- N.K. Jemisin’s second book in The Inheritance Trilogy – The Broken Kingdoms is awesome. Loved it even more than the first book, and can’t wait for the final book, The Kingdom of the Gods. 

- John Scalzi’s The God Engines: balla. That’s a good thing.

- Stephen R. Boyett took 25 years to write the sequel to Ariel, but I will tell you this much… I’m enjoying the shit out of Elegy Beach. A world where the introduction of magic to Earth has pushed mankind to extinction, the friendship between to two boys can change the fate of the world. My regular subway read these days.

More stuff to come soon, promise. In the meantime, the twitter feed get slightly more updates. Slightly more.

As you may or may not know, I am a huge fan of Japan, and Japanese culture.  One of my favorite books (Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima–if you haven’t read it, DO!  I will write about this one at some point) and my favorite author, Haruki Murakami–whose books I plan on rereading, and covering) come from there.

Murakami, if you haven’t guessed by the title of this post, is who I am writing about.  A friend of mine turned me on to Murakami and his works, mentioning that I should read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.  When I couldn’t find a copy of it, I settled on another of his novels, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.

Anyone who regularly reads Murakami knows that he has a penchant for the bizarre; often having extremely strange characters, or odd happenings appear throughout most of his novels.  I think that Hard-Boiled Wonderland is his most bizarre, though, so it was quite an initiation for someone who hasn’t read anything he has written.

I think that Murakami’s use of bizarre characters/themes/happenings is what kept me (and still keeps me) reading his work.  He has a way of sneaking unexpected, and strange, things into his novels in such a way that they don’t seem out of place.  His characters are usually grounded, and very realistic and these odd happening seem all the more believable because of them.

If you ever find yourself looking for some insight into Murakami, and how he works, there is an essay (in book form) written by Murakami called What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.  In it, Murakami details his past attempts at marathon running.  There are points in the book where he talks about his writing, as well.

It’s because of these few reasons, and many more, that I can easily recommend Haruki Murakami and his novels (and essays) to anyone.  If you are ever in a need for something…new…to read, please don’t hesitate to pick something up by him.  He has a large selection of books available in English.  I eagerly await the (eventual–please!) release of his latest novel 1Q84.

Speaking of pests in the house, I have begun to read Christopher Moore’s Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove and so I should have a review next week.  I have just started it, but there is already a zany cast of characters that I am looking forward to getting acquainted with.

 I am also working on another top 7 for next Tuesday, so, until then, stay tuned!

This post is a something a little out of the norm when compared to my other book reviews.  It will, at some point soon, be a full-fledged review.  For now, it’s a bit of a preview of sorts.  I have read most of the book, but haven’t had a chance to finish it before today’s post.  As I didn’t really have anything else to cover, I decided to be a little unorthodox with my post.

First, let me get this out of the way.  It seems like the fates conspired against me getting to actually finish this book in a reasonable amount of time.  I started reading it a couple weeks ago, just before my brother came to town for the family reunion.  I figured I’d still have time to read while he was here–I really didn’t.  So, when he left the reading started to pick up a bit.  When this week arrived, though, I was thrown off by the arrival of the school semester.

Now I have really gotten into it, and have begun to enjoy and appreciate it a bit more.  I am almost done, but I can pretty much surmise my feeling about the book as a whole.  If something comes up, namely with the ending, that makes me think less of the book, then I will be sure to update this piece with that information.

The Town That Forgot How to Breathe, by Kenneth J. Harvey, is a pretty eerie piece of work.  Set in the Newfoundland town of Bareneed, the novel paints a lovely picture of seaside life.  While Bareneed looks quaint and picturesque, everything is not as it seems.  As novels like this tend to showcase, nothing out of the ordinary really happens until an outside makes his or her (in the case of this novel his and her) way into town.

The outsiders in this story are a young father, Joseph Blackwood, and his daughter Robin.  Though Joseph’s family was originally from Bareneed, his father had left it, and he grew up outside of the small town.  Because of him familial ties Joseph takes Robin there for a vacation.

Upon their arrival, they meet an eccentric old woman named Eileen Laracy who just happens to clue the reader in on something about Robin: she is “blessed”.  Blessed, in this novel, is sort of like having “the shining”.  Robin can see things that others cannot (spirits, the future, etc.), and tends to sketch them in a notebook she keeps with her.  What she sees, and it’s almost immediate, is the ghost of a young girl in the barn on the rental property her and her father are staying in.

After the initial sight of the ghost girl, things slow down a bit story-wise.  Harvey introduces a few new characters, one of which can see the future like Robin.  Tommy Quilty has the same habit of drawing what he sees in notebooks of his own.  Not long after, though, peculiar things begin to happen again, and these odd occurrences culminate in the sea regurgitating the bodies of those that have been lost in it.  Though these bodies are dead, they don’t look like drowning victims should.

As all this is happening, certain townsfolk begin to die mysteriously.  First they succumb to rage, then their bodies just stop breathing–seemingly forgetting how to do so.

The story itself is good.  The setting is great, and beautifully described.  Harvey’s cast of characters are well rounded and quite believable.  There is a bit of a problem with too much inane description–description that really serves not purpose as the story goes along.  I think those descriptions bog it down a bit.

While I enjoyed–and am still enjoying–this novel, I will not yet make a recommendation.  When I finish it, and have time to digest what happened, then I will update this odd post.  Until then, later!

These are seven of my favorite Sci-Fi TV shows.  I decided to go with a more recent selection, as I could fill a list with older shows quite easily.  These are NOT in any particular order because it would be really hard for me to choose one over another!  Well, except for one, which you’ll see.

X ALWAYS stands for something mysterious!

The X-Files­

Agents Mulder and Scully were a big part of my teenaged life.  I looked forward to what crazy things they were going to investigate each week.  Though I was always a fan of science fiction, this show really cemented my love of the genre.  Even though out-of-this-world things were constantly happening, the two agents and the incredible cast of supporting characters was believable. I know a show like The X-Files­ requires a suspension of disbelief when you start watching.  I can’t help but think that there is a little paranoid person in all of us that can easily find something to latch onto.

Crown (second from left) is easily my favorite character.

Mystery Science Theater 3000

This is one of my favorite shows, hands down.  And not just in the genre of science fiction.  The premise of the show was totally science fiction:  As a means of experiment, a human worker Joel (replaced by Mike as the show went on) was shot into space on the Satellite of Love and forced to watch horrible B-movies.  While watching these movies Joel (or Mike) and his only companions, some wisecracking robots, did what everyone likes to do when they see a terrible movie: mock it mercilessly.  They not only made a terrible movie watchable, they made it enjoyable AND hilarious!

Fringe

Fringe takes a page from The X-Files. An FBI lead group, the Fringe Division, investigates a slew of strange disturbances called “The Pattern”.  The characters drive the show a bit more than the occurrences they are responsible for investigating.  Walter, a deranged scientist who just happens to be the cause of some of these occurrences, really steals the spotlight, in my opinion.  The show’s current venture into a parallel universe is great!  Especially seeing what could have been in our universe.  With the third season on the way, and one of the members of the Fringe Division from our side stuck in the other universe, things are bound to be exciting!

The Doctor and a bunch of his old friends

Doctor Who

THE epitome of time travel television!  Doctor Who is an amazing series that has been going for many (many many) seasons!  The exotic locales, and exotic beings, have nothing on the characters of the show.  The show may be called Doctor Who but it really is a show about The Doctor’s companions, and their lives.  Some of my favorite episodes are the ones dealing with historical figures, rather than those that deal with alien beings, etc.

This picture, alone, cannot show the awesomeness of the show! I tries, though.

Futurama

The only animated series on my list, though not the only animated series I enjoy, Futurama really does have it all.  Aliens?  Got them.  Robots?  Yep.  Sewer mutants?  You’re damn straight!  What other show has a man from the past that is his own grandfather?  None that I know of.  The thing is, Futurama takes all of these abnormal things, and makes them completely…well not mundane, but close.  It really is a slice of everyday life (well sometimes), just set 1,000 years in the future.  Let’s hope that its rebirth, after a seven year cancellation, lasts a bit longer than its first run!

Eureka

Eureka it touted as America’s smartest little town, and it very well is.  Eureka is basically a town where all the smartest people in the world live and work.  However, what I love about this show featuring incredibly brilliant scientists is that the man that winds up saving the day is an everyman.  Sheriff Jack Carter may not be the smartest person in the town, but he certainly has pulled the town out of the “fire” on many occasions.  Jack manages to do so with a sense of humor, even when things look their worse.

This is what sexy supernatural beings do in their time off.

True Blood

This show, drawn from the series of books (Southern Vampire Mysteries) by Charlaine Harris has a bit of everything.  Vampires, werewolves and other werebeings, witches and faeries…you name it!  Even with this eclectic mix of fantastical beings, True Blood is intense, sometimes campy, and always incredibly sexy.  Though the second season was crazy, and really all over the place (even for True Blood), the third season is brilliant.  Sure, it’s just as crazy as last season, but it’s a much more focused kind of crazy.

A few honorable mentions, because I had a hard time keeping my list at seven: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (both the micro-series, and the current series—I am an unabashed Star Wars fan!), Dead Like Me, and Pushing Daisies.