There is nothing I like more than hearing complicated stories in the company of cool people, and Stephen King's The Colorado Kid lets us imagine we'veThere is nothing I like more than hearing complicated stories in the company of cool people, and Stephen King's The Colorado Kid lets us imagine we've spent just such an afternoon in a quaint, little Maritime town in Maine (which felt a lot like my old home of Summerside, Prince Edward Island, and probably made it even more up my alley than it should be).
There is no direct action in The Colorado Kid. All the action happened years before our story begins. A man -- the Colorado Kid -- was found on a beach during the off season, and no one knows how or why he ended up there. But in the Maine of today-ish (is the town called Haven? I suspect so, although I can't remember for sure), two oldsters in charge of the local newspaper are passing on this story, their favourite unsolved mystery, to their young intern who they are trying to woo into making their local paper her permanent post.
The "action" is, therefore, two old men telling a story to a young woman, and the story is necessarily full of gaps. We can't really get a handle on the beginning or the end, and there are big holes in the middle that King doesn't care to fill in for us (an element of The Colorado Kid that I adored but I'm sure will drive others crazy). But for all the holes, for its unfinished and unfinishable status, The Colorado Kid is a compelling tale to listen to, and King does invite us to fill the holes however we like, as long as we know that how we fill those holes says as much about us as it does the story itself.
It's a story that tells us everything it can and shows us nothing at all. I love that. ...more
There were some things to like in Caleb Carr's Surrender, New York but not nearly as much to like as the two previous books in his NY State-verse: TheThere were some things to like in Caleb Carr's Surrender, New York but not nearly as much to like as the two previous books in his NY State-verse: The Alienist & The Angel of Darkness.
My favourite part of Surrender, New York is that it's set in an Extended Universe of Carr's design. Having the crimes in Surrender, New York occur more than a century after Laszlo Kreizler's fin-de siècle crime fighting, and having the only real link between the stories be Dr. Trajan Jones' devotion to Kreizler's "Theory of Context" (making Jones the academic and practical expert on Dr. Kreizler in the 21st Century) was inspired, and it would be a lot of fun seeing this expanded upon further. Unfortunately, though, Dr. Jones and the team of investigators he puts together (a team fairly reminiscent of Kriezler's own team), aren't nearly as convincing as their predecessors were nor as likable, which suggests to me that an expansion on the tales of Dr. Trajan Jones is pretty unlikely, especially when there are two unfinished and previously announced Kreizler novels wasting away on Mr. Carr's computer.
One of the major problems in Surrender, New York is the way Carr presents his contemporary characters. He seems much more comfortable hearkening back to the period of his own academic pursuits -- turn of the 20th Century New York -- when crafting personae than he is dealing with the people of today, although some of that might be up to myself and my own biases. Whether the problem is him or me -- or a bit of us both -- the fact is that I had a hard time caring about the quirky band in Surrender, New York.
And it may actually be the quirks themselves that caused me to distance myself emotionally from his characters. Peculiarities in characters can help define them, give them depth, or at the very least give them colour, but when someone like Trajan Jones has as many quirks as he does -- from a prosthetic leg to a Junkers Bomber turned personal crime lab to a pet cheetah and on and on -- it can be distracting, at least, and even downright silly.
Still, the crime being investigated in Surrender, New York is fascinating, the action is mildly satisfying, and there was more than enough in the characters, despite their flaws, to keep me interested throughout. I think this novel suffers a bit due to my love for the previous Kreizler novels, and I would certainly read another Dr. Jones story; I'd just rather read another Dr. Kreizler case (or even a fictionalized version of the papers Kreizler left behind that Jones uses as the basis of his work).
Regardless, I will keep my fingers crossed that something from Carr's NY State-verse will hit the shelves sooner rather than later. ...more
Let me begin with the one thing I didn't like about Sizzle: the absolute shit narration from Brian Pallino.
Pallino sounds angry -- all the time -- andLet me begin with the one thing I didn't like about Sizzle: the absolute shit narration from Brian Pallino.
Pallino sounds angry -- all the time -- and on the rare occasions when he's supposed to sound angry, he sounds angry still, just a little louder. It's like watching Andrew Shue back in the Melrose Place days where the "Many Faces of Billy" -- no matter the emotion -- were the one face of Billy: glazed over, wishing he was still playing football, Andrew Shue. To make matters worse, though (and this is in no way the fault of Whitley Green, Pallino's character, Elliot, is described by Joelle (read by the quite lovely Meg Sylvan) to have a voice that exudes sexuality; his voice is so dreamy and sexy, we're told, that he should read audiobooks (note to audiobook directors: just because someone DOES read audiobooks DOESN'T mean they should, nor that they are good at it). Now had Joelle been describing Alex (read invitingly by CJ Mission), the gushing praise would have been closer to the mark, and it wouldn't have been so jarringly inappropriate (even though it wouldn't have been entirely accurate either). But nope, Joelle was describing Elliot, and the crapness of Elliot's narrator made it absolutely impossible for me to immerse myself in the story (or the smut) when Pallino was narrating. I don't even think viagra would have overcome Pallino's power to turn me off.
So yeah ... had Pallino not read a third of this book, I'd be giving it the full compliment of stars.
I enjoyed both other narrators, the smut was nice and smutty, the balance of the erotic scenes was solid (even if I would have preferred more), the easy embrace of bisexuality (and polyamory) amongst those close to our protagonists was refreshing and kept the focus on the sex and sexuality, and the surrounding plot was actually pretty interesting ... interesting enough that I was disappointed to discover that the second book in the Sizzle TV series was not about Joelle and Alex and Elliot. I really wanted to see where their MMF relationship went, and I wanted to see Joelle to get a little more oral loving for herself. C'est la vie. I'll read Smoke all the same....more
There is a whole lot of fun and a whole lot of excellence packed into this "Complete" audio collection of X Minus One. I use the quotes a touch ironicThere is a whole lot of fun and a whole lot of excellence packed into this "Complete" audio collection of X Minus One. I use the quotes a touch ironically here because this collection isn't quite complete, which makes me a little sad, but considering that some of the best episodes got replayed in this collection just as they did in the Fifties, I'm not going to hold the missing episodes against the collection.
As with any old time radio collection, there is some inconsistent quality when it comes to performances, and X Minus One struggles with an added level of inconsistency when it comes to the quality of the adaptations from Sci-Fi short stories to Sci-Fi radio plays, yet this collection doesn't suffer from these inconsistencies as much as something like CBS Radio Mystery Theatre does. And the audio quality of this collection (especially considering the episodes were all recorded in the '50s) is superior to most of its brethren.
I don't feel any great need to single out stinker episodes, but I do want to mention my two favourites: "The Tunnel Under the World" by Fredrik Pohl and "Saucer of Loneliness by Theodore Sturgeon. The former is a famous enough work to make Tom Shippey's fantastic collection, The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories, and the latter is so perfectly touching that I want to adapt it for the stage my own self. Even if you don't listen to this whole collection, I urge you to hunt these two tales down on the web. If you love old time radio, I think you'll be happy to listen to them both....more
Does the ending hold up? Nope. Not in a million years.
AreIs this a fun book? Yes.
Is this a good book? Maybe-ish.
Does this book make sense? Not really.
Does the ending hold up? Nope. Not in a million years.
Are there likable characters in there? Well ...
Talking about characters: Enzo -- ridiculous; Millie -- sociopath; Nina -- oddly cool but unethical; Cecelia -- whatever; Detective Connors -- don't blink. You'll miss him; Andrew -- I guess he's evil, but not as evil as Millie (who we are supposed to side with).
For a while now, I've found myself drifting further and further away from podcasts. I climbed aboard the podcast train very early on, and gravitated tFor a while now, I've found myself drifting further and further away from podcasts. I climbed aboard the podcast train very early on, and gravitated towards the supernatural and true crime pods. But I grew tired of hearing multiple takes on the same batch of cryptids or haunted houses or cults or murderers, and the mostly amateur sleuthing about and readings of those topics started to seriously bore me, so I moved back to more academic histories and creepy fictions.
I couldn't help myself, though. After a while, the itch for the creepy and weird pouring into my ears though some disembodied voice(s) came back, and right about the time it did I found Colin Dickey's Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places on sale on audible. All I registered in the title was "Haunted Places" -- which screamed "SUPERNATURAL" to me -- and that was enough to shelve it and dive into some spooky places.
What I got was a surprise that shouldn't have surprised me because it was right in the title. Ghostland is first and foremost "An American History." Yes it is about "Haunted Places," but it is about what those haunted places can tell us about U.S. American history, what they can tell us about the U.S. as a society, what they can tell us about trauma in the American psyche. The places are incidental. They house the damage and crimes and exploitations of centuries of hurt, and those things are all morphed into mythology, ghosts of the traumas the country has undergone, has self-inflicted, has inflicted on others, places that contain the ruins of a country now aging itself into obsolescence.
Dickey argues that America's haunted places spring from the classism, racism and inequality at the heart of a nation that likes to believe it is more than it is, while carrying a history of deep divides, genocides, slavery, and failures to care for its most vulnerable citizens. And because of those traumas, ghosts spring up on Hurricane Katrina ravaged street corners, Civil War Battlefields, in the ruins of dying cities, in the strange houses of the eccentric or the psychopathic rich, in every corner of a country uneasy with itself and its history whether it recognizes it or not.
Ghostland was much more than I signed up for, and much better than I hoped. I would love to see something similar written about Canada and our Haunted Places. ...more
The Carter of 'La Providence' is the fourth Maigret book I've read -- even though the order tells me it is the second in the series -- and in the fourThe Carter of 'La Providence' is the fourth Maigret book I've read -- even though the order tells me it is the second in the series -- and in the four Maigret cases I have read not a single person has been charged with a crime. Maigret is faced with a puzzle; Maigret solves the puzzle; and for whatever reason -- sometimes chance, sometimes a decision by the great detective -- the puzzle doesn't end in a moment of incarceration, a trial, or anything more than Maigret putting on his hat and walking away.
I like it that way and long may it continue.
This time around, Maigret is working on what turns into a couple of murders along the canals. One murder brings him there, another ups the stakes, and it is up to Maigret to find the culprit while the business of barges moving up and down the canals continues unabated.
Simenon creates a really nice tension for us and his detective by using the landscape of the canalside, along with the pressure of commerce to keep goods and services moving, which makes it feel like the solution to the puzzle of The Carter of 'La Providence' may go unsolved despite Maigret's Tour de France-level physical output.
Much as I enjoyed The Carter of 'La Providence', I did find myself setting it down for a couple of weeks in the middle of my read. It was easy to get back into, but I didn't find this second book as compelling as The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien. I hope A Man's Head reads like a sprint rather than an interval hike.
It sure would be fun, though, to see Gerard Depardieu (or some other similarly bulky French actor) riding a rickety old bicycle up and down the cobbled paths beside the canals on the verge of a coronary. Someone other than the Brits need to make some Maigret stories into killer television. ...more
There is "oh! so much" guilt to go around in Georges Simenon's The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien that it becomes clear quite early on that this is anothThere is "oh! so much" guilt to go around in Georges Simenon's The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien that it becomes clear quite early on that this is another case where Maigret is only at work to solve the mystery for himself, and that our idealistic visions of "justice" (whatever that even means) must go unfulfilled. And considering all the guilt floating around this is perfectly acceptable.
In fact, it is Maigret's personal motivations that keep me pressing on in the series. Nothing is easy, nothing is pat, there is very little black, very little white, since the muddiness of the greys is the norm, and Maigret plays by an ethos that is all his own.
One bit of extra fun: of the three Maigret books so far, The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien contains my favourite chase. But it isn't the sort of chase you might expect, nothing full of action or danger; it is a chase where one man stays one step ahead of another in an attempt to cover up all traces of something that happened long, long ago. It's an intellectual thrill, and the victor's victory is all the sweeter for the mental sparring.
I am out of order in my readings so far because I read what I can get my hands on, but I don't think my experience with Maigret is suffering. The novels are all stand alone enough, and he is so well drawn, that I feel I could read this series in almost any order and close the last cover with an experience as rewarding as someone who read them all in the proper sequence. ...more
The audio edition is beautifully read by Will Patton (an actor I love), and being the first of a Stephen King trilogy it falls firmly in Stephen King'The audio edition is beautifully read by Will Patton (an actor I love), and being the first of a Stephen King trilogy it falls firmly in Stephen King's wheelhouse: the opening. Few authors ever impress me as much in the first third of a story as Mr. King. But in nearly every instance the books of his I've read plateau in the second third, then disappoint in the final third.
I long for that pattern to be broken, so I am hoping Finders Keepers maintains the quality of Mr. Mercedes.
If the world of Bill Hodges keeps itself firmly set in the fictional reality King has created, steers clear of the obstacles of the supernatural, and continues to explore serial killer psychology as well as Mr. Mercedes did, I may well have found my elusive, favourite Stephen King story. If not, my search will go on because one of these days the end of a King novel is going to be better than the beginning, and I am desperate to read that book. ...more
Keith C. Blackmore is so much fun to read. After thoroughly enjoying The Majestic 311, I felt compelled to pick up the first in his Mountain Man ZombiKeith C. Blackmore is so much fun to read. After thoroughly enjoying The Majestic 311, I felt compelled to pick up the first in his Mountain Man Zombie series, and it was just as much fun as I had hoped.
Set in Nova Scotia, very close to the border of New Brunswick, where I taught for many years at Mt. Allison, Mountain Man has all the trappings of your good, old fashioned Zombie apocalypse with some fun Canadian flourishes that make it the perfect Zombie experience for a Maritimer. Needs, sort of an Eastern Canadian version of 7-11, makes a fun appearance, our characters often use hockey gear as body armour, it's hard not to imagine former doughnut man, Scott, working in a Tim Horton's (or Robin's), and Gus's constant race to horde as much as possible before the coming of the snow, all feels very Canadian.
But even if the Canadiana doesn't scratch any itches, the fact that Blackmore adds so much beyond Zombie's to his Zombie riddled North should. There's a serial killer taking out all the stray living folks he runs into, an Alamo level battle that makes our Mountain Man the Mountain Man of the title, a truly terrifying break in the action when one of our characters fears he's been infected while hundreds of Zombies mill about the place in which he's hastily taken refuge, and the compound on the mountain almost offers a place of normalcy unmatched in any Zombie tale I've seen or read.
Good enough to keep going in the series? Abso-fucking-lutely....more
It's hard not to love Vlad Taltos (to be fair, it's not something I'm trying to do).
Using first person, as he does, Steven Brust let's us understand aIt's hard not to love Vlad Taltos (to be fair, it's not something I'm trying to do).
Using first person, as he does, Steven Brust let's us understand a fantasy character better than almost any fantasy writer ever has or ever will. Vlad is damn likable. He's self-aware, self-critical, and shares his reasons with us for everything he does -- living a fully realized code of ethics, and adapting as his situation in life and Adrilankha constantly fluctuates.
His marriage is on the rocks, his Noish-pa is in danger, his goddess is messing with him, and his friends are helping him fix the mess he couldn't help but get caught up in, and by the end of Phoenix everything has changed, and we see that a whole new phase of Vlad's life is about to begin. What that entails may wind up being a whole lot of the same, only different. Time and Athyra will tell....more
Some Statements: ● Black Kiss shocked me. I am not sure what I expected, but it sure wasn't this ultra-violent, supernatural, neo-noir, festival of misSome Statements: ● Black Kiss shocked me. I am not sure what I expected, but it sure wasn't this ultra-violent, supernatural, neo-noir, festival of misogyny and ugliness. ● Pretty amazing to have a transgendered sex worker as your "heroine" even today, let alone 1988. It's problematic to be sure (maybe even worthy of serious criticism; I'd even make the case that it is transphobic, especially today), but it's still a pretty serious leap for a Canadian comic book imprint like Vortex Comics to take in the heart of the AIDs epidemic. ● One of our characters, who shall remain nameless here, is brutally raped and ends up trying to protect the rapists from some furious anger because the character "enjoyed" it -- it is Black Kiss's lowest point. And that is saying something. ● The violence in Black Kiss is brutal, but mostly fuzzy and hard to make out in the black and white inking of the panels. Unlike a question I raise later, I appreciate Chaykin's restraint here. ●It's nearly impossible to like anyone in this graphic novel. ● We badly need more graphic novels containing graphic sexuality. Strip away the ugliness of Black Kiss and ramp up the truly erotic. Oh ... the pleasure that could be had.
A Bunch of Questions: ● If you're going to show genitalia in your graphic novel art, why not go hard (pun intended) and show that genitalia a little (or a lot) more graphically? ● Who in Hollywood is mad enough to make this into a film? Who on Earth would star in it? ● I wonder which serial killers of the '90s were influenced by these pages? ● Why hasn't there been a pulpy thriller with Cass Pollack, the jazz musician and last man standing, as an anti-hero? ● Is Black Kiss an underrated satirical masterpiece? Or is it a schlocky piece of trash?
Three Confessions: ● Howard Chaykin was intentionally pushing the boundaries, and he's reported to have been going for the darkest humour and most outrageous content right when "there was serious talk about trying to create a rating's system for comics, and [... he wrote] a book that would be appalling and offensive ... and funny," and I must admit that he conjured more than a laugh or two out of me in terribly inappropriate moments. ● I came to Black Kiss to be titillated, for some taboo arousal, and for the briefest of spells -- when Dagmar Laine's gender came to light and her relationship with Beverly Grove seemed more combative noirish than Mistress-Thrawl supernatural horror -- I was absolutely thrilled, then all hell broke loose, literally and figuratively, and I shifted into despair and a constant cringe. ● I actually liked this graphic novel, and I would love to see more things like this (even the ugly bits) in our puritanical present....more
This is the first time I find myself disappointed in a lecture series from Dr. Dorsey Armstrong. Although she was her usual, knowledgeable, energetic,This is the first time I find myself disappointed in a lecture series from Dr. Dorsey Armstrong. Although she was her usual, knowledgeable, energetic, fierce self, I can't say I am convinced at all that 1215 was a year that changed history. Sure, the Magna Carta appeared, but Dr. Armstrong herself suggests that its influence was and is along a pretty narrow band of world history.
Most of these lectures cover roughly 150 years with 1215 in the center of the discussion. We get plenty of context for the year, plenty of the picture after the year, and many of those events on either side of 1215 seem much more interesting and significant (plague anyone? I know Dr. Armstrong was thinking it because her best lecture series is all about the plague).
I did learn plenty. And as Dr. Armstrong's lectures always prompt me to do, I find myself looking down new avenues I wouldn't usually travel. But the title of this lecture was just misleading enough to annoy me every time a new chapter took me further away from the big date....more
I'm really glad I read Six of Crows & Crooked Kingdom before Shadow and Bone. It's not that Shadow and Bone isn't worth reading, but I don't know thatI'm really glad I read Six of Crows & Crooked Kingdom before Shadow and Bone. It's not that Shadow and Bone isn't worth reading, but I don't know that I would have continued reading the Grishaverse had it been my first experience, and I hate to think that I would have deprived myself of getting to know Kaz Brekker. Luckily, my lovely niece told me where to start and I listened.
I really struggled with the central conflict of Shadow and Bone. There is a simple answer to the central conflict, and many characters must have known that simple answer and still did the reverse, and their doing the reverse drove me up the wall. Too many people put the world, or at least a few nations in peril for no good reason (or they kept their "good reasons" so close to their vest that even Alina Starkov, our spunky heroine, wasn't really told the reasons), making it very difficult to cheer for Alina as she moved towards her heroic climax.
Moreover, I couldn't help feeling like too many serious moments in Shadow and Bone were unearned. I imagine that Leigh Bardugo, who I rate highly as an author, was racing to a finish in her first book, and that given more time and more experience, she would have made sure that those moments were earned -- because her characters earn everything when her Grishaverse moves to Ketterdam.
Oddly, though, even feeling a little underwhelmed by Shadow and Bone, I will certainly move on to Siege and Storm because I have to cross the ocean to Ketterdam before I watch Shadow and Bone on Netflix. I have a sneaking suspicion that Book 2 is going to be better than Book 1. We shall see. ...more
I adore Alan Alda. He has been a guiding force in my life and I promise him, wherever he is, that I will do as he says: I will take his advice and live my life. Really live it. I have always tried to do just that, but I occasionally I slip off into numb-times. I am back again now, living it again, and I will keep on doing just that.
Thanks for the advice, Papa Alan. Thanks for being your beautiful self. ...more
I remain baffled by George Bernard Shaw's Candida. It's a play I love, and this particular performance from L.A. Theatre Works has two exceptional perI remain baffled by George Bernard Shaw's Candida. It's a play I love, and this particular performance from L.A. Theatre Works has two exceptional performances -- Jobeth Williams as Candida & Tom Amandes as her husband, Reverend Morell -- yet I am never quite sure what it is that Shaw is driving at with this play, and every time I see it staged or hear a staging of it I come away feeling something different about the play.
Perhaps, though, it is this uncertainty in me that makes the play so wonderful. There is so much to say, so much room for discussion, so many feelings that it conjures, and each time I engage with it my own feelings change. I suppose it's why I always find myself going back to it, and wishing that I had acted in it while I was a fitting age to do so. Still, it's nowhere near my favourite Shaw, even if it continues to give me confusing pleasure....more
The War on Gaza was on day 106 when I decided to track down a version of Judgment at Nuremberg. I didn't have a hard copy (but one is on its way), andThe War on Gaza was on day 106 when I decided to track down a version of Judgment at Nuremberg. I didn't have a hard copy (but one is on its way), and I wanted to avoid watching the film version until after I experienced a stage version, so I went with the always reliable L.A. Theatre Works production. It was as powerful and important a play as I remembered it, made all the more poignant for what was happening in the world on January 21st, 2024.
We watched a genocide in real time. Will there be any justice for those caught up in it? If so, it will come about because of the Nuremberg trials. But then the Nuremberg trials were meant to ensure that genocides would not happen again because anyone and everyone who took part in the genocide could be prosecuted, and look how that went.
Everyone should read this play, listen to this play, see this play, or watch this film. Abby Mann's lessons for us have always been important, and they remain so now -- in the middle of a genocide.
It is now January 24th, 2024 and the genocide is still happening. I demand a ceasefire (but who's listening?). Free Palestine.
My heart breaks for anyone who is the victim of ethnic cleansing, no matter when or where....more
Third in the series, apparently, but the second Maigret I've read, The Late Monsieur Gallet was a nice entry in the series, and a welcome way to get tThird in the series, apparently, but the second Maigret I've read, The Late Monsieur Gallet was a nice entry in the series, and a welcome way to get to know the French Inspector better.
Populated with mostly terrible people, The Late Monsieur Gallet digs deep into the mysterious death of Monsieur Gallet (view spoiler)[, who turns out not to be M. Gallet at all (hide spoiler)], and the life of a man who had failed and failed and failed again but tried to so something decent in the end.
The finest moment in the novel comes in the closing pages of the book with Maigret's decision concerning that decent thing M. Gallet tried to do, yet I can't help wishing there had been more moments like this throughout the book (the story would have been stronger with a few more). Still, one beautiful moment where we get to really see into the character of Maigret is enough to make me want to keep spending time with the Inspector, especially knowing that solving "the puzzle" and doing "the ethical thing" means much more to Maigret than the letter of the law.
I guess book two will become my book three. ...more
I don't know what possessed me to actually buy this book. I don't often pay attention to recommendations from my many book apps and sites (including gI don't know what possessed me to actually buy this book. I don't often pay attention to recommendations from my many book apps and sites (including goodreads), trusting, instead, friends and folks whose taste I admire, but I saw the ugly, toxic, choo-choo train cover and felt compelled to click some link somewhere and read the plot summary.
I think I found out at that point that Keith C. Blackmore was a Canadian author, so that probably influenced me. I remember thinking, too, that the cover of The Majestic 311 reminded me of one my favourite repeating billboards in my many Trans-Canada journeys, a billboard trumpeting the awesomeness of The Minnow Trap (a truly awful book by some goofy writer from Northern Ontario), and I thought The Majestic 311 would at least be some trashy fun to take my mind off all the serious books I've been reading. But even then I shouldn't have been convinced enough to spend the money on The Majestic 311, yet I did and much to my surprise I didn't just put it on my "to read" pile and let it languish for five years. I opened the cover and started reading.
Awesome decision.
I love The Majestic 311. It really defies description, but let me try one out without spoilers: a gang of Canadian train thieves finds themselves in the wrong train one cold, wintry, Alberta night, and that train takes them across the universe and back again. Or something like that.
The Majestic 311 started out feeling like an old black and white Twilight Zone episode, blending Western and the supernatural, then it turned into an 80s mash-up of Slasher & Western movies before becoming a full out Bizarro novel before morphing its tone to the New Weird before shifting to full-out Sci-Fi before giving way to John Carpenterism then eventually winding up in a sort of Rod Serling's Night Gallery double twist ending. I never knew what was coming next, what was waiting from train car to train car, and I loved every second of it -- much to my surprise. I loved it so much that by the time I made it about two thirds of the way through the book I had to slow down my reading just to savour the remaining story.
I'm not sure how many people I know would love this book as much as I do, but there is no denying Blackmore is a solid technician and a fiercely imaginative author. I'm already nearly finished the first book in his Zombie series -- Mountain Man -- and I can't see myself slowing up. Blackmore's writing is just too damn entertaining.
There is one sad thing about The Majestic 311, though. I have been dreaming of starting to record audiobooks, and I was going to beg Blackmore to let me narrate The Majestic 311. Turns out that audiobook ship has sailed. Too bad. Back to dreams of classics, I guess. ...more
Let me begin my praise of Pietr the Latvian by saying that I was genuine surprised twice. Two things I never thought to see in a first police procedurLet me begin my praise of Pietr the Latvian by saying that I was genuine surprised twice. Two things I never thought to see in a first police procedural both happened. These were things I would expect later in a series, but not straight out of the gate, and they raised the stakes to the highest level without relenting until the final pages of the book. It is an impressive beginning for a series that is 75 books long (wow!).
Beyond the surprises, I loved two things that the writing of Georges Simenon evoked: 1. atmosphere; 2. procedure.
Beginning with one, the places Simenon conjured were tangible. Pietr the Latvian moved throughout Paris to Estonia and back again, and I was sucked into the landscapes and coastal towns and cityscapes by a master of place-as-character. I wonder how much Simenon China Mieville has read? I imagine the latter is at least familiar with the former. I could taste the salt in the air amongst the rocks at the end of the pier; I could smell the rot in the back alleys behind Parisian apartments; I could hear the dishes clanking in the kitchens of hotels; I could see the shadows in the cobbled roads between buildings that were born before cars; and I swear I could feel the stickiness of the bloodstained carpet. What's not to love?
Now on to two, an early manifestation of one of my favourite forms of the crime genre -- police procedure. Of course Pietr the Latvian contains procedure that has little to do with forensics and other late-20th Century developments; it is a novel of doggedness and soaking skin, of tracking and observation, of interrogation and empathy, of late nights and no sleep, and it finds a touch of romance in the crappiness of such procedure all while deftly pointing out the pain and futility of such a pursuit.
I see why Georges Simenon meant so much to those who followed him, were inspired by him, and even hated him. He was an impressive writer, and I think I may finish the other 74 books in the series before I die. ...more
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