I started with The Spirit Archives Volume 20 by Will Eisner. I still like the series and I'm sticking with it to the bitter end. Really, I'm joking, the stories are still pretty good. I had read these several years ago when the single issue B&W comic reprints were coming out. The quality would drop off a bit over the next two years, but still, the series would end on an above average note. There were a series of stories, near the end, that had The Spirit going to the moon. They were drawn by Wally Wood and his style was a good choice for a space series. But that's still to come.
I read Christopher Golden's new Hellboy novel, The Dragon Pool. Hellboy and dragons. What a good combination. Here's the description from Amazon:
In the upper reaches of the Himalayas, Hellboy's ex-girlfriend, archaeologist Anastasia Bransfield, believes she has found the location of the legendary "Dragon King Pool" -- thought to be the ancient dwelling of an evil dragon who inflicted horrific devastation on the land and its people. Every year the villagers would sacrifice a child to placate the beast, until one day an unlikely hero fought the dragon and won, bringing peace and prosperity to the land.
But Anastasia's triumph at her discovery is short-lived. Soon unearthly creatures are seen lurking around the dig site, someone is sabotaging the excavation with dire results, and the young daughter of one of the dig leaders goes missing. It looks like a job for Hellboy -- but his toughest challenge might be putting his past with Anastasia behind him....
It's a good read, there's some action and mayhem. Lots of people die at that dig, gettin' their heads ripped off. Ick, huh. Golden is a good writer and there's dragons. Fire breathing ones. Whoosh.
Faded Steel Heat is the 9th novel in the Garrett series, written in 1999 by Glen Cook, four years after the previous book. Some human rights activists are puttin' the squeeze on the best of the local beer brewers. Garrett has some interest in the beer, it's the best in town, and he has some interest in the daughter, another best in town, at least according to Garrett. She sounds like trouble to me, but I'm old and cynical. The rich beer daddy hires Garrett to investigate The Call, the human rights activists that are extoring money from him and the other local rich guys. Colonel Block also asks Garrett to help him concerning The Call. He wants Garrett to infiltrate the human rights activists. More people get involved and many of them die. There are shape shifters too. They are nasty guys. It's not always a happy story but it kept me on the edge of my seat. There are two more to go and I am waiting to read them. Waiting until after Harry comes out.
The Wizard of Washington Square by Jane Yolen was a emergency book. I arrived at the Old Country Buffet in Burnsville on County Road 42 without a book. I like to have a book to read while I eat. There is a Shinders in the crappy mall that the OCB is in. This was the only book that was cheap and I might read but didn't have. They don't have much of a good book selection. The local chain of news stands have books, newspaper, toys, comics, game stuff, lots of porn and sports cards. Most of those fads faded and recently they have lost a lot of revenue. The stores are pretty empty. I don't think they are long for the world. I have never read Jane Yolen before. This is a pretty simple book, aimed at kids below 10. Not much meat, some good laughs and some running around. Not a keeper and it took me too long to read it.
The Girl Who Married A Lion by Alexander McCall Smith, writer of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, is a collection of short pieces that are based on African stories. Most of them are 2-3 pages and they are often humorous. Occasionally someone gets eaten by a lion and that joke never gets old. Several of the stories tell parables using animals. Often a smaller animal tricks a bigger animal. Brains over brawn, even in the jungle. Everywhere you go, the same lessons are to be learned. I really enjoyed it, especially the part where that guy got eaten by a lion. What a dope! No dragons though.
Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, by Howard Chaykin and Mike Mignola, is a new DarkHorse Trade Paperback collection of the 4 issue mini series that was originally done in 1991. You can download it here. I hadn't seen it before, not having been into Mignola in 1991. Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser were created by Fritz Leiber in 1939. I read the first four or five books years ago and liked them. I still have them. I saw them when I was going through my books last winter. I put them in a box to keep and reread. I don't know where that box is right now, but it will turn up.
Annette, Mystery at Medicine Wheel by Barlow Meyers was the fifth book in the Disney Annette series. They reprinted the first four, all by the same writer, a couple of years ago. I read 'em and blogged about them a while ago. Annette spends too much money on a dress and her grumpy uncle send her to work on a new dude ranch that a friend is starting. She gets kidnapped by an escaped criminal and nearly killed. Wow. The criminal shows up later and nearly kills her again, but not before Annette befriends his family. A young native teen is won over by her smile and he's saved from himself. There's a lot goin' on, what with the being captured by an escaped criminal every few days. I'll keep these for rereading later.
I read The Ear, The Eye and The Arm by Nancy Farmer. I blogged about it before. Since then Zack has re-read the book. He took it along on a camping trip with the scout troop he belongs too. I have not reread it since I read it a couple of months ago.
I finished the month with The Game by Dianna Wynne Jones. It's a quirky novella, published in hardback, about some odd people with a secret. Hayley is a young girl who lives with her grandparents. Something happens and she is sent to her aunts in Ireland. Some weird stuff happens then, but it's mostly light hearted and fun to read. There are lots of characters but the book is too short and over too soon.
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