BONE, TREASURE HUNTERS by Jeff Smith

Well, we're getting there Wormies. With seven volumes in the BONE saga down and two to go, I knew Smith would probably be increasing the intensity, and I wasn't wrong.

In Bone, Vol. 8: Treasure Hunters Smith essentially takes his characters out of the frying pan and chucks them in the oven. Ghost Circles, those nasty voids I told you about in a previous review, have swept the land. Therefore, the Bone cousins, Thorn and Gran'ma' Ben are not the only ones fleeing to the grand city of Altheia.

With Altheia dealing with a continuous flow of refugees they have been forced to close the gates. So even getting beyond the city wall will be a challenge for our heroes. Once inside they will find themselves unwelcome by Altheia's current controller, Lord Tarsil, a man who remembers Gran'ma' Ben and Thorn's royal heritage all too well and the memories are bitter indeed.

Meanwhile, The Lord of the Locust's army of rat creatures and men of Pawa are closing in on a city unprepared for such a confrontation. The end, as they like to say, is neigh! Of course, Phoney Bone is doing everything in his powers to swindle the merchants of Altheia out of their gold, while Smiley and Bartleby hide out in a quiet stable, away from the eyes of the watchful city guard.

TREASURE HUNTERS even contains the first truly horrific scene of violence. Despite the panels not being blood drenched and most of the violence occurring out of sight, it is a stark reminder that our characters are playing for keeps. And what of Kingdok? Once more he is given one page of space as he continues to struggle through the passages beneath the mountain. If you read my last review then you probably figured out my thoughts on what Kingdok is up to.

I really enjoyed this volume but I can't help but wonder how Smith is going to tie it all together. He's got one book left to bring it home, and not that I doubt his skills, but this book ends with a whole whack of threads hanging off the edge of a very steep cliff. In fact the last panel of the book shows a very grave faced Gran'ma' Ben starring out over the walls of Altheia at the encroaching army. Her words, "We're not ready."

It gives me goosebumps just thinking about reading the final volume. When you invest as much time and emotion as one does to journey down what is a long road for writer and reader, you can't help but be swept up in the grand epicness of the whole tale. And when you see that advancing dark on the horizon and you suddenly realize how much they all mean to you, as strange and silly as that sounds, it gets you right in the gut. Gran'ma' Ben's last words are haunting me, Wormies.

So there you have it. We're hanging off that cliff and the drop looks unsurvivable.

How will it all end? That's what it comes down to.

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID by Jeff Kinney (a review)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is about a kid named Greg Heffley who is going into his first year of middle school, trying to fit in as best he can. The problem is, Greg tries a little too hard to be popular. He's also got a bit of a superiority complex regarding his friends, Rowley, Gupta and Fregley.

Greg tries, with poor but humorous results, to become the center of attention, be it trying out for the wrestling team, running for class treasurer or becoming the cartoonist for the school paper. Despite what may seem honest desires, it's sometimes the way Greg goes about things that lead him to failure. He cheats, lies, and back stabs his friends, stooping to down right sneaky means to get ahead of the game.

Quite frankly, when I think about it, Greg is a bit of a jerk. Maybe they should have called it Diary of a Jerky Kid.

Well, I guess I should not be too hard on the lad. He is, after all, just a kid. And even if by the end of the book he hasn't learned all the lessons he should, he does come to understand a little bit about what it means to be a loyal friend. Sort of.

Okay, okay. I'm taking this review and book too seriously. Frankly (or Fregley), DIARY OF A WIMPY is funny stuff. Nearly every page is funny and give your smiling muscles a workout. If you are not reminded of your own troublesome middle school years while reading this book then you never went to middle school.

Your kids will thoroughly enjoy DIARY OF A WIMPY kid and rightfully so. It's funny, obnoxious and the drawings are good kookie goodness, whatever that means. Have them check it out and then when they are finished read it yourself.

Home and Garden

The last week I've been working on and off on my front yard, redesigning the front patio and garden. With the help of my Mom (and sometimes Dani, my daughter) we finished yesterday afternoon. The results are very pleasing, if I do so say myself.

Let me know what you think.

As you can see in the photos, the front lawn is short and narrow, so there are not a world of options when working with such a small area. But I think we managed to grab a tiny bit of sophisticated and a handful of rich charm.

Rich charm?

Well, you know what I mean. Not too shabby.

Gardening is something I enjoy, especially working along side my Mom, who is the expert. When I don't remember the name of a plant or shrub I simply ask and she tells me. It's hard work, and an activity that will take up your entire day, but if you give it your heart and time, it will reward you with pleasant results.

Coming soon...

Coming soon is a favourite segment for The Man Eating Bookworm. This is when I like to tell you Wormies what cool and fun stuff is coming to the bookstores in the weeks and months to come.

Lets start things off with something that caught me completely by surprise this past week. There I was searching Amazon when I spotting the coolest thing ever. Bartimaeus: The Ring of Solomon. That's right Wormies. Jonathan Stroud has returned to pen a new adventure in his very awesome Bartimaeus series (originally supposed to only be a trilogy, if memory serves me).

Some of you may or may not be familiar with Bartimaeus. His books came out, and for the most part were overwhelmed by the immense, to say the least, popularity of a certain Harry Potter. Unless you were diligently scouring the tables in the bookstores (the ones with the signs that read "EAGER FOR THE NEXT HARRY POTTER?...TRY THESE WHILE YOU WAIT!"). There among the many Harry Potter ripoffs and johnny come lately's was truly a remarkable and probably superior trilogy of books by writer Johnathan Stroud.

The Bartimaeus Trilogy Boxed Set involves magic, political intrigue and lots and lots of really cool monsters. The magical system that Stoud employes is far more realistic than in Rowlings Harry Potter books. Even the over all feel makes you think, if magic was real, this is how it might truly be. It's dangerous and powerful, like those that wield it. Honestly, I can not recommend the series enough.

Coming in November is a graphic novel based on the first book in the series, THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND, The Amulet of Samarkand (A Bartimaeus Graphic Novel) (The Bartimaeus Trilogy). I am super stoked about that.

Switching gears a little bit, we will see the release of an anthology called Classics Mutilated, featuring the short novella by none other than Joe Lansdale. Huck Finn and H.P. Lovecraft mash-up in the hands of His Own Self? Count me in!

This looks like it could be a lot of fun, and Lansdale is worth the price, even if the rest of the stories suck.

Hitting shelves next week is the sequel to last fall's Monster Hunter International, a story about a regular dude that finds out all those myths about werewolves and vampires are true, and he can get paid to kill them suckers! His high octane, none stop monster fest continues with Monster Hunter Vendetta. Be sure to check these out, especially if you're a gun nut. Correia knows his guns.

A little far in the distance, but never too early to get your pulse pumping for, is Joe Lansdale's next Hap and Leonard story called Devil Red.

The synopsis sounds very cool. Hap and Leonard versus a vampire cult? I can practically hear Leonard cracking funny now. If you are a Hap and Leonard fan, and how could you not be?, then this has got to be on your pre-order list. It's on mine.

GHOSTOPOLIS by Doug TenNapel

In my search for new graphic books to read, ones in the same vein as BONE or AMULET, I came across a book I had seen a time or two and neglected to buy. Well, the other day Brenda called me from her school and asked if there was anything I wanted her to pick up at their book fair. I remembered GHOSTOPOLIS.

I wish I had not.

GHOSTOPOLIS is the story of Garth, a boy diagnosed with an incurable disease, who is accidentally transported to the afterlife. The one responsible for Garth's predicament is Frank Gallows, a washed up ghost hunter. The only way for Frank to save his job, and his name, is if he goes into the afterlife and brings Garth home. This is a task fraught with innumerable problems and dangers. Meanwhile, on the other side, Garth meets up with his grandfather. Together they try and find a way home for Garth but will soon find that the ruler of Ghostopolis has other plans for Garth.

Sounds pretty cool. Ghosts. Ghost Hunters. Complex relationships between a mother and her dying son. A missing father. A down on his luck investigator who has his own relationship problems (he's in love with a ghost he's supposed to send packing to the afterlife). Then there is Ghostopolis, a ranging city of the afterlife and it's maniacal power hungry ruler. And that really is just the tip of the iceberg. I haven't even mentioned Joe, the godlike dude who may be thousands of years old, yet wears what appears to be a WW2 fighter pilot uniform and stands 12 feet tall.

GHOSTOPOLIS has more going on than most door stopping fantasy novels. That's the problem. Even at 266 pages (on the large size for a graphic book) TenNapel can barely spare more than a few panels for a single story angle before moving along. GHOSTOPOLIS would have been better served as a five to ten volume saga. Instead everything is crammed inside a single book and rushed over. There is little time to get to know Garth and feel any sympathy for his situation before he is whisked off to the afterlife. The same can be said about Frank Gallows, ghost hunter. Why is he such a slouch? How did he come to be a ghost hunter in the first place?

TenNapel expects the reader to pretty much accept things as they are. But while this might work as a satisfactory tool for some Saturday morning cartoons, it fails to allow any bond between the characters and the reader when done in graphic novel format.

What does get explored isn't explored nearly enough and there was so much more I wanted to see that TenNapel barely glosses over. We learn next to nothing, for instance, about the other provinces in the afterlife, or why human visitors to the afterlife have seemingly endless superpowers. I kept expecting Joe, the 12 foot tall fighter pilot to step in and play a major role, but that didn't happen either.

The artwork is okay, the panels bright and crisp. However they failed to really blow me away or hypnotize me the way BONE or AMULET did. Neither is the humor here very original. When TenNepal does throw out a funny it's usually of the bodily function variety.

In sum, a complex story not given the vast canvas required to do it justice. 

THE SEA OF MONSTERS by Rick Riordan

At the beginning of the year I read the terrific first instalment in the series PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS, The Lightning Thief (Movie Tie-in Edition) (Percy Jackson and the Olympians). Anyone with a love of YA fiction and Greek mythology would surely devour Rick Riordan's modern day classic. It's perfect for young and old readers, anyone with a love of adventure and mystery.

The same must be said for book two, The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 2) . Camp Half-Blood is in danger of being destroyed unless Percy and friends can complete a quest to retrieve the fabled Golden Fleece, protected by a mighty cyclops on an island in the Sea of Monsters. As in the first novel, Percy is going to have to rely on his wits, courage, and friends in order to survive. Many obstacles stand in their way but what would a hero quest be if not filled with danger and monsters at every turn.

These books a great fun. I love the spin Riordan puts on old mythological persons and places. Lets face it, if all of these gods and monsters were still walking around in our world today, they wouldn't still be dressed in togas and laurel head wear or living in the same stone palaces. 

If you haven't given the books a try, I recommend that you do. Coming next month and sure to be reviewed here at some point is The Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Lightning Thief: The Graphic Novel. I wasn't a big fan of the recent movie, so I am pretty excited to read this. I'm on graphic novel kick lately and hopefully this will wipe my mind clean of the Hollywood botch up job.

Night of the Living Trekkies: Book Trailer

If this doesn't make you run out and buy this book I don't know what will. Ya, Joe, I'm looking right at you ;)

(thanks to Graeme's Fantasy Book Review for the heads up about this awesome bit of trailerage!)

AMULET (The Stonekeeper Book One) by Kazu Kibuishi

Regular Wormies will know this past summer (and into the fall) my son, Aidan, and I have been reading the very cool and gripping BONE books. The BONE books, in case you are looking in for the first time, are a series of graphic novels by none other than Jeff Smith. It's about the three Bone cousins who become wrapped up in a grand adventure after being run out of their home town. It's filled with many great elements, and young readers will become addicted to them. There is magic, dragons, young love and lots of funny moments that will have you laughing out loud. They are stuffed full of adventure and mystery. The perfect books for the young bookworm in your family. Or anyone in your family, for that matter.

The other night Aidan and I were discussing what we would do when the BONE books were all done. Let's face it. It's not easy to walk into your local comic book shop and pick up something that will be suitable for youngsters not yet into their tween years or even middle teen years. The content of most comic books these days are simply not appropriate. They are either blood drenched, or over sexed, or filled with mature language. For those reasons BONE has been great. It's pretty much appropriate for all readers. A bit intense at times but family friendly.

Which brings me back to the whole point of this blog post. There we were, Aidan and I, discussing what to read next when, out of the blue, I came across The Stonekeeper (Amulet, Book 1) by Kazu Kibuishi. It is published by Graphix, an imprint of Scholastic (same as BONE). It looked very cool and after a bit of research we decided it was imperative we have the book that night. So we did what any self respecting father and son would do.

We sent Brenda out to get us each a copy!

Despite the fast hit to the wallet, it was pleasure to watch my son tear through this book in an hour or so. And I couldn't blame him. The book is dang good.

It's about two children and their mother who are forced, for economic reasons, to move into the country after the death of their father. Their first night in the old house, that was once their great grandfathers, they hear a strange noise coming from the basement. When their mother goes to investigate she is attacked and taken into another world by a creepy creature with tentacles and many many sharp teeth. The rest of the story surrounds the children and their quest to get their mother back.

AMULET is a book filled with strange creatures, robots and an amazing new world. I absolutely loved this book. The story is gripping, and after about a page or two you will have a tough time putting this one down until it's done. Kibuishi's drawings are eye catching and the world he creates is full of mystery and wonder.

Lucky for Aidan and I there are two more books in the AMULET series to look forward to.

Highly, highly recommended.

BONE vol. 6 & 7

The war has begun.

The Hooded One's army of rat creatures and Pawa humans are marching on the valley, destroying and killing everything in their way. And under a Blood Moon, the Lord of the Locusts will see himself free in a sacrificial ceremony that could be the end of Phoney Bone.

Why am I not surprised Phoney Bone has gotten himself in this fix? The obnoxious, money hungry Bone, is a magnet for trouble.

This book drives head long into pitched battles and narrow escapes, with nary a chance to catch your breath. It seems at every turn Gran'ma' Ben, Lucious, and the Bone cousins are caught between rat creatures, or worse. Rock Jaw has struck a deal with The Hooded One that will see him continue to be master of his domain if he can bring him the Bones and Thorn, alive...or dead.

The dragons continue to be frustratingly absent while Kingdok, ruler of the rat creatures, returns. Kingdok has always played the role of bad guy in this series, but as this saga nears its climax he seems to be getting nastier and nastier. This is one rat creature I wouldn't want to meet on a dark and stormy night.

As usual Jeff Smith knows just when to relieve the tension with a well placed joke and the drawings, of course, continue their exceptional quality. Whether or not you are thinking of starting the series or catching up like Aidan and I, Bone, Vol. 6: Old Man's Cave (v. 6) is a tremendous addition.

Bone, Vol. 7: Ghost Circles (v. 7) is one of the fattest Bone books. It clocks in at 150 pages and not a single one is wasted.

After a disastrous ceremony where the Lord of the Locusts sought his freedom, the volcano exploded covering the valley in ash and destroyed everything. Or did it? It seems some of the destruction may only be the illusory work of The Hooded One and a partially freed Lord of the Locusts.

Now, Gran'ma' Ben, Thorn and the Bone cousins are on a mission to reach the ancient city of Atheia. They need to find someone who can help Thorn and Fone with freeing them of their attachment to the Lord of the Locusts, a complication from the sacrificial ceremony. Somehow both Thorn and Fone are connected to the Lord, and thus the rat creatures can find them with little trouble.

Like OLD MAN'S CAVE, this volume rushes along at a breakneck pace. There are confrontations with The Hooded One, the rat creatures, and a dangerous crossing of Tanen Gard (a sacred burial ground of the dragons). To top it all off, they must avoid the ghost circles. What are ghost circles? They are places that once trapped inside them, one may never ever get out again.

Oh and did I mention the penalty for trespassing on Taren Gard is death?

My favorite thing about GHOST CIRCLES is the return of my favourite rat creature, Bartleby! And boy has Bartleby grown. Lucky for the Bone cousins, Bartleby's return comes none to soon, helping them in a battle against a horde of fierce looking rat creatures.

Kingdok is up to something. He doesn't get much page time, but the space he does get totally creeps me out. The leader of the rat creatures is deep beneath the volcano, and I can't help but wonder what he's up to. I have a bad feeling he's up to no good. Once upon a time The Lord of the Locust inhabited the body of a great dragon in order to gain life in this world. I won't reveal my full thoughts here but you can imagine what I might be thinking. If I'm right, I fear for both the valley and the Bone cousin's lives.

Clive Barker's DARK BAZAAR

Coming this Halloween is Clive Barker's DARK BAZAAR. Clive has created an array of Halloween costumes sure to freak out your neighbours and make you one of the most unique ghouls on the street!

I personally like IT'S BEHIND YOU and TATTU FURIO.

Now if he would just get around to publishing THE SCARLET GOSPELS and ABARAT 3, among many other projects that have seemingly been in limbo for years I would be a happy bookworm.

HELL HOLLOW by Ronald Kelly (a review)

Ronald Kelly is the author of such genre fare as HINDSIGHT, PITFALL, SOMETHING OUT THERE, MOON OF THE WEREWOLF, FATHER'S LITTLE HELPER, THE POSSESSION, FEAR and BLOOD KIN. Last year saw the release of a massive collection of short stories, published by Cemetery Dance, called MIDNIGHT GRINDING. If you missed this collection be sure to click on the link and get yourself a copy.

HELL HOLLOW  is a big ol' bag of fun. This coming of age novel about a traveling magician/medicine man with pure evil in his wicked heart is something of a throwback to the last hay day of a horror in the late eighties and early nineties. Remember when you could walk into a Coles and see big cardboard displays of the latest King, Koontz or McCammon novels sitting right out front for your eyes to gobble up? Those where the days. I can still remember as a kid walking into the book store and seeing King's It set up on a large display with the little paper boat floating towards the sewer drain and the clown's claws sticking out. That image just gripped me, even if at the time I was too young to pick up that monster of a novel.

HELL HOLLOW puts you in mind of the previously mentioned IT, Robert R. McCammon's Boy's Life , with a touch of Richard Laymon's FUNLAND. This isn't a light salad of a novel that Leisure has been putting out the last few years, but a big honking double cheese burger of a novel with all the fixings. It clocks in at nearly 500 pages and did you see that cover art? Doesn't get much better than Alex McVey.

When Kevin Bishop is shipped off by his parents to live the summer with his grandfather in Harmony, Tennessee, it feels like he's in for a long and dull ride. Harmony is a long way from the big city malls and action of Atlanta, Georgia. But little does the 12 year old Kevin realize what Harmony holds in store for him. A grandfather he hardly knows, a cousin keen on showing him how country bumpkins have fun, as well as the seeds of young love in the tomboyish Maggie Sutton. Things start a little rough for Kevin who is reluctant to accept his summer long fate and the culture shock of country living. However he is quick to bond with cousin Rusty, and his friends Maggie and Chuck.

While things are touch and go with his grandfather, the two will soon find that their friendship and love for one another will be their greatest weapon in a battle against the evil force that resides in Hell Hollow.

This book is a real treat to read, especially in some of the later stages of the book when any number of old time personalities make cameo appearances in the showdown for Harmony. The Man With No Name, Elliot Ness, Sam Spade, Joe Friday, General Lee, P.T. Barnum and many many others. I loved all the southern nuances contained within the book and the glimpses it gave this city slicker into life in rural Tennessee. Call this reader a fan of good old southern horror and I look forward to reading more Ronald Kelly in the future.

Budget Time...

So starting this month my wife has me on a $200 book buying budget. Each month I am allowed to spend this allowance (which I earn myself I'll have you know) on any books I want but once it's gone, it's gone. Now, I know some of you out there are probably saying, "200 bucks?! He's mad!". But I disagree, to a certain extent.

Collecting books is a hobby of mine. I'll also add that I don't drink, nor do I smoke or gamble or have any other vice to speak of. I don't even spend a lot on clothes. So, while $200 might seem, to the average person, to be a ridiculous amount of money to spend on books, it's not like I'm also spending that money on all that other stuff.

And hey, it makes me happy.

Regardless of all that, my wife thinks I'm nuts spending this kind of money on books. Yet I changed her mind a little bit when I walked in the door today and showed her my latest purchase. Check it out Wormies!

That's right! Night of the Living Trekkies! It's about a zombie apocalypse during a Star Trek Convention. How cool is that?
Okay, the wife wasn't convinced. She still thinks I'm wasting money. But really, how cool is that?

BENEATH THE SURFACE by Simon Strantzas

Coming soon from Dark Regions Press is the re-release of Simon Strantzas' BENEATH THE SURFACE. Originally published by the now defunct Humdrumming press. Here's the blurb:

Revised and expanded, the startling debut of Simon Strantzas resurfaces with tales of dark Gods and monsters of the flesh, emissaries from a world beneath our own, a world from where nightmares are born. Here, a man searches for truth in a universe that has forsaken him and pays the price for that knowledge, and a woman with out hope travels northward to find the place where her life fell to pieces and discovers of what she truly is made. They say no man is an island, no matter how much he wishes to be, but what then is that ship that sails toward him, and what pray tell is that lashed to its bow. These are tales that infect our dreams, tales of things that live beyond our understanding and watch us with malignant indifference. They are tales of grief, of loneliness, of guilt. Tales of the liminal places that separate our world from that other world, the world to which our souls are merely a gateway. Come inside and witness what resides in us all, deep down beneath the surface.

There are some substitutions from the original. I'm particularly pleased OFF THE HOOK will be included. It's one of my favorite Strantzas stories. Also included will be LEATHER, DARK AND COLD.

To order head on over to Dark Regions Press.

If you can't wait for the Halloween release date to try out some Strantzas you can always head over to Tartarus Press and order COLD TO THE TOUCH, another superb collection.

If either of these selections are too rich for your blood you can still whet your appetite on the cheap by picking up the latest release of Cemetery Dance # 64 which features Strantzas' story OUT OF TOUCH.

COMING SOON!

A couple of new YA titles coming out soon are Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry and Virals by sometime Montreal resident Kathy Reichs. ROT AND RUIN sounds like some standard zombie fare for the YA crowd. Here is the blurb:

In the zombie-infested, post-apocalyptic America where Benny Imura lives, every teenager must find a job by the time they turn fifteen or get their rations cut in half. Benny doesn't want to apprentice as a zombie hunter with his boring older brother Tom, but he has no choice. He expects a tedious job whacking zoms for cash, but what he gets is a vocation that will teach him what it means to be human.

VIRALS is about a group of teens that stumble onto something dangerous, something that will change their very DNA. Here is the blurb:

Tory Brennan, niece of acclaimed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (of the Bones novels and hit TV show), is the leader of a ragtag band of teenage "sci-philes" who live on a secluded island off the coast of South Carolina. When the group rescues a dog caged for medical testing on a nearby island, they are exposed to an experimental strain of canine parvovirus that changes their lives forever. As the friends discover their heightened senses and animal-quick reflexes, they must combine their scientific curiosity with their newfound physical gifts to solve a cold-case murder that has suddenly become very hot--if they can stay alive long enough to catch the killer's scent.
Fortunately, they are now more than friends--they're a pack. They are Virals.

I for one am really looking forward to both releases. Maberry is good for a smart, fast paced thriller and despite having only ever read one single Reichs book, Deja Dead: A Novel, I remember liking it a lot.

THE LOST HERO

Percy Jackson fans rejoice! A new book staring everyone's favorite demigod is back this fall for another fantastic adventure when he returns in The Heroes of Olympus, Book One: The Lost Hero. This is a new jumping off point for the series. Riordon has plenty on his plate with this and his other new series that began with The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles, Book 1). These are no small books, either. Both clock in at well over five hundred pages. Hefty tomes full of excitement and fun for you and your tweens. Personally I have only read The Lightning Thief (Movie Tie-in Edition) (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) and I really enjoyed it. It's filled with lots of Greek mythology and plenty of action that kept me turning the pages as fast as my fingers could move. These are the kinds of books, like Harry Potter, that I wish were around when I was kid.

This begs the question, what is Mrs. Rowling up to these days? Come on, lady. I want another wizardly adventure!

THE CAGE by Brain Keene

Where as I thought SCRATCH was Brian Keene at his very best, THE CAGE was a bit of a let down. Of course I've come to expect the very best from this author, so I can't go too hard on him if every once and a while he serves up very pedestrian tale.

THE CAGE is about six co-workers who are taken hostage after a gun wielding madman enters their workplace just before closing. The seemingly deranged lunatic locks them in a storage area, a place the workers call the cage, an enclosed area of chain link fence. One by one he takes the workers out of the cage, never to return. This leaves the others to nervously ponder their fate, their lives and their relationships with each other.

At one point one of the characters tries to come to terms with what is happening, unable to believe his life has led to this moment, to this madman, simply to be snuffed out. If there is anything to take from this story its that you never know what hand you have been dealt each day. You might be hit by a car or fall down a flight of steps. You might find out from a doctor that the test has come back positive for cancer or you might find yourself held captive by a gun toting psychopath. We come to take for granted that we'll all make it home at the end of the day, that there will be plenty of time to tell our loved ones how much they mean to us. THE CAGE is a warning. Take nothing for granted.

The writing is strong, the characters true to life but for me I just didn't find much to like about any one of them. By mid point I didn't really care one way or the other if the main character made it out alive. Actually that's a lie. I was hoping he would die horribly. Here's a guy that gets pissy about his fellow workers for not making a move against this nutjob and yet didn't have the balls to try it himself. Not exactly hero stock, if you know what I mean.

Once again, this novella is out of stock at Cemetery Dance. If you are a die hard Keene fan it's probably a nice addition to your collection. However, if you are not a fanatic, I would hesitate to pay more than the actual cover price on the secondary market.

SCRATCH by Brian Keene (review)

Brain Keene is one of my favorite genre writers and very rarely publishes something that doesn't satisfy my craving for some good old horror. Keene's writing flows beautifully and never fails to grab this reader by the hand and take me on a tour of the world inside his mind. Things best never seen in the real world. You see Keene's world is a place filled with old gods, monsters both human and not, dark and light magic, and most importantly real folks dealing with real world troubles. Then things, in the case of SCRATCH, Mother Nature, decides to stir things up even more.

This time hard working graphic novelist, and down to earth father, Evan Fisher, is going to learn about the dark side of living in Keene's world, in residing Keene's dark Pennsylvanian playground. Thunder rumbles over Fisher's work studio bringing with it torrential rains that soon bring more to this tiny rural community than high waters.

Old Scratch is just a legend, a myth, that lurks in the lightless waters of the Susquehanna River. Or is he? When Evan and a neighbour go to check on a mother and her two children stranded by the high waters, the two men see something that changes their perspective on things real and unreal. What once was myth may now be truth. And the truth is, when Old Scratch rears his ugly head, Evan finds he's up to his waist in more than just water.

SCRATCH is pure Keene. Real life characters, with real life fears and dreams. It's amazing to me how quickly he makes you feel connected in someway with the people who populate his work. This novella is a very satisfying read, despite its rather short length. More of a long short story than novella, when you consider the art pages. With some writers not quite as talented I might feel a bit unsatisfied but Keene always leaves this reader sated.

The art in this production is provided by Russel Dickerson. Though not my favorite of styles, Dickerson manages to capture the essence of the story in these black and whites. The story also comes with a dated, though very interesting interview with Nick Mamatas, where Keene sheds some light on his world views, thoughts on the genre and his reading likes and dislikes. A nice bonus for fans.

SCRATCH, to my knowledge, is sold out but I'm sure available on the second hand market. It's definitely work seeking out for those among you who are die hard Keene fans.

The last thing I would mention is the great production by Cemetery Dance. Once again they have come out with a very nice, affordable, collectors item. They should be praised, in my opinion, for really turning things around in recent times, getting books out on schedule (and working to catch up on their backlog). They continue to provide the genre with quality reading material that, after a good read, looks great on the bookshelf.

BONE, ROCK JAW review

Bone, Vol. 5: Rock Jaw, Master of the Eastern Border (v. 5) is somewhat of a closed story line within the scope of the series. Fone Bone and Smiley Bone are off to the Eastern Mountains to return a rat creature cub to his home. Along the way they run into Roque Ja, or Rock Jaw, Master of the Easter Boarder and one mean mountain lion.

As the Bone cousins and the rat cub, who Smiley names Bartleby, rise into the mountains they are joined by the mole children and Roderick the Raccoon. Roderick is an orphan, his parents having been eaten by the rat creatures and he's not alone. Roderick and many other orphaned animals join the Bones to help get the rat cub back to his home. And it's not going to be easy, especially when Rock Jaw shows up with intentions of turning the whole gang over to Kingdok and The Hooded One. However things turn interesting when Kingdok arrives and shows little respect towards the giant mountain lion.

Filled with narrow escapes and harrowing adventure, ROCK JAW, is as entertaining as any of the previous volumes and then more. Yes, yes, yes, Smith imbues the book with plenty of funnies, most coming at the expense of a couple of bumbling rat creatures that, through the entire series, have struggled to gain Kingdok's favor with pitiful results. But it is in this volume, that for me, I came to really like the two buttheads.

As I said, ROCK JAW, is mostly a closed story line. Other than those mentioned above, we see nothing of Gran'ma' Ben, Thorn, Lucius or the Red Dragon and his ilk, not to mention the troublesome Phoney Bone. What is going on in Barrelhaven and the rest of the valley? I want to know, as do the Bone cousins as their only hint is a pillar of smoke rising above the valley tress where Barrelhaven resides.

THE TOWN book review

After I saw the preview for Ben Affleck's latest thriller, THE TOWN, I was curious enough to check out the source material. It turned out the movie is based on a book by Chuck Hogan. The Town: A Novel was previously released as THE PRINCE OF THIEVES, which won the Hammett Prize courtesy of the International Thriller Writers of America for excellence in crime writing.

After finishing it in under a week (a blazing read for me, as the book weights in at 622 pages for the paperback) I believe the award is well deserved. THE TOWN is a fast paced crime thriller that will keep you turning the pages late into the night and early morning.

Doug MacRay and his crew are a well oiled machine. They rob banks with smooth precision, the chances they take well thought out and planned down to the second. But things begin to unravel when Doug falls for the bank manager of their latest job, a beauty by the name Claire Keesey. When the heat starts to turn up on the crew, Jem, the volatile and unpredictable member of the foursome, sees Claire as the one responsible. Things begin to go from bad to worse when Doug begins seeing Claire on the side. But despite everything that tells him to stay away, Doug sees Claire as his way out from a life of crime. A last chance.

As things escalate and tensions within the crew grow Doug knows its time to get out. Right after he does one last job. The big one. Then he's gone. But with the FBI hot on their trail and things breaking down from within, things are sure to turn ugly.

This book was a lot of fun. It's full of action and suspense and great dialogue between the characters. Jem Coughlin's slow decline from simple bank robber to all out psychopath is nearly brilliant and frightening. These are people that you should despise, look down upon, but there is something much deeper to them than at first meets the eye. Like the town they see changing all around them, its architecture and face being remolded into something unrecognizable, so the characters are part of something that goes back to the old days of crime. They're not just bank robbers, but outlaws, renegades. Their is something almost romantic about it all, if it wasn't terrible and tragic.

Earlier this year I reviewed THE STRAIN by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan. With collaborations its hard to tell who wrote what and such but I enjoyed the hell out of that one. And I enjoyed the hell out of this one also.