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What books are you reading?
kyrathaba:
Just finished "Sole Survivor" (Dean Koontz) -- seventeenth novel of his I've read, thus far. Quite entertaining...
mouser:
The reviews of this sounded good enough to make me read it, and i rarely read fiction:
http://www.amazon.com/Sandman-Slim-Richard-Kadrey/dp/0061976261
Sandman Slim.. provides biting humor, an over-the-top antihero and a rich stew of metaphoric language in this testosterone- and adrenaline-charged noir thriller. James Stark spent 11 years killing monsters in Lucifer's arena for the entertainment of fallen angels, but now he's back in seedy, magic-riddled L.A., trying to avenge his girlfriend's murder and hunt down Mason Faim, the black magician responsible for getting him sent downtown. He meets with some initial success, beheading second-rate magician Kasabian (whose head becomes Stark's smart-mouthed sidekick), but he can't find Faim. Instead he encounters Homeland Security agents, a near-psychotic angel and some odd nonhuman, nonangelic beings called the kissi. Darkly atmospheric settings, such as a posh gentlemen's club where angels are tortured in an attempt to bring about Armageddon, bring this violent fantasy into sharp, compelling focus.
Review
“If Simon R. Green wrote an episode of Dog the Bounty Hunter, it would read much like Sandman Slim – violent, vivid, non-stop action of the supernatural kind. I couldn’t put it down.” (Charlaine Harris )
“The most hard-boiled piece of supernatural fiction I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. … all confident and energetic and fresh and angry. I loved this book and all its screwed-up people.” (Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother )
“The best B movie I’ve read in at least twenty years. An addictively satisfying, deeply amusing, dirty-ass masterpiece, Sandman Slim swerves hell-bent through our culture’s impacted gridlock of genres…it’s like watching Sergio Leone and Clive Barker co-direct from a script by Jim Thompson and S. Clay Wilson.” (William Gibson )
“Sarcastic, irreverent and ridiculously enjoyable riff on the Urban Fantasy genre. … a lot like a mosh pit -- rough, exuberant, unpredictable -- and a heck of a lot of fun.” (Miami Herald )
“Nicotine and octane in equal parts might come close to the high-energy buzz from Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim. Crisp world building, recognizable and fully-realized characters, and a refreshingly unique storytelling style make for an absorbing read.Sandman Slim is my kind of hero.” (Kim Harrison )
“Paced like greased lightning (watch out for friction burns on your turning finger), blend the movie-ish delights of tough guy noir and such smart-mouthgore-fests as “Reanimator” and “Army of Darkness”, seasoned by soupcons of Gaimanian romanticism and Koontzian sentiment.” (Booklist )
--- End quote ---
It wasn't bad.
kyrathaba:
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I read "Sandman Slim" earlier this year. Pretty fast-paced and entertaining. Not suitable for children. It's also rather irreverent, but it has that dark, gritty texture that a lot of people seem to enjoy. Like I indicated, I liked it.
40hz:
Digging through some boxes of books I have in storage, I found my old battered paperback edition of John Myers Myers' (not a typo) fantasy masterpiece: Silverlock. I remembered how much I enjoyed it and decided to give it a re-read to see if it was still as great a book as I remembered.
What books are you reading?
For the next few hours I became a cliche. Because once I started Silverlock, I really couldn't put it down. And I lost the better part of a night's sleep doing so.
Yes, it really is that good...
The story revolves around a self-centered and cynical Chicago businessman by the name of A. Clarence Shandon (aka Silverlock) who finds himself shipwrecked in a strange country known only as The Commonwealth. The Commonwealth seems to be composed entirely of people and places from the great works of adventure fiction - something Shandon (whose education extends only as far as a BA in "business administration" could take him) is completely and delightfully ignorant about.
What follows is an allegorical coming of age story so well-written that it never once gets heavy-handed or obvious. Shandon encounters Orpheus, Mephistopheles, Circe, a certain sorrowful knight, Beowulf, and a host of others who guide, challenge, and occasionally give his ass a swift kick.
One of the fun things about this book is trying to identify all the literary allusions, characters, and works (there are hundreds) found throughout the story.
But enough blathering from me. Read this book. It's a masterpiece. :Thmbsup:
----###----
NESFA has released an edition of Silverlock in hardcover which includes the hard-to-find Silverlock Companion which gives a complete listing and bibliography of all the "stuff" found in the story.
What books are you reading?
I just ordered a copy from Amazon. My old paperback has definitely seen better days. And if I wind up thumbing through this copy as much as I did my old one, I think I'd be better of with having it in hardcover. At $25, it's a good deal since NESFA editions are well made books.
There's also an inexpensive trade paperback available for about $10 here.
What books are you reading?
kyrathaba:
Thanks for the great info, 40hz! I will give this one a try!
Question? If I buy the hardback from Amazon, does that also mean I'm entitled to the Kindle version? Or is it one or the other?
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