A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

(pb; 1996: Book One of A Song of Fire and Ice)


From the back cover:

"In a land where summers can last for decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing.  The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the North of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom's protective protective Wall.  At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to.  Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.  Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones."


Review:

I'm not fan of sword-and-sorcery fantasy novels, but this may be first book of this genre to fully immerse me in its vivid, often grim, sometimes kind and seductive world since I read J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a teenager.  In fact, Game - for this middle-aged reader - may even trump Tolkien's work for its better editing and brutal realism. 

I'm sure this review will add little to what others have already said, given my late entrance into Martin's created world, but to be clear: I loved and/or loathed the fully realized characters and their twisted, interwoven and intense histories; the action was raw, intriguing and unsparing; and the epic scope of Martin's world, as well as the "plots and counterplots" of its widely varied denizens absorbed this noir-minded (that is to say jaded) reader into its wild storylines.

One of my all-time favorite books - worth owning, this.

Followed by A Clash of Kings.

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The first HBO/cable episode of A Game of Thrones aired on April 17, 2011.  This series is still going - HBO recently aired its Season 3 finale, with a fourth season set to air next year. 

Given the many characters in this series, I'm not going to list the characters, nor the actors who play them.  (I have a busy schedule.  Maybe later, when I have a little more time, I'll list those who have worked on the series.)

**Two of Richard Cody's poems were published on the Strong Verse site

Richard Cody, whose microstories – Alice and Lisa - appeared on the Microstory A Week site, has published two excellent poems, Beware and The Reason Why, on the Strong Verse site.

Check these poems out!

Midnight at the Marble Arch, by Anne Perry

(hb; twenty-eighth novel in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series)

From the inside flap:

"The horrifying rape and apparent suicide of Catherine Quixwood, wife of a wealthy merchant banker, falls outside the new jurisdiction of Special Branch head Thomas Pitt, but so pervasively offensive are the rumors about the victim that Pitt quietly takes a hand in the investigation.

"Yet even with the help of his ingenious wife, Charlotte, and his former superior, Victor Narraway, Pitt is stumped.  Why did the high-minded, cultured Catherine choose not to accompany her husband to a grand party on the night of her demise?  Why did she dismiss all her servants for the evening and leave the door unlocked?  What had been her relationship with the young man seen frequently by her side at concerts and art exhibitions?

"As an ordinary policeman, Pitt has once entered London's grand houses through the kitchen door.  Now, as a guest in those same houses, can he find the steel in his soul to challenge the great men of the world with their crimes?  The path to the truth takes him in deeply troubling directions, from the lofty world of international policies and finance to his own happy home, where his teenage daughter, Jemima, is coming of age in a culture rife with hidden dangers."


Review:

A strongly (over?)stated sense of outrage highlights this timely and sometimes suspenseful mystery - it's timely because Midnight deals with financial malfeasance, political factions and rape, which has dominated many recent, real-world news cycles.

Of course, Perry keeps Midnight engaging as a work of fiction as well, with her trademark warmth and/or chill between the characters, many of them ongoing in this often-excellent series.

Solid entry in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series - worth checking out from the library.

**One of my poems, Noir pan: road house, was published in Pink Litter

One of my mainstream-though-racy poems, Noir pan: road house, was published on the Pink Litter site. (Big thanks to Misty Rampart, who published it!)

Noir pan was inspired by actress/director Ida Lupino (1918 - 1995), specifically her work in the 1948 film Road House.

Please note that Pink Litter is a for-mature-readers site, so if you're under the age of eighteen you may want to skip this one.

However, if you are a legal adult who appreciates older films, sensuality and poetry, check this out!

**Peter Baltensperger's Ambiguities in Black was published in Apocrypha Abstractions

Peter Baltensperger, whose Nocturnal Tableaux* graced the Microstory A Week site in October 2012, has had another mainstream story published: Ambiguities in Black, in June 2013 issue of Apocrypha Abstractions.

Ambiguities, an atmospheric work, concerns a man searching for something - certain meanings, which relate to himself - on a particularly tumultuous night.

Check this story out!

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*Nocturnal Tableaux also appears in Baltensperger's story/vignette anthology Inside from the Outside.

Pretty in Ink, by Karen E. Olson

(pb; 2010: second book in the Tattoo Shop Mystery series)


From the back cover:

"After Brett [Kavanaugh] and company ink Sin City's newest drag queen stars, they're invited to an opening night at the Strip's glamorous Nylons and Tattoos show.  An evening of glitter and dancing ends in disaster when a stranger with a queen of hearts tattoo fells Brittany Brassieres with a wayward champagne cork.

"Even though Britney recovers, she mysteriously dies soon after, and then another drag queen is found poisoned.  Someone's targeting Vegas's fabulous femmes.  And sharp-as-a-needle Brett must crack the case before the show's over for good.


Review:

Engaging characters and colorful settings highlight this often-fun read.  As a mystery, though, Pretty is a failure - its villains, and, more importantly, the 'how and why they did it' is evident early on.  Not only that, but interesting as Brett - the narrator - is, she's constantly scatterbrained and forgetful, to the point of seeming Plot Convenient Stupid at key parts of what was an otherwise enjoyable book.

Pretty isn't a terrible read, but it is disappointing.  I understand that worthwhile mystery writers make their villains' crimes solvable by their readers, but it shouldn't be that easy.

Followed by Driven to Ink.

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, by Mary Roach

(hb; 2013: science/nonfiction)


From the inside flap:

"The alimentary canal is classic Mary Roach terrain: the questions explored in Gulp are as taboo, in their way, as the cadavers in Stiff and every bit as surreal as the universe of zero gravity explored in Packing for Mars.  Why is crunchy food so appealing?  Why is it hard to find words for flavors and smells?  Why doesn't the stomach digest itself?  How much can you eat before your stomach bursts?  Can constipation kill you?  Did it kill Elvis?  In Gulp we meet scientists tackle the questions no one else thinks of - or has the courage to ask.  We go on location to a pet-food taste-test lab, a fecal transplant, and into a live stomach to observe the fate of a meal.  With Roach at our side, we travel the world, meeting murderers and mad scientists, Eskimos and exorcists (who have occasionally administered holy water rectally), rabbits and terrorists - who, it turns out, for practical reasons do not conceal bombs in their digestive tracts.

"Like all of Mary Roach's books, Gulp is as much about human beings as it is about human bodies."


Review:

Fun, informative and quirky: Roach delves into the world of the human digestive tract and beyond, chronicling unexpected -- sometimes disconcerting -- results and the often unintentionally hilarious situations that come about. Roach is scientific, yet her writing is approachable for those outside the medical/scientific community. Also, her wit is chuckle-worthy.

This is a memorable and informative read - worth owning.

All My Sins Remembered, by Joe Haldeman

(pb; 1977)


From the back cover:

"No creature in the galaxy is deadlier than man.

"Otto McGavin, one of twelve Prime Operators in the universe, worked for the clandestine arm of the trans-space peacekeeping agency as a ruthless guardian of alien rights.  He traveled from planet to planet - his body encased in plastiflesh, his mind disguised by personality overlay - infiltrating bizarre alien cultures, surviving by raw instinct and violent assassination on exotic, bloodswept worlds.

"And always he returned to his original self - his conscience stabbed by the memory of all those he'd killed in the service of interstellar harmony."


Review:

Sins is an intriguing, episodic and full-of-action science fiction spy thriller, with a protagonist whose personal disintegration - as an individual - becomes more and more apparent as time goes by.  McGavin, as a character, is relatable and sympathetic (for this reader, anyway), making the waste-no-words Sins a good read by an excellent author.

While reading this, I kept thinking that, with the right director and writer, this would make an excellent cinematic vehicle for Jason Statham, who has enough acting range to show believable emotional shifts, while maintaining his bad-assness.

Gustav Gloom and the Nightmare Vault, by Adam-Troy Castro

(hb; 2013: second book in the Gustav Gloom series. Cover and interior illustrations by Kristen Margiotta)


From the back cover:

"Gustav Gloom's neighbors think he is the unhappiest little boy in the world.  But what they don't know is that the strange, dark house Gustav lives in is filled with more wonders and mysteries than could ever be explained.  But explain is exactly what Gustav needs to do when Fernie What moves in across the street.  And that's when the adventure really begins. . .

"Fernie and Gustav find themselves battling a new, shadowy foe - the shadow eater.  He is after the Nightmare Vault, which will unleash terrifying and threatening shadows into the world.  As Fernie and Gustav race to stop him, Fernie discovers more strange rooms in the Gloom mansion, learns about Gustav's mysterious past, and finds out just what happened to his missing parents."


Review:

Like Gustav Gloom and the People Taker, the first book in this series, Vault is one of the most fun, imaginative and offbeat kid's books I've read in a long while, with something for both children and adults.

One of my favorite lines in the book: "[Mr. What] was a professional safety expert and made his living teaching people how to avoid deadly accidents.  Fried chicken was, in his view, so very dangerous that he'd written an entire book, The Deadliest Cluck, about the terrible catastrophes it could cause.  According to the book, choking on a swallowed bone was not even the worst.  Chapter 7 described one case where a woman had hiccupped at the wrong time and inhaled an entire chicken leg up her right nostril, then sneezed it out and shot her husband through the heart."

Sharp-eyed fans of Tim Burton, Stephen King, Roald Dahl, Shirley Jackson, Henry Selick and the film ParaNorman may especially enjoy this shadow-themed and ultimately heartwarming (sans sappiness) treat.

Wonderful and whimsical work, this, between the dark, kid-friendly charm of Adam-Troy Castro 's story and characters, and Kristen Margiotta's perfect-for-the-book illustrations.

Followed by Gustav Gloom and the Four Terrors.

The Missing Ink, by Karen E. Olson

(pb; 2009: first book in the Tattoo Shop Mystery series)


From the back cover:

"When a girl makes an appointment to get devotion ink with the name of her
fiancé embedded in a heart, Brett takes the job, but the girl never shows.  The next thing Brett knows, the police are looking for her mysterious client. . . and the name this woman wanted on the tattoo isn't her fiancé's.

"An alliance with an unlikely partner leads Brett to a dead body, a suave Englishman, and an Elvis karaoke bar.  And who is the tattooed stranger stalking her?  Brett draws lines between the clues, unwittingly putting herself in danger.  But she intends to see justice done, since death, like a tattoo, is permanent."


Review

Entertaining read, with engaging characters and a plot that moves along at an smart pace.  I figured out most of the who-did-what elements of the book long before Olson reveals the bad guy(s) - I read a lot of mysteries - but I still enjoyed Missing, a promising start to what may be an interesting, subculture-based series.

Worth reading, this.
 
Followed by Pretty in Ink.

**Peter Baltensperger's Ethereal Differentiations was published in Pink Litter

Peter Baltensperger, whose Nocturnal Tableaux* graced the Microstory A Week site in October 2012, has had another story published: Ethereal Differentiations, in the fifth issue of Pink Litter.

It should be noted that this story, as well as this site, are for "mature readers" only - meaning: adults, eighteen years old and older.

Check this story out!

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*Nocturnal Tableaux also appears in Baltensperger's story/vignette anthology Inside from the Outside.