The Martian Chronicles

by Ray Bradbury
ISBN 978-0380973835 (William Morrow)
Hardback (2006 reprint of 1997 Avon Books edition)
story copyrights 1946,1948,1949,1950,1958,1972 with 1997 introduction by the author.

With Subterranean Press about to publish a special edition of Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles, and me not willing to part with US$300 for the privilege – especially now the the AUS$ has dropped from “near parity” to US$0.80ish – I grabbed a cheaper copy to renew the reading experience. I did have other copies in the past, but have given them away.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a copy before that delivered the works in chronological order from “Ylla” (first landing) thru to “The Million-Year Picnic”.

Timeline (stories) 2030-2057 [story list added 15/06/2009]
Rocket Summer
Ylla
The Summer Night
The Earth Men
The Taxpayer
The Third Expedition
And The Moon Be Still As Bright
The Settlers
The Green Morning
The Locusts
Night Meeting
The Shore
The Fire Balloons
Interim
The Musicians
The Wilderness (c 1972)
The Naming of Names
Usher II
The Old Ones
The Martian
The Luggage Store
The Off Season
The Watchers
The Silent Towns
The Long Years
There Will Come Soft Rains
The Million-Year Picnic

Not all the stories are as good as I remembered, but it was good to re-live the series. I have other martian stories waiting on the shelves, from Bradbury contemporaries such as Leigh Brackett and Edmond Hamilton.

If you are a Bradbury worshiper, order the forthcoming Subterranean Press edition. For more information, follow this  link..

The Martian Chronicles: The Complete Edition
By Ray Bradbury (to be published in late 2009)
Illustrated by Edward Miller
Introduction by John Scalzi
Limited: US$300
Lettered: US$900
keep an eye out for temporary price reductions.

Verdict: 4 stars – anything by Ray Bradbury is worth reading

The First Law Trilogy

by Joe Abercrombie

1) The Blade Itself – ISBN 978-0575079793 (Gollancz)
2) Before They are Hanged – ISBN 978-0575082014 (Gollancz)
3) Last Argument of Kings – ISBN 978-0575084162 (Gollancz)
Paperbacks.

The final novel was nominated as a finalist for the David Gemmell Legend Award. Abercrombie is in fine company with Marillier, Sanderson, Sapkowski and Weeks also in the running.

I have seen reviews of this series that say each novel in the series just gets better. All I can say is they get fatter. The writing in all three novels was, IMO, even. No book better than another.

The story jumped around a bit too much, and lacked emotion (to me any way) – a bit flat. Maybe I have just read too much better fantasy lately (Brent Weeks, Fiona McIntosh & Karen Miller for example).

That said, the tale was very well constructed, consistent and no loose ends at the conclusion.

Verdict: 3 stars
www.joeabercrombie.com
gemmellaward.com/profiles/blogs/the-short-list

Flinx Transcendent

by Alan Dean Foster
ISBN: 978-0345496072 (Del Rey)
Hardback, May 2009

A Novel of the (Humanx) Commonwealth
and the final Adventure of Pip & Flinx

In this novel, Foster gets to make a tidy ending of the series. Friends and enemies gather to achieve/thwart Flinx’s ambitions. Many entities from Foster’s “Humanx Commonwealth” novels, not just the “Flinx and Pip” adventures, meet to assist in the destruction of the “great approaching evil”.

Foster can’t let a novel go without disecting at least one civilization. This time it is the enemy of the Humanx Comonwealth, the bloodthirsty AAnn (a good way to round up the series). Flinx, again sidetacks from his task, sneaking onto the AAnn homeworld and making friends in the most unlikely places.

Ultimately, Flinx defeats his enemies and gets the girl!!… and boredom.

Verdict: A Great read – recommended (mostly for Pip & Flinx readers)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flinx
www.alandeanfoster.com

I would like to see more Flinx adventures. With the old thread brought to a tidy conclusion, perhaps there is scope for some standalone adventures. Even more Commonwealth stories would be welcomed.

Art: Margaret L Rohde

Margaret is an artist who has a diverse portfolio of works in watercolor, oil, lino & wood prints, wood carving, potter, etc. Here are 6 prints that were up for sale at Sunday’s annual fund raiser for the Australia East Timor Friendship Association SA

ML Rohde, Brachychiton, Wood Cut, Hand Coloured

ML Rohde, Gravillea 2007, Lino Cut

ML Rohde, Stenocarpus, Wood Cut, Hand Coloured

ML Rohde, Iris Bowl 1988, Lino Cut, Hand Coloured

ML Rohde, Flowering Gum, Wood Cut, Hand Coloured

ML Rohde, Native Orchid 2001, Lino Cut, Hand Coloured

Star Trek Movie 2009

Saw the latest Star Trek movie this week. My first time in Gold Class seats – luxury!! I liked it. Not being a Star Trek expert makes it much easier to enjoy.

Here are just 2 reviews, by non-Trek experts, that put things into perspective for people like us.

I wonder if this might not be the best space-adventure movie ever made
- Orson Scott Card

Another Review
@ bscreview.com - good comments to read too

Lastword: for all those ready to pick the faults because xxx technology wasn’t/was available at that time, get a l***! It’s an alternate time line to what we know, history may be different. The “new” crew can go where no one (read trek fan) has gone before – exciting?!?!

CD Compilation PickMe#17

The 17th compilation in my PickMe series is called “Dance My Heart“

01 Take My Heart (Chris Isaak)
02 Green Day (Mo’ Horizons)
03 Kings of the World (Mississipi)
04 Summerfling (k.d. Lang)
05 Singin’ in the Rain (Gene Kelly)
06 Moonglow (Artie Shaw & His Orchestra)
07 School Boy (Wynton Marsalis)
08 Dance by the Light of the Moon (Seals & Crofts)
09 Dance Me to the End of Love (Leonard Cohen)
10 Make Someone Happy (Jimmy Durante)
11 Just One of Those Things (Lionel Hampton & Oscar Peterson)
12 ‘D’ Keyboard Blues (Captain & Tennille)
13 Shall We Dance? (Stacey Kent)
14 In Black of Night (Slow Train)
15 Moondance (Van Morrison)
16 Lament I, “Bird’s Lament” (Moondog)
17 Dance With Me (Debelah Morgan)
18 Fairytale (Alexander Rybak)

I started out compiling a quiet album, but it evolved into jazz and then this.. somethingelse!!

Track Notes: 01 My favourite track from Isaak’s latest album “Mr Lucky” 03 found this one on one of the Underbelly Soundtracks 04 been wanting to put this track on a compilation for ages, but it was always cut 05 from the Clockwork Orange Soundtrack would you believe – timeless 07 the best track from trumpeter Wynton Marsalis’s “He and She” album – don’t like the other tracks much 12 did you know that the Captain & Tennille put at least one instrumental track on every album? more will be seen in future compilations 13 Women of Jazz – a nice track from Putumayo World Music  18 Eurovision Song Contest 2009 winner – excellent and annoyingly stays in the head for ages.

One for Sorrow

by Christopher Barzak
ISBN 978-0553384369 (Bantam)
Trade paperback, Sep 2007

At the beginning of the year, I reviewed Christopher Barzak’s second novel “The Love We Share Without Knowing” – a set of tales centered around death, despair and loneliness in contemporary Japan.

This review is about his first novel, “One for Sorrow”, set in a small town in Ohio.

It is a tale about how the death of one teenager (Jamie Marks) affects those around him. The Girl that finds the body, and the boy that felt he could have been more of a friend – Adam McCormick.

It explores the relationships between young adults and their families and community in somewhat rural, small town.

Jamie’s ghost appears and draws Adam into various adventures where it is hard to distinguish reality from dream. So much so that in one adventure I was lost in that dream world with Adam until he began to come out of it.

In between his adventures with Jamie, Adam experiences stress at home. A strict father, domineering brother, and wheel chair bound mother. And to top it all off, there’s the woman who caused his mothers injury, insinuating herself into their family.

Some timelessness about the story. Loss of innocence, etc.
And a happy ending – of sorts!!

Worth a read.

The Love We Share Without Knowing
Blog – christopherbarzak.wordpress.com

Susan Boyle’s Got Talent

Adding all the youtube views quickly goes over 50 million.

Heres a link to a full length, High Quality & Wide Screen version, of Susan Boyle’s audition. It has gone past 2 million views

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luRmM1J1sfg

April Reader News

Funny what they choose to release on 1st April.

1) K.E. Mills second novel in the Rogue Agent Series – and I have read it already – see the review

2) Robert Jordan’s final Wheel of Time novel “A Memory of Light” to be release in 3 parts. Brandon Sanderson who is writing the final episode expects the final book to be very long – to do justice to Jordan’s series.

Links worth reading are:
Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist
TOR’s Press Release
Brandon’s reasons for multi volume release

Reader’s of WoT should be pleased that the parts are expected to be released in late 2009, 2010 & 2011 – supposedly giving Brandon time to “get it right”. Much better release schedule than long time readers have come to expect for past releases.

Universal Pictures acquired the movie rights to The Wheel of Time in August 2008, and currently have plans to adapt The Eye of the World as the first movie.  The last four volumes in the series have reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and the 11 Wheel of Time novels published so far have sold more than 44 million copies worldwide, 15 million in North America alone, making Robert Jordan today’s pre-eminent fantasy storyteller. The new comic series one of the most highly anticipated in recent years. WoT Comic

3) and over Easter, David Gemmell Legend Award short list announced

ABERCROMBIE, Joe – Last Argument of Kings (Gollancz)
MARILLIER, Juliet – Heir to Sevenwaters (Tor UK)
SANDERSON, Brandon – The Hero of Ages (Tor US)
SAPKOWSKI, Andrzej – Blood of Elves (Gollancz)
WEEKS, Brent – The Way of Shadows (Orbit) – the only one I have read. It’s the one I voted for too.

gemmellaward.com/profiles/blogs/the-short-list

Online reading:

Excerpt from THE SOLARIS BOOK OF NEW SCIENCE FICTION, VOLUME 3

Subterranean’s Online magazine Spring 09 edition
A pair of novelettes by Ken MacLeod and Liz Williams. In addition, new reviewer Gwenda Bond covers a hot new zombie novel. The List of articles is not complete, but down the line, they’ll have another novelette, by Joe R. Lansdale, as well as a long novella by Paul McAuley and a new story set in Jack Vance’s Dying Earth by Lucius Shepard – which reminds me that I need to finish his short story collection.

K.E.Mills: Rogue Agent #2

Witches Incorporated
ISBN-13: 978-0732286057 (HarperVoyager)
Trade Paperback 01-Apr-2009

“A mess. Well, that was one way of putting it. Monk Markham. His Sister. Princess Melissande. That bloody bird. And unpredictable potentially lethal Gerald Dunwoody’s stubborn friendship with all of them.”

Following the debacle in New Ottosland (in Rogue Agent #1), Gerald is on his first assignment following initiation into Ottosland’s secret service. He’s not to contact his friends while on assignment. No-one’s to know he is more than a 3rd grade wizard.

The girls (Reg, Mel & Bibbie) are just starting out as “Witches Inc” and end up on a case where they bump into Gerald.

The interaction between the girls is quite comical – maybe next time I will laugh out loud – was a close thing! – a big smile anyway.

“If this business has taught us anything, it’s taught us that we’ve not begun to plumb the depths of his abilities” - Sir Alec

It’s an action packed romp throughout. Highly recommended reading. I eagerly await the next installment of this ‘barely controlled mayhem’ – the adventures of Gerald Dunwoody and his friends.

The quoted snippets are from the book.