Parasite Positive / Crooked Little Vein

Parasite Positive by Scott Westerfeld

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group (Import – June 30, 2007)

and

Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis

Publisher: William Morrow/HarperCollins (Hardback – July24, 2007)

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Enjoyed two books in the last couple days. one definitively more than the other.

I picked up a brand new discount bin copy of Scott Westerfeld’s Parasite Positive. It is an imported book. The US Title is Peeps. The name of the book from the UK is far better. Peeps is fine for slang but is a lame name for the book itself in my opinion. But that is a Strike against the publisher not the Westerfeld. The last thing i want to do when I pick up a book is look at the binding and wonder why there is not a yellow marshmallow Easter chick on it instead of humans

Peeps look like yellow fluffy sugar coated dog turds, and thus make me feel funny.. inside.. my stomach.. 

This book is pretty enjoyable, a little bit frustrating. Set in the current times, imagine a world where vampires exist. They are not as we describe in mythology and urban legend, similar but not the same. In Parasite Positive (peeps for short), people can be infected by a parasite through kissing or sexual activity.

Cal, a first year NYC college student from Texas, hooks up with a woman in a bar and loses his virginity. He does not see her again. Soon after, every girl he kisses or is other wise physically intimate with goes bat-shit insane. They have contracted a virus from him.

The virus rewires your brain slightly, give the typical super human strength, yadda, yadda. Cal is brought into a secret organization to hunt down Peeps, Starting with his ex-girlfriends.

It played out in a faster paced story line than I prefer. the ending seemed far too cut and paste, and main characters became too forgiving. It was frustrating to see a good set of characters get a cleansing white wash treatment for no apparent reason, other than a need to close out the storyline. I was pleased to read that there is a sequel, but i am unsure if i will be picking it up. maybe i will read the first chapter at Powells and see if Scott give people back their written vitality. otherwise.. meh.

Best part of the book, every other chapter is a short information package on different parasites in our world, their effects, habits, and horrors. personally, these little segments were my favorite parts.

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Crooked Little Vein – Warren Ellis, “awesome” in a box… ready to be mixed, baked, and eaten while you are stoned and listening your records.

Now, do not confuse your Warren Ellises here. The Ellis who wrote this book is not the phenomenal composer who works with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Grinderman (with nick cave and a bunch of the seeds), and Dirty Three.

No, this Ellis is of comic series Transmetropolitan, among other comics, books, tv shows, etc.. He puts forward one hell of a book here.

hm.. i dont know where to start here. I guess with a quick thank you.. THANK YOU JARET AND JENN. i read through this book in a few hours time while i was riding the max train to work and back.

No spoiler here, the description given here will happen in the first five-10 pages.

Apparently, back in the day, founding father Benjamin Franklin wrote a book when he was in france for a few days. The book was written when his nights sleep was interrupted 6 nights in a row by an alien being. On the seventh night, he punches the alien in the face and kills it instantly. Ben Franklin then takes the aliens skin and binds his book.

What exactly is this book? It is an alternate and secondary constitution to the united staed. it is the fix for everything bad that every happened to our country and our people… only problem is that Nixon gave the book away back in the ’50s and no one knows where it is.

again, this is in the first few pages. the main character, Mike McGill, wakes up? to find a giant rat taking a piss into his coffee cup and then appears to be laughing at him. before he can adjust to the zoological ramifications of a rat taking pleasure in his pain, he is approached by a high power politician. The politician would like to pay him $500,000 to find the book and return it. its not that he is the best detective in America, they want him because he is a “shit magnet” and as such, the book will likely just come to him directly.

Not sold on Crooked Little Vein yet? Two words:

Godzilla Bukkake… (if you do not know what bukkake is, look it up first. it will help you determine if this book is a good match for you)

Buy this book. borrow it. steal it (then give it back with foot notes)…

One last thing, Listening to Grinderman while reading this book is fantastic.. so you could actually have both Warren Ellis parts at once.. i wold highly suggest it actually. Grinderman is a nice cooperative sound to the hilarious and surprise of the books scenes…

oh yeah.. i wanna holler out to spider jerusalem. props. love you man,… even if you are fiction.