Leisurely Geeks

It sometimes takes me a while to finish a book. I have many responsibilities and hobbies that consume my time. I also like to deviate from my normal intake of fantasy and science fiction novels with historical fiction/non-fiction.

My latest read was Isaac’s Storm by Eric Larson.

It was entirely by coincidence that I found myself reading a book about the deadliest hurricane to hit the United States as Hurricane Sandy was gearing up to ravage the East coast. I live in the state of NY. But, in this case, thankfully not an area effected much by the storm. Regardless, frequent and powerful warnings filled our news feeds. Many wondered if the warnings were just hype churned up by the media. The morning after the storm made landfall and what weather that was predicted to hit our area fizzled out, I repeatedly heard dismissive comments about the warnings being overblown. Many just heard category 1 and felt that it couldn’t be that bad.

As the storm unfolded, I was alternating between reading news reports and finishing Issac’s Storm by Eric Larson. Did the novel impact my thinking about the storm or vice versa? Actually..both.

We are approaching a new era of digital publishing. An era which Authors are out there creating amazing things and wishing to distribute in as easy a way as possible. Trying to prove that DRM is a hindrance more than a protection.  Well here is an easy way for both the author’s and the customer to prove the  publishers wrong as each of these books are DRM free. Pay what you want and support charity if you choose. The Books: Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow, Pump Six by Paulo Bacigalupi, Zoo City by Lauren Beukes, Invasion by Mercedes Lackey, Stranger Things Happen and  Magic for Beginners (both by Kelly Link). As usual for the Humble Bundle group, pay above the average and get 2 additional items for your $ (Neil Gaiman & Dave McKean‘s  graphic novel Signal to Noise and Old Man’s War by John Scalzi. Some names you might recognize, some names you might not. Either way, it is another opportunity to try something new for a low price all while seeing exactly where your money is going. Average payment for the bundle is at $11.60 as of this post so get moving if you are even thinking about it.

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Another book I was late to the party on.

I tend to stockpile books and other types of media. I can't stand being bored or wasting time flipping channels when I could be taking in something much more interesting.

This book, or rather the entire Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks came recommended out of the blue from a person I didn't know was into fantasy novels (thanks Mike). It sounded familiar. I went home and checked a stack or two of my unread books and sure enough I owned the hardcover of the trilogy. Great! But wow, what a huge book. I know, it was all three books but still it was daunting as a bit of a time sink. For the first couple hundred pages I kept stopping and got cought up reading some other quick reads which delayed the inevitable. This book is a bomb with a long fuse. But it explodes with action in the second half. Brent Weeks was just building his unique world and the characters thoroughly before everything came to a head. And the book and likely the entire trilogy will be all the better for it. In a world which marvelously mixes Western and Eastern fantasy styles together.

Description from brentweeks.com:

“The perfect killer has no friends. Only targets.

For Durzo Blint, assassination is an art. And he is the city’s most accomplished artist, his talents required from alleyway to courtly boudoir.

For Azoth, survival is precarious. Something you never take for granted. As a guild rat, he’s grown up in the slums, and learned the hard way to judge people quickly — and to take risks. Risks like apprenticing himself to Durzo Blint.

But to be accepted, Azoth must turn his back on his old life and embrace a new identity and name. As Kylar Stern, he must learn to navigate the assassins’ world of dangerous politics and strange magics — and cultivate a flair for death.”

Great Book. Biting into the second book, Shadow's Edge,next

Check out Brent Weeks site here: www.brentweeks.com

There is always speculation as to the cyclical prevalence of certain types of fiction that becomes popular. We love to analyze pop culture popularity. Especially the things we choose to frighten us. Often the media has the habit of seeing only the surface of things. Speculating, for example, that we like Vampires for their glamorous immortality and tortured souls.

Zombies, for a long time, have been symbolic for the monsters we could become. But too often, they were and sometimes continue to be used as monsters. Monsters that were likely created by or were part of an apocolyptic event. With that, many zombie tales are of the humans attempts to survive the situation. Which really makes that type of fiction survival horror stories where the zombies are just the tool which is used to push the human protagonists along the story. Revealing the strengths and weaknesses of humanity through the interaction of the living as they battle monsters that were once human. Don’t get me wrong. There is definitely a place for these types of stories. George Romero‘s films are legendary cult classics. Danny Boyle‘s 2002 film 28 days Later breathed new life into the genre with its fast spreading rage virus and zombie-like monsters that could sprint after you. And of course Robert Kirkman‘s Walking Dead comics and wildly popular AMC series, which feature classically styled zombies but take survivor tales to the next level. And don’t forget the fantastic Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z novel by Max Brooks.

Yet, the popularity of the comic and AMC series The Walking Dead is the tip of the iceberg of the resurgance of Zombie fiction. With the popularity at an all time high, many would believe that those previousely outside of the genre who are now creating zombie related fiction are just jumping on the bandwagon.

And here is where my review of I, Zombie by Hugh Howey begins:

Now that it has been released and it has already been delivered to my Kindle app on my iPad, time to take a bite. Or, if Hugh Howey’s other novels are an indicator, likely finish in under two days.

So in this book Howey  takes the Zombie genre and puts it on its head. For in this novel he explores the human souls who do not make it. The ones left to turning into zombies themselves with their humanity trapped by their condition. If Howey’s previous works are an indicator I will finish this book with many thoughts about humanity at its core. About whether or not we deserve to survive an apocalypse, Zombie or otherwise. Oh and in case you missed it. It is a Zombie book. And, I love zombie books.

The book is on sale now on Amazon: I, Zombie by Hugh Howey on Amazon

Check out Hugh Howe’s site here: http://www.hughhowey.com/

Cover courtesy www.hughhowey.com

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Thanks to Titan Publishing, I had the opportunity to read a review copy of a new novel. Sherlock Holmes: The Army of Dr. Moreau by Guy Adams.

First of all, I will start by saying this is a pretty loose review. That’s because I hate spoiling a book. And spoiling anything in a Sherlock Holmes novel seems twice as bad.

Secondly: It might not be for you. Playing with an iconic character is like playing with fire. Some handle it very carefully. With gloves they use the character to tell a story both befitting in content and in style that everyone associates with the character. Some chose to use the fire to re-mold the character or the world they are envisioned to be a part of. With that being said, I admit that I am normally not a fan of Sherlock Holmes novels. I usually want more from the characters than what the novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did with them. To me they always felt as if Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was just using them as an intellectual exercise of designing a mystery as intricate as possible. Only to then use Holmes as the only character capable enough to unravel it. All to show off both the mystery and Holmes’ amazing skills of deduction. Great characters, but in many ways the material of that era comes across as a bit dry. Understandably those that prefer their Sherlock Holmes written in that Victorian style will probably not like this book.

Cover courtesy Wikipedia

To this day if i am asked what I am reading and someone hears me say “Stephen King“, they still respond with things like “It must be scary!” or things like that. Still reading his career like a books cover, he is known to many only as the master of things dark and evil. He is definitely not just a Horror author.

One must be aware that he has built a world on par with those imagined by the best fantasy and sci-fi authors. Mid World, the main setting for The Dark Tower series is an amazingly rich setting with many stories to be told.

I’m not usually real big on fighting games personally but this one looks promising.  Injustice:  Gods Among Us takes your favorite DC superheroes and villains, including Superman, Batman, The Flash, and Solomon “Born on a Monday” Grundy and throws them into several arenas featuring destructible environments, multiple areas (with painful ways of getting to them) and interactive objects to further inflict pain on your opponent.  The following video contains gameplay demonstration from EVO 2012 by creative director Ed Boon of Mortal Kombat fame, courtesy of IGN.

We are huge fans of the Wool series by Hugh Howey. Here is a video from random house and a new site to promote the series. More of a teaser than a trailer. But, if you’ve read the books you will understand how satisfying this story will be as a film. Found thanks to Hugh Howey himself. Check out his site: http://www.hughhowey.com/?p=2548 and new Wool Focused site here:http://www.thisiswool.co.uk/

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• Why haven’t you read Hugh Howey’s The Silo Series Yet?(leisurelygeeks.com)

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Sometimes it takes seeing a future mapped out by a complete lack of faith in humanity to renew it. This is a huge reason post-apocalyptic fiction always has a place on my bookshelf. I finally finished the Silo series by Hugh Howey. Beginning with 1-5 which are contained in the Wool omnibus and following with The First Shift – Legacy (Book 6 of the Silo series), Mr. Howey blew me away. The future he envisions is both surreal and yet you have that itch in the back of your mind that this scenario could actually be a possibility. Far in the future when the survivors of the cataclysmic events have gone generations, and the spread of disinformation has become the only truth they know. Where wrongdoers, or even those who dare speak of wanting to leave the underground structure they call home, are sent out into the deadly outside to “clean”. To remove the grime from the only windows that show why they live where they do and to die soon after. These books contain such layers of forethought on Howey’s part it amazes me to no end. A place so simple in that everyone lives and works to survive is shown to be filled with a psychological horror more frightening than any monster.