Hell by Yasutaka Tsutsui

 

(hb; 2003, 2007. Translated from the Japanese by Evan Smswiler.)

From the inside flap

“Fifty-seven-year-old Takeshi has just been involved in a traffic accident. When he wakes up, he is in a strange bar, no longer crippled as he has been for most of his life, but able to walk without crutches in his everyday business suit. Looking around, he sees a number of familiar faces—Izumi, a colleague who had died in a plane crash five years before; his childhood friend Yuzo, who had become a yakuza and had been killed by a rival gang member; and Sasaki, who had frozen to death as a homeless vagrant.

“This is Hell—a place where three days can last as long as ten years on earth, and people are able to read each other’s minds and revisit the darker details of their former lives. Yuzo can now look his murderer in the face. The actress Mayumi and the writer Torigai are chased by the paparazzi into a lift that drops to floor 666 beneath ground level. . .”

 

Review

Hell is a good, offbeat speculative fiction read, with its somewhere between spiritual and daily mundanity writing, characters and feel. If Hell lacks the emotional fireworks and wild-stakes drama of Paprika (which I recently read), it’s by masterful design, and therefore should not be compared to Tsutsui’s earlier, 1993 novel, making this 190-page, ultimately hopeful and distinctive book one worth seeking out.

The Avengers: Too Many Targets by John Peel and Dave Rogers

 

(pb; 1998)

From the back cover

“‘Mrs. Peel, we’re needed’

“The Avengers are back! British super-spies John Steed and Emma Peel return in a brand-new adventure that pits them against the bizarre and sinister machinations of a criminal genius.

“A murderer double agent is afoot in London, and the evidence points to John Steed. To clear his name and catch the killer, the dapper Steed must reunite with his former partner, the brilliant and formidable Emma Peel.

“The twisting trail leads them to old allies and adversaries, a berserk gorilla, and a graveyard full of homicidal angels. In short, the Avengers are on the case again—and anything less than justice simply wouldn’t be sporting.”

 

Review

Avengers is an excellent book follow-up to The Avengers television series (ABC and Associated British Productions, 1961-69) and The New Avengers (ITV, 1976-77), with all the wit, set piece action, overall humor and eccentricity of its source series and, beyond that, brings together four of John Steed’s partners: doctor David Keel, the mega-popular Emma Peel, Cathy Gale (now an expert in gorilla behavior), and his current partner, martial artist Tara King. Their interactions reflect the feel of the show, as do the initially quirky villains and their plots, some of whom have tangled with Steed and company before. Avengers is a fun, charming read, worth purchasing if you’re a fan of the shows and characters. 

Destination: Universe! by A.E. van Vogt

 

(pb; 1953: science fiction story anthology)

From the back cover

“Meet a terrifying creature on a remote Pacific Island whose soul is atomic fire.

“Observe the first man on Venus encounter a can of paint—a maddening test of his capacities for survival.

“Read the bizarre correspondence between two interstellar pen pals.

“Watch an artificial, manlike monster turn against its captors and threaten a cosmic empire.

“Follow a lovely saleswoman of uncanny gadgets on a tour through new vistas of time and space.”

 

Overall review

The stories within this collection range from solid to excellent, a superior-to-other-anthologies book that’s worth owning, if you’re a science fiction and turn-on-a-sentence-or-two writing.

 

Review, story by story

“Far Centaurus”: A four-man crew on a five-hundred-year mission encounter unexpected death, and a daunting alien encounter—are they saved or doomed by their intentions, and do the aliens, as well as a fractured crewmate (Jim Renfrew) have their best interests at heart?

This is one my all-time favorite science fiction tales, with initially-solid-then-great-written characters and motives, and a memorable twist, that thrilled me not only as a reader and a writer.

 

“The Monster”: On an environmentally devastated planet, a team of dismayed alien scientists encounter a willful, wily human. Solid story.

 

“Dormant”: A resurrected “monster” awakens to find itself being investigated then attacked by militaristic humans—with serious repercussions for all involved. Good, creature-interesting read.

 

“The Enchanted Village”: The only survivor (Jenner) of a ship-crash on desolate, hot Mars stumbles onto a strangely pristine village that poses challenges and possibilities for survival for the desperate astronaut. Intriguing, fun, unpredictable tale, one of my favorites in Destination.

 

“A Can of Paint”: A thematic-and-structural-sequel-of-sorts to “The Enchanted Village”, “Can” tells of  the Venusian adventures of an astronaut (Kilgour), the first man to successfully land on Venus—not unlike Jenner’s relationship with Mars in “Enchanted”.

Kilgour finds a small cube outside his ship, and once he starts understanding it, tries to find a way out of his possibly fatal dilemma. Humorously light, tightly written and edited (while maintaining a boisterous spirit) and memorable. This, too, is one of my favorite entries in Destination.

 

“Defence”: Old machinery within a “dead planet” turns on, setting off a chain of chaotic events. Excellent, sharp two-page story.

 

“The Rulers”: At a Washington dinner party, a guest (Dr. Latham) recounts how he dealt with a thirteen-member, h-drug-pushing cabal. What is h-drug? Read and find out! Good, fun stuff.

 

“Dear Pen Pal”: A criminal alien (Skander, on planet Aurigae II) becomes pen pals with a wary Earthling—resulting in possibly twisty, dangerous communications. Solid, word-economical, fun.

 

“The Sound”: Yevds (alien spies), intent on defeating humans, kidnap and try to manipulate a boy (Diddy) into helping them with their espionage. Good, offbeat story.

 

“The Search”: Ralph Carson Drake, Quik-Rite Company stationary salesman, wakes in the hospital; it seems he has amnesia regarding his activities for the past two weeks. When he retraces his steps leading up to them, wild truths and characters gradually reveal themselves—and himself. Excellent speculative fiction piece.

Remina by Junji Ito

 

(hb; 2005: manga)

From the back cover

“An unknown planet emerges from inside a wormhole, and its discoverer, Dr. Oguro, christens the body ‘Remina’ after his own daughter. His finding is met with great fanfare, and Remina herself rises to fame. However, the object picks up speed as it moves along its curious course, eliminating planets and stars one after another, until finally Earth itself faces extinction.  . . Is the girl Remina the true cause of the catastrophe?”

 

Review

This one-book for-mature-readers horrific science fiction manga series is excellent, gripping, its intense characters (and their actions) and storyline made more so by its stellar and disturbing artwork that highlights the escalating madness of humanity as they howl with madness, even as the devouring planet’s relentless, coming-ever-closer stare promises undeniable doom. Great read, worth owning.

Dance for the Dead by Thomas Perry

 

(pb; 1996: second book in the Jane Whitefield series)

From the back cover

“. . . the patron saint of the pursued, a native American guide who specializes in making victims vanish. Calling on the ancient wisdom of the Seneca tribe and her own razor-sharp cunning, she conjures up new identities for people with nowhere left to run. She’s as quick and quiet as freshly fallen snow., and she covers a trail just as completely. But when a calculating killer stalks an innocent eight-year-old boy, Jane faces dangerous obstacles that will put her powers—and her life—to a terrifying test.” 

 

Review

Dance is a good, swiftly plotted follow-up to Vanishing Act, with Jane taking on incorporated, seemingly omnipresent assassins. The action sequences are fewer in Dance (as are Jane’s Native American introspective thoughts) than in Vanishing, but with its different set-up, same character depth, and overall excellent writing, it’s an action thriller worth seeking. Followed by Shadow Woman.

Paprika by Yasutaka Tsutsui

 

(pb; 1993)

From the back cover

“When the prototype models for a dream-invading device go missing at the Institute for Psychic Research, employees soon learn that someone is using these new machines to drive them all insane. Brilliant psychotherapist Atsuko Chiba—whose alter ego is a dream detective named Paprika—realizes she is in danger. She must venture into the dream world in order to fight her mysterious opponents. Soon nightmares begin to leak into daily life and the borderline between dream and reality grows unclear. The future of the waking world is at stake.”

 

Review

Paprika is an excellent hybrid science fiction/thriller/horror detective story that blends bleeding-edge technology, eroticism, corporate and scientific malfeasance, religious fervor, hope and darker aspects of human nature. Initially mostly waking-world realistic in its storytelling Paprika gradually, entertainingly slips further into dreason (“dream reason”), sleeping nightmare situations seamlessly mixing with waking-world reality, until it becomes a phantasmagoric-monster orgiastic horror novel, with characters worth rooting for or hissing at. Worth owning, this, especially for fans of Christopher Nolan's 2010 film Inception.

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The resulting 2006 fêted Japanese anime feature of the same name was directed and co-scripted by Satoshi Kon. Kon’s fellow screenwriters: source book-author Yasutaka Tsutsui and Seishi Minakami.

Dead-Bang by Ed Naha

 

(1989: movie tie-in, based on Robert Foster and Jerry Beck’s screenplay)

From the back cover

“Detective Beck thought he’d seen it all, until now.

“A quick stop market on a deserted street. A trigger-happy killer with a strange tattoo. A brutal double-shooting, and a cop murdered.

“It’s more than just a robbery gone awry. For L.A. detective Jerry Beck, it’s the start of a pursuit that will take him halfway across the country—and into the soul of hatred and fear. Where a ruthless army of conspirators would rather die than surrender.

“Based on the real-life experience of a Los Angles homicide detective [Jerry Beck], Dead-Bang is a the exciting story of a dangerous and frightening manhunt. . .”

 

Review

Dead-Bang is a straightforward, starkly and solidly written mission-bent-rogue-cop pursuing what appears to be questionable case book, in this instance a cop-killer with ties to a conspiracy-minded white supremacy group. It sports an effective twist near the end, making it memorable for a brief second, but otherwise don’t expect too much (aside from a fast, entertaining read) from this movie tie-in novel.

The John Frankenheimer-directed film on which it’s based was released stateside on March 24, 1989. Don Johnson played Det. Jerry Beck.

The Elementals by Michael McDowell

 

(pb; 1981)

From the back cover

“After a bizarre and disturbing incident at the funeral of matriarch Marian Savage, the McCray and Savage families look forward to a restful and relaxing summer at Beldame, on Alabama’s Gulf Coast, where three Victorian houses rise above the shimmering beach. Two of the houses are habitable, while the third is slowly and mysteriously being buried beneath an enormous dune of blindingly white sand. But though long uninhabited, the third house is not empty. Inside, something deadly lies in wait. Something that has terrified Dauphin Savage and Luker McCray since they were boys, and which still haunts their nightmares. Something horrific that may be responsible for several and unexplained deaths earlier—and now is ready to kill again.”

 

Review

 Elementals is a masterful, immediately immersive novel, one whose pacing, thick-with-thematic-atmosphere and striking, sometimes fun characters makes it stand out in the best way possible in a genre glutted with less-than-stellar/standard spookhouse works. (It’s a thin line between lag-time writing in serious need of editing and well-foreshadowed/low-key events and chills, and McDowell’s best work falls on the side of the latter approach).

If it ends in a non-surprising, quiet way—it has character-based twists, so I wouldn’t call it predictable—it’s because I got to know the characters and locations well enough to get a sense of their personalities. This is one of my all-time favorite spookhouse reads, one worth owning and keeping beyond its initial reading.