Book Reviews

"Blaze" by Richard Bachman

Blaze is along for the first time in a long time. Sometimes he forgets that his best friend and partner is dead and still talks to him. Still makes food for two and worryingly still hears his voice in his head. Not used to being on his own Blaze decides to carry out the plan his partner had come up with. Then everything will be alright. Blaze manages to kidnap a baby but without his friend to think about the details things start to go wrong.

Most fans of Stephen King will know that Richard Bachman is actually King himself. King decided to see if he could reach the fame that he did again but this time writing under a different name. Stephen King has a recognisable writing style and a lot of people guessed that Bachman was King. In the late 80's King finally admitted to it and killed off Bachman. He then found "Blaze" amongst some of his papers. A book he had thought was lost long ago. Thinking that it was worthless at the time he hadn't bothered trying to publish it. Coming across it years later he decided that it wasn't as bad as he thought and so here we have it. The style is very much King's. The main character is very King like. He is seen by the rest of the world created by the author as bad or even evil. Well most people would see baby snatchers as evil. We get to see inside his head though and we get to see his past. Blaze is just unfortunate. A bright boy who was damaged after an accident and was used to following someone elses lead. You can't help but feel sorry for the character and want to help him. I really liked this book. Not so much for the story but for the character. It was worth reading for him alone.

"Magician" by Raymond E. Feist

Pug is an orphan who has been befriended by Thomas and his family. Both live in the Duke's castle and have the run of the kitchens and grounds between chores. Soon they will both be of age where they will be chosen to become an apprentice. All boys who are not chosen either make a living doing something else or become a free man and must leave the castle grounds. This is a fate as bad as death to most of the boys and Pug is worried he will be one of them. However, he has been chosen to become a magician. Things are starting to look up for Pug. He not only is learning magic, he has the attention of both the Duke and the Princess after saving her life. This happy life doesn't continue as strange people have been seen on the land. They speak a language that is not recognised as coming from any part of their world. One thing is clear, they are intent on invasion and conquering. The Duke must convince the King that their world is in danger and to send troupes out to protect their land. The Duke soon finds he is fighting a battle on both fronts and he must face the possibility of civil war and invasion.

I was once told that this was the best book in the fantasy genre. While I wouldn't go that far it is up there among the best. Mainly fantasy this book does have a touch of sci fi with people invading from another world. I loved the whole idea of this and certainly thought it was an original idea in fantasy (I could be wrong here). I especially liked seeing things from the point of view of the invaders and seeing Pug learn their ways and become sympathetic to their cause. There are two more books in this series. However, I have learned that there are another three which starts from the time of Magician and they are written from the side of the invaders. Knowing this just made me more enthusiastic about this book and reading the series further. Definitely a must read for any fan of fantasy.

"Dead Famous" by Ben Elton

Inspector Coleridge is hating his current assignment. He is in charge of an investigation into a murder. One that means he has to sit in front of a screen and watch a group of people he has now respect for or any interest in. Well, except maybe one but even that disturbs him. Coleridge has to investigate the murder of one of the contestants of Peeping Tom. How can someone be murdered in a house where the inmates are watched and recorded 24/7. It's up to Coleridge and his team to find out.

If you haven't guessed this book is a Big Brother spoof. We have a bunch of contestants no one really likes (Elton has managed to bring together a group of very unlikeable characters), a team of police most of whom enjoy the show and one Inspector who is behind the times and can't understand why anyone would want to watch the show never mind be a part of it. This book was pretty funny. Elton was able to take everything that is dislikeable and shallow of big brother contestants and put it all into his own characters. As you are reading you do find yourself agreeing with Coleridge and wondering why anyone would want to watch it. The murder itself is just an addition to the book until of course you get to the end and discover who the murderer is.

"Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Discovering that Armageddon is close at hand Crowley and Aziraphale (agents from both sides) decide to try an stop it. Neither like the idea of Heaven or Hell winning having spent centuries enjoying themselves on Earth. To do that they must find Satin's child who had been brought to Earth to be raised by a powerful human family. Something went wrong though and he is being raised in a village in England. Adam Young is more concerned about having fun with his friends than bringing the world to an end. At least he is until he starts getting some funny ideas.

I read this book because it was the first book written by Gaiman (although he co wrote with Pratchett). This book has the humour of Pratchett and the style of Gaiman. I like the whole premise of what would happen if Damien was brought up as a normal child by a normal family. There is not an aspect of the story that isn't taken by the authors and twisted into something funny. If you haven't read anything by either author I recommend starting with this.

Crazee4books, I agree you are more likely to get a true evil villain in fantasy and sci fi. A character that has no redeemable qualities. General fiction tends to be a bit more fair (or realistic). Every time I hear or read about the new Star Trek movie it's usually about problems they are having and possible contenders to play the part of Kirk. I think something was mentioned in a magazine I bought the other day. I have yet to read it in detail so if it has anything interesting on it I will be sure to mention it. We have avoided most of the floods. It has remained warm but with short heavy showers throughout the day. And I mean short. It's almost blink and you miss it. It's starting to get a little cooler though.

More Felt Mascots

Rufus

S. Bot and friends

Mr Sparkles makes some friends

I am afraid Mr Sparkles may have to go into retirement. I had planned on taking him to Amsterdam but he is looking a little worse for wear after being squashed into bags. I also found him under a pile of scrapbook supplies which didn't help. I am thinking of making a new one but then Mr Sparkles hasn't seen much of the world yet and I would feel a little guilty at leaving him behind.

Timewarden, speaking from experience a parent telling you that it's only a film doesn't help. When we were little my sister and I used to watch episodes of Dr Who with the Daleks and then we wouldn't be able to sleep later. My dad got so exasperated he even threatened no more Dr Who. Children's imaginations work overtime generally, especially when they are given a scary image. Logic never comes into it. I would have hated to be dragged out part way through a film too but this child was a little young.

Harry Potter and the Cute Book

I bet JK Rowling never considered that as a title for her HP books. I am hoping that this will be my last HP post for a while. Getting a little sick of talking about it myself. I have finally went to see the film though and thought I should mention it a little. Harry is angry in this one. He has been left out of the loop all summer until he is attacked by two dementors and so removed from his muggle home to that of Sirius Black's childhood home. There he discovers that an order to fight the Dark Lord has reformed, the order of the Phoenix. Harry then gets to school to discover that the ministry has taken over the school through Professor Umbrige. As they see that they are not going to be shown how to defend themselves Harry and friends decide to teach themselves and form Dumbledores Army. Meanwhile Harry is seeing flashes of what the Dark Lord is up to.

It was a good take on the book but as expected so much was missed out. The time in the Black home took up over 100 pages in the book. I was just sorry that there wasn't more on the Order or the Aurors themselves. Not that it was necessary as they put in enough for everyone to understand the story. It's quite a large book compared to all the others and it would have to be cut drastically unless we wanted something on the length of LOTR. The critics are right this film was darker than the others and the ending was great. Not going to say too much more on that as I don't want to spoil it. If it hadn't been for the ending though I would have preferred the previous one to this. Someone else found it scary from the start though. When the dementors entered the scene a child started screaming in the cinema hall and later had to be taken away by his mother.

And here is where the Cute Book comes in. I mentioned this book in yesterdays post. I saw this book discussed on a crafts website I visit. I didn't give it much thought. Although the cover looked very cute these books are usually disappointing. Then I saw it in the book shop and was pleasantly surprised. I had to go and buy it. This book shows you how to make lots of very cute felt mascots. The book gives templates for each of the characters and then detailed diagrams of how to put them together. All the instructions are simple to follow and the characters seems easy enough to make. The back of the book gives some ideas of other ways to craft these mascots.

This is my first attempt at one of them, the monkey. He does look a little angry but he looks a little angry in the book too. I think if I make him again I would probably try and give him a smile. He hasn't got a name yet as I plan on giving him away today. I also have a list of other mascots I want to make and thankfully I bought enough felt to make a few.

Timewarden, I resorted to TV villains as I couldn't think of any in the book world. At least any that made me think the way the question described. I haven't seen "Blue Velvet".

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

Well, after last week’s record-breaking number of responses (92 last time I checked–an all-time BTT record), I was tempted to use this week’s question to ask what you all thought about Harry Potter 7–but since a decent proportion of you weren’t going to be reading it at all, that seemed unfair. So instead . . .

Who’s the worst fictional villain you can think of? As in, the one you hate the most, find the most evil, are happiest to see defeated? Not the cardboard, two-dimensional variety, but the most deliciously-written, most entertaining, best villain? Not necessarily the most “evil,” so much as the best-conceived on the part of the author…oh, you know what I mean!

These days I read very few books where there is an absolute villain. I find this question quite difficult. Most people I know have fictional characters that they love to hate but I find it difficult to feel that passionately about most bad characters. Out of some classics that I have read in the past I can think of Dracula, Uriah Heep and Heathcliff. While I disliked their characters as the reader was supposed to I don't think they were the most entertaining of villains and I'm not sure how I would class a character as such. Of course if I was talking sci fi it would be the easy choice of possibly the Daleks or the Cybermen. I am sitting here looking at my piles of books and although there are a number of classics, horror and fantasy amongst them nothing springs to mind. Maybe I have the discovery of my favourite villain to look forward to.

Still speaking of books I got the cutest craft book on how to make soft toys. All it takes is a little felt, a little stuffing and some hand stitching. I am going felt shopping today and hopefully make a start on at least one. Once I have made my first I will show you an image of the book with a mini review. On an aside here is a word of advice. Never say (however innocently you might have meant it) "I need to get felt" amongst a group of people who clearly have dirty minds. The comments I got after I said it would make anyone blush.

A Good Day Yesterday

Yesterday BBC2 showed the first two episodes of the new hit US show "Heroes". I have already seen up to episode 9 but am more than happy to watch them all over again (and of course to catch the last few I missed). In the first two episodes the story feels like it has barely started. Instead we are being introduced to the story line and to the many characters. All the main characters share one thing in common. They all have a gift. Most of them are trying to deny that fact but two of them are actually overjoyed by it. First of all Peter Patrelli has been having dreams that he can fly. Dreams in which his brother will occasionally appear in. His brother busy trying to become elected tries to deny that this could be real.

The second character has to be my favourite of the show. Hiro is almost your typical geek. He tries to prove to his best friend that he has the ability to transport himself by manipulating time and space. You can't help but love his enthusiasm and excitement when he succeeds in transporting himself to New York (you might recognise the actor as he played Franklin in Scrubs). There is something likable in most characters and you find yourself looking forward to finding out more and more about each of them. So far we know that New York is going to blow up some time in the future. We know that there is a serial killer on the loose. One who had worked with Professor Suresh who was making progress in discovering that there are people out there who are special. We also know there is some kind of agency looking for Suresh's work and that the cheerleaders father is somehow connected to it.

This series just gets better with each episode and I find myself looking forward to next weeks installment. The good thing about this series is that it seems to appeal to both sci fi and non sci fi fans. The lack of technology, the fact that the characters seem like real people and that it is sent in present time probably helps. It was actually too very non sci fi fans who brought my attention to it.

Other than Heroes being on the screen I had a good day for other reasons. It was just a relaxing day off. I managed to do a little reading, some knitting and I even got out all my scrapbook materials and worked on a couple of pages. Something I haven't done in a long time.

Here is one page I did for my sister's scrapbook that I am pleased with. When I took the photo my sister didn't notice until I got the photo's back (I didn't use the digital camera for this one). She was concentrating so hard on sketching a sculpture. I used an orange-brown card for the background and then some ribbon down the sides. I then cut some flowers out of papers I got free with the magazine "Scrapbook Inspirations" (my magazine of choice at the moment) a while back. I then used orange diamante for the centre of the flowers.

The best part of yesterday was that while working on scrapbook pages my sister worked alongside me. Last year I managed to encourage her to have a go at cardmaking. She sat watching me and then asked if she could have a go. I let her just dive into my supplies to see what she came up with. My sister is a talented artist and it looks like she could be a talented crafter if she wanted to be. Her card was lovely although she didn't use it in the end. I thought that would be it. She is easily bored by these things after having one go at it. But no, we all got handmade cards at Christmas and she has since made cards for friends and family (including a card for my gran that I thought she had bought at the store until she showed me the supplies she bought). Yesterday she made a birthday card with her best friend and it turned out just as lovely as all her others. She doesn't mind experimenting on her own. Unlike me I find it difficult to break away from a style that works. And she always seems to hit it spot on. Yesterday she managed to make a card that looked both classy and fun. I'm not at all jealous of her talent!

Timewarden, how could I have forgotten to mention Relics? Actually I never like Relics then or now. I found it to be really dull. Not good enough for a guest appearance of James Doohan although he was good in it. I found Chain of Command a little upsetting the first time I watched it too. Those torture scenes were definitely a first for Star Trek. Like you I also preferred Descent to Times Arrow. I am a fan of the Borg too and it was good to see all the loose ends with Lor tied up.

Star Trek TNG 6

Yes, I have finally gotten round to watching the sixth season of Star Trek the Next Generation. Took me a while to get round to it. I've basically been watching it on and off over the last few months. I have seen the episodes in this season over and over again which is one of the reasons that it took me so long to get through it. The other reason is that Timewarden is right. This isn't the best one. There are some good episodes in there but what I did notice is that it seemed to be the season of double episodes. In most of the others the double episode is the last episode of one season and the first of the next. If you include the ones at the start and the end season six had a total of four. My favourite of them all is probably Chain of Command. Picard is captured by the Cardassians after a set up mission and we see the sadistic side of the Cardassians. A theme that has been hinted at in previous episode with the Cardassians and continues in DS9.

Schisms is another episode I very much enjoyed both now and when I first saw it. The Enterprise crew are being experimented on by unknown aliens (There was a very similar episode to that in Voyager). I thought this episode was well done and found it to be creepy at the time. Other episodes I enjoyed were Face of the enemy, Starship Mine, Frame Of Mind and Timescape. The rest just didn't come up to the standards of the past. That's not to say I didn't enjoy watching them again but there had been better episodes before that and better ones to come. True Q and Rascals were two of my favourites when I was younger but my taste has since changed.

I am looking forward to moving on to season 7. There are many episodes in there that I am sure I have forgotten. I am also itching to move on to DS9 which I also very much enjoyed watching the first time round.

Timewarden, Daradon seems to be a friend to the bad guys. Mind you that doesn't mean he should stand in front of the Dalek. He was too shy to approach any of the stars but maybe next time.

Daradon S. Monkey

Meet Daradon S. Monkey. He was given to a friend who then took him to a Dr Who convention where he met some friends.