Posts

Showing posts from September, 2010

The Demolished Man (Alfred Bester)

Image
‘The Demolished Man’, set in the 24th century ( 2301-2400 ), pre-meditated murder has been abolished. It is not that people do not have murderous thoughts, crimes of passion still occur. Mankind has begun to harvest latent abilities in the human mind. Telepaths, known as Espers, are globally recognized and have formed a society inside our own. It is the existence of these telepathic individuals that deters murder. How can you avoid being “demolished” if the details of the murder you commit are easily read by a man standing next to you? How can you commit the murder in the first place, if someone walking down the street can hear your mind as you plan the details? Ben Reich, owner of Monarch Enterprises, contacts his rival businessman Craye d’Courtney and requests that they merge corporations. It would be of benefit to them both, and makes sense. Unfortunately, after d’Courtney responds, Reich misinterprets the coded positive reply. In a fit of anger, Reich has decided to find a way to k...

Draw the Dark (Ilsa J. Bick)

Image
Shelved as a Young adult novel, I feel it is incorrectly categorized, instead it should just be standard dark fantasy. The only aspects of this that make it YA is the 17 year old protagonist and the heavy handed coming-of-age vein, other wise it is “King/Koontz-lite”. Winter, Wisconsin. Murder. Nazis. Dead Bodies. Ghostly visions. Fatal fires. A boy who can draw people’s nightmares. All of these topics are discussed on the cover liner notes. What is not discussed is how well put together it is. It was surprisingly enjoyable from a number of perspectives. Detailing the events around social outcast Christian Cage. Dark opens with Christian, being investigated for graffiti on a local building, red spray paint with swastikas and eyes. Christian does not remember vandalizing anything. This isn’t the first time that Cage has been in trouble with the law. The suicide of a school teacher brought him into the limelight when much younger. Cage is an obsessive artist, falling into a near hypnotic...

The Little Prince (Joann Sfar), Graphic novel adaptation

Image
This classic has been translated into just about every language you can think of, from original French to Martian (just venturing a guess). It has now crossed another communication barrier, into the world of comic art. As a graphic novel, Antoine de Saint-Exup?ry’s ‘The Little Prince’ received a really fantastic treatment. It should be noted that the Saint-Exup?ry drew the original art,which was pretty amazing. So readers should try NOT to compare against it, lest they may lessen the experience. It is a different beast, treat it as such. When I first mentioned that I would read this, I got a couple bizarre looks from friends. “Wasn’t the Little Prince already basically a graphic novel?” was the most common question asked. These were obviously people who have either no clue (love you guys!) or never read the book. An illustrated novella.. That was the term you folks were looking for. Joann Sfar’s graphic novel redux holds true to the original. The tale of a man lost in the desert, his a...