and Saigon in a grand, sweeping narrative. Almost every page has a breathtaking piece of art and it is not possible to pick a single favourite. The mood is maintained throughout with snippets of journal, odd notes, newspaper clippings and other odds and ends.

The book is not afraid to name its influences and there are name checks for (of course) Jules Verne as well as Tolkien. There are numerous maps showing where the dragons live or were encountered, botanist’s notes and sketches of rare plants and endless details that almost leave the reader believing in the veracity of the book and its invisible narrator’s journey. There is even much to be learned – who knew that a Jenny Haniver was a grotesquely preserved carcass of a ray or skate, altered to appear like a preserved mermaid, and also the name of a flying ship in the Mortal Engines series? This is a book to savour, enjoy and contemplate.

It is very hard to do justice to something so visually appealing with mere words. If you even vaguely think this might be of interest, get it – you won’t be disappointed.

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STAR WARS: HEIR TO THE JEDI

BOOK REVIEW: STAR WARS: HEIR TO THE JEDI / AUTHOR: KEVIN HEARNE / PUBLISHER: DEL REY / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 3RD

This is a strange time for Star Wars fans. Freed from the baggage of the Expanded Universe and looking forward to a Lucas-free future, there’s an odd vibe to the few Star Wars novels and spin-offs that are being released as we all patiently wait for The Force Awakens to hit our screens. Star Wars: Heir to the Jedi is a tale set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and details the misadventures of a young Luke Skywalker who is coming to terms with his new status as a hero of the Rebel Alliance.

The plot is pretty straightforward; Luke is sent on an errand by the Rebel Alliance to extract the Star Wars version of a computer hacker from the clutches of the Empire. He is assisted by Nakari Kelen, the heir of a biotech mogul, who not only has her own axe to grind with the Empire, but also happens to own a pretty sweet spaceship. Luke’s mission is to act as both bodyguard and pilot, and to get the job done as quickly as possible.

There are some nice touches here; the hacker is part of the Givin, a mathematically-inclined species that greet each with mathematic equations, and Nakari is interesting enough, though seems quite underused throughout the story. Luke is likeable throughout, and Hearne is clearly very comfortable with the character and the universe he inhabits.

Those expecting brave new steps in the Star Wars canon might be a little disappointed, but hopefully not surprised; very little about the events of this novel put a new spin on the movies. We do get a fresh look into Luke’s Jedi training. We learn more about where his light sabre knowledge comes from and get an insight into how good he is at trying to master his Force powers without guidance.

Beyond that, there isn’t much else to the novel. It’s a lightly-written, enjoyable space romp with some action and some adventure. It does feel a bit video game like in places; Luke is frequently going from point A to point B in order to pick up something necessary for his mission. Though this does make sense (the Rebel Alliance is short on resources), it also feels like padding.

Star Wars: Heir to the Jedi is a nice distraction whilst we wait for the real action to happen, but it’s a very light read. It’s a nice bit of space opera popcorn and quite fun, but nothing more than that.

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THE PARANORMAL DIARIES CLOPHILL

BOOK REVIEW: THE PARANORMAL DIARIES CLOPHILL / AUTHOR: KEVIN GATES / PUBLISHER: OFFWORLD FILMS AND BLEEDING EDGE FILMS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

In March 1963, the tiny village of Clophill, nestled away in the English countryside between Luton and Bedford in the Flit Valley, achieved a peculiar notoriety in the wake of revelations of what appeared to be Black Magic rituals carried out in the crumbling remains of Old St Mary’s Church which overlook the village. The public’s imagination was fired by lurid press reports of desecrated graves, animal remains and, most macabrely, an exhumed skull impaled on a spike. This was to be only the beginning for Clophill and the surrounding areas, which were to be plagued by reports and sightings of strange rituals and apparitions for decades to come. But what’s the history of the sinister-sounding Clophill – the name alone conjurs up visions of some satanic horned beast stalking the countryside at dead of night – and what is it about Old St Mary’s Church that attracts the attention of practitioners of the Dark Arts and ghost-hunters alike?

In 2010, Kevin Gates, fascinated by Clophill and its ruined church since childhood, directed the superior ‘found footage’ style British horror film The Paranormal Diaries – Clophill (released on DVD in 2013, its making is detailed in a chapter towards the end of the book). Now he’s published an extraordinary and fascinating account of Clophill and Old St. Mary’s and tried to rationalise and make sense of the admittedly bizarre attention it’s received since the first recorded ‘defilement’ on the tumbledown church in 1963. The book is wonderfully thorough and commendably chronological, taking the reader back to the origins of the village in the time of the Saxons and Danes, the troubled history of ‘the church on the hill’, a brief history of witchcraft and Black Magic in mainland Britain, and finally to the core of the book which details the events of March 1963 and their lingering and eventful aftermath. And it’s not all about Clophill. There are terrifying tales of goings-on in other remote neighbouring woodland areas and stories of eerie encounters in and around an unwelcoming ‘dark tunnel’ under the M1 in Bedfordshire. Colourful characters abound too, especially Clophill’s Reverand Lewis Barker who found little or no peace once the village became virtually a public attraction in the wake of the 1963 incident.

Whether you’re a believer in paranormal activity and ghostly goings-on (the book is more concerned with Black Magic activity than occasional and rather fanciful supernatural sightings) or just think it’s all a load of old hooey, there’s no doubt that Kevin Gates has written an absorbing page-turner, dripping with history and atmosphere. The book beautifully evokes a very English world of dark ritual, violated graveyards and mysterious midnight masses laced through with a sinister undercurrent of the unearthly and of things best left undisturbed and unexplored. Definitely one for a dark, rainy winter’s night but possibly not for those of a tender and nervous disposition. Or anyone living near a ruined church…

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EDGE OF DARK – THE GLITTERING EDGE BOOK ONE

BOOK REVIEW: EDGE OF DARK – THE GLITTERING EDGE BOOK ONE / AUTHOR: BRENDA COOPER / PUBLISHER: PYR / RELEASE DATE: APRIL 3RD

Brenda Cooper, author of The Creative Fire and The Diamond Deep, returns with new book Edge of Dark which tells the story of a banished group of people who have been cast off into the furthest reaches of the solar system to die. Instead of dying they thrive, evolve and return to the sun to wage war on those who threw them aside.

The book is split up into three, with narration by Nona Hall, a privileged child of power from The Diamond Deep; Charlie Windar, a ranger exploring his home planet; and Chrystal, Nona’s best friend who has awakened in a robot body. All three characters eventually come together and dividing the novel up into sections is a great device for setting up each part of the world but unfortunately the world is never fully explored in depth.

While there are characters who are supposed to have no feeling and no emotion, it feels like all the characters speak in the same tone and voice with no emotion at all. Nothing feels different and it is hard to tell who is the lifeless A.I. from across the galaxy and who is the human with flesh, blood and vitality.

The book plays with some interesting ideas, most notably artificial intelligence, but it never explores these themes fully, instead being bogged down by dialogue and long explanations of motivations.

Edge of Dark assumes familiarity with Cooper’s previous books, so new readers will most likely be put off but fans will most likely enjoy a return journey into Cooper’s sprawling sci-fi world. Edge of Dark is an intriguing concept but ultimately it is a confusing book that contradicts itself and is really only for fans of Cooper’s previous work.

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THE VAGRANT

BOOK REVIEW: THE VAGRANT / AUTHOR: PETER NEWMAN / PUBLISHER: HARPER VOYAGER / RELEASE DATE: APRIL 23RD

Armed with a legendary sword and a perilously cute baby, the debut novel from Peter Newman charts the journey of the lonely, silent Vagrant to the Shining City – the last bastion of the human race and the final hope in the ongoing war against the Usurper and hordes of infernal demons. But as many junior philosophers and wise grandparents will dictate, it’s about the journey across the dangerous, war-torn landscape rather than the crumbling destination.

The Vagrant wraps this belief under his cloak and nonchalantly struts with it. As a silent protagonist, Newman uses the character like a muted wandering magnet for other beings to cling too. With each location presenting new faces which colour the world and who react to the Vagrant’s distanced ways with a varying mix of trepidation, uncertainty and hopeful trust.

Unfortunately, the Vagrant himself is an uninteresting mood suck. Newman’s attempts at crafting an alluring ‘mysterious’ type quickly wear thin when his reactions rarely go beyond smiling, nodding or feeling a bit exhausted by those surrounding him. Having two other non-speaking characters (the aforementioned baby and a comical goat) along for the ride doesn’t help either; causing some early sections to read like a fantasy Attenborough documentary – with expressions and movements feeling deciphered from behind a faraway rose bush via a battered set of binoculars.

Luckily, the supporting characters provide some welcome respite. Harm’s growing attachment to the carried baby proves more interesting than perhaps originally intentioned, considering how it goes ignored by the conclusion. The sleazy and bumbling Ezze also lights up the pages, giving Newman the chance to play with some interesting dialogue, which feels sorely missed elsewhere.

Even as the origins of the war and the Vagrant’s past are slowly drip-fed in flashbacks, you never truly feel the weight of what’s at stake. The world feels underdeveloped, and many of the locales and events breezily past by without a chance to leave a lasting impression. It’s a shame, especially in the latter half when the story gathers momentum and you feel yourself wanting to be invested.

While perfectly readable and possibly worth a look for diehard fantasy fans, The Vagrant never really ignites into the epic adventure it strives to be. With a stronger central character and a more engaging world to get lost in, Newman could become a fantasy author to watch.

DOCTOR WHO – THE ANTI-HERO (TIME TRIPS)

BOOK REVIEW: DOCTOR WHO – THE ANTI-HERO / AUTHOR: STELLA DUFFY / PUBLISHER: BBC BOOKS (E-BOOK) / AUTHOR: STELLA DUFFY / OUT NOW

The TARDIS deposits the second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe at the legendary ancient Museum of Alexandria in the year 50AD where they find themselves caught up in the intrigues of the genius Hero and his artificial robotic Muses. Zoe’s search for astronomical enlightenment and Jamie’s quest for a recipe for perfect porridge could well turn out to be the downfall for all three of our time travellers…

This latest entry in the BBC’s occasional ‘Time Trips’ E-book series, written by novelist and playwright Stella Duffy, is a quirky, good-natured affair. But fans yearning for an old-fashioned atmospheric second Doctor yarn are likely to be a little disappointed as the forty-odd page story bears little or no resemblance to any Doctor Who serial from the 1960s and the TARDIS crew are only vaguely recognisable as the characters seen on TV forty-odd years ago. The Doctor is occasionally puckish and quixotic, Zoe displays some of her familiar scientific aloofness but, with his bagpipe-playing and previously unexpressed passion for porridge, Jamie is only a deep-fried Mars Bar away from being an embarrassing Scottish cliché.

Duffy clearly knows her Greek mythology and her depiction of the nine Muses who are said to be the inspiration for literature, science and the arts – albeit as robot replicas created by Hero and later as benevolent visiting saving-the-day aliens – allows her to steer the Doctor and co into the previously uncharted waters of the classical arts. It’s not an altogether successful combination, as the story is so massively untypical of the Doctor Who era it plays with but there’s some fun to be had with Duffy’s playful dialogue and a scenario which does at least manage to put the TARDIS crew in mild peril before the misguided ‘bad guy’ Hero decides to see the error of his ways without much real excitement or serious character conflict.

‘The Anti-Hero’ won’t trouble you for long and if its depiction of the Troughton-era is hugely off-kilter – there’s not a Cybermen or a base-under-siege in sight – it’s good to see that the BBC are still willing to allow writers to play with characters last seen on TV years before most of the range’s readers were even born. Breezily inoffensive.

HATERZ

BOOK REVIEW: HATERZ / AUTHOR: JAMES GOSS / PUBLISHER: SOLARIS / RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 24TH

James Goss is better known for his work on various Doctor Who-related novels and audios, and technological thriller Haterz is his first crime novel, and a very impressive one at that.

The plot of Haterz is quite clever. Dave, our protagonist, is a social media junkie who also happens to have rather good acting and technical skills. Driven to the edge of reason by a friend’s incessant hectoring via social media, he commits homicide. Thus begins the live of Dave the Serial Killer, a person who actually goes out and kills all those awful people who wind you up when you browse the web.

Goss writes with a razor sharp wit and uses it to cut Internet culture to the bone. The central character is brilliantly thought-out; utterly loathsome in many regards, and yet at the same time we’re constantly cheering him on as he hunts down and destroys the monsters of the modern age. Each chapter focuses on a specific Internet phenomena; trolls on Twitter, con-artists on Facebook, agit-prop columnists on news websites, and so on. Each element is treated with an equal amount of venom and humour.

Of particular interest to book lovers are the scenes that involve a Twitter storm. If the tale of one minor personality using Twitter to attack the host of a popular genre convention sounds familiar, you will find yourself laughing very hard at the Haterz version of events. Goss carefully blends a wide variety of online phenomena and nothing is held sacred. This is extremely refreshing satire, told in a bold and clever way.

If you’ve ever written anything unwise on the Internet or felt that social media is just too dominant in our lives, this will appeal to you. Partially an angry polemic against the way technology has shaped our worldview, but mostly a very clever social satire, Haterz is a technological thriller that actually understands how the World Wide Web has changed people. Funny, clever and shocking, this book, somewhat ironically, deserves to go viral.

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WILD CARDS: LOWBALL

BOOK REVIEW: WILD CARDS: LOWBALL / AUTHOR: GEORGE R.R. MARTIN, MELINDA M. SNODGRASS / PUBLISHER: GOLLANCZ / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

There have been some sinister goings-on in Jokertown. Many resident Jokers have gone missing with the authorities initially paying only scant attention. It falls on Father Squid to begin the investigation with the help of local celebrity Marcus: African-American man from the waist up; banded snake from the waist down. It soon becomes clear that the conspiracy goes much deeper than first feared, potentially threatening all the inhabitants of New York and Jokertown equally.

If the above means absolutely nothing to you then it is very likely you have never come across the hugely colourful selection of mosaic novels edited by George R. R. Martin and Melinda M. Snodgrass known as the Wild Card series. Following an alien virus that mysteriously rained down on New York in the middle of the 20th century, many survivors were transformed into strange hybrid creatures known as Jokers or given superpowers – in some cases both. Everything from tentacled appendages to the ability to make imaginary characters real is now commonplace, but the same basic crimes still exist and the disappearance of a few Jokers quickly develops into a serious problem for the under-manned police force.

Lowball is a decent entry in the Wild Card series but is one that may not sate the appetite of existing fans and is unlikely to attract too many new ones. Focussing much more on the seedier side of Jokertown and concentrating primarily on the Nats, or unaffected, than previous novels, Lowball is without doubt extremely well written with a host of fascinating and bizarre characters, some old, some new. The problem that exists is that there is less cohesion between the intertwining stories than in other novels, with some plotlines and characters simply disappearing or the stories just fading away to unsatisfactory conclusions.

Perhaps as the middle book in a proposed trilogy these failings are understandable, and the Wild Card series is always an enjoyable read, but Lowball doesn’t quite deliver on its early promise as perhaps it should.