Tag: Consumption

Book review: The Six Messiahs

CaptainFez2 Comments

The Six Messiahs.The Six Messiahs by Mark Frost
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The second (and so far final) in Twin Peaks co-creator Mark Frost’s series of books featuring a fictionalised Arthur Conan Doyle as a character isn’t a great departure from the first. Once more, our trusty author – now thoroughly jack of Holmes – is caught up in world-changing events of a supernatural nature and must fight with Jack Sparks (Holmes’ inspiration in this world) to prevent catastrophe, and a universal loss of stiff upper lip.

On this outing, Doyle embarks on a tour of the US to escape his failing wife (and marriage). The trip to the land of the Yankee provides plenty of space for period detail, and also ensures Frost can add a fairly big dose of cowboy-and-religion imagery to the creeping Lovecraftian grimness featured in the first volume. Continue reading “Book review: The Six Messiahs” →

Book review: My Lovely Ghost KANA, Volume 2

CaptainFezLeave a comment

My Lovely Ghost KANA, Volume 2.My Lovely Ghost KANA, Volume 2 by Yutaka Tanaka
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It’s a little difficult to review this volume of the tale of Dai and Kana as it’s largely the same as that which came before: regular life interspersed with some well-shielded sex.

My feelings for it remain the same as they were when I wrote my review of the first volume: it’s nothing earthshattering, but it is pretty enjoyable, and seems a very true-to-life observation of how relationships change. There’s hints of greater darkness here – and the introduction of other characters to the apartment complex, though this hasn’t (yet) created any untoward drama – but it’s still pretty lighthearted. Continue reading “Book review: My Lovely Ghost KANA, Volume 2” →

Book review: The List of Seven

CaptainFez4 Comments

The List of Seven.The List of Seven by Mark Frost
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Written by Twin Peaks co-creator Mark Frost, The List of Seven is an occult tale which takes historical fact and bends it to a distinctly gung-ho, eh-what end. It’s a Victorian tale peopled with notable figures from the time, but shot through with the sort of supreme radio-serial ridiculousness that lends the Indiana Jones series of movies their verve.

Arthur Conan Doyle himself is the major figure of the story, though he’s not the only notable personage who makes an appearance. Royalty and showbiz names crop up, and Frost throws in enough elements of their life and works – Hey! It’s Bram Stoker! In Whitby! – to elicit Continue reading “Book review: The List of Seven” →

Book review: My Lovely Ghost KANA, Volume 1

CaptainFez1 Comment

My Lovely Ghost KANA, Volume 1.My Lovely Ghost KANA, Volume 1 by Yutaka Tanaka
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the first manga of its type I’ve read, and I was pleasantly surprised. It’s the story of Daikichi (whose name means ‘good luck’) who seems to be a bit of a loser. He has no job, nobody to look after him, and ends up living in an abandoned apartment. It’s overgrown and shitty, and the heavy inference is that he’ll die there, or at least fall through the cracks.

Until he meets his ghostly girlfriend, that is. Continue reading “Book review: My Lovely Ghost KANA, Volume 1” →

Book review: The Difference Engine

CaptainFezLeave a comment

The Difference Engine.The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’ve been on a bit of a Gibson jag of late, so I figured I’d revisit this, his distinctly non-cyberpunk collaboration with Bruce Sterling. I’d read it a long time ago, and I recalled it fairly fondly, though not too well.

Turns out there was a pretty good reason. Continue reading “Book review: The Difference Engine” →

Book review: All Tomorrow’s Parties

CaptainFezLeave a comment

All Tomorrow's Parties.All Tomorrow’s Parties by William Gibson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Not with a bang, but a whimper. That’s how William Gibson’s Bridge trilogy appears to end. The final novel is enjoyable, though it’s shot through with frustration and missed opportunity.

The problem is that while characters reappear from across the previous two books, certain key characters are wasted, or used too sparingly. All we get of Blackwell is one unnamed appearance? Come on, guy. Continue reading “Book review: All Tomorrow’s Parties” →

Book review: Idoru

CaptainFezLeave a comment

Idoru.Idoru by William Gibson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second in Gibson’s Bridge trilogy is much more enjoyable than the first. Well, scratch that – it’s enjoyable in a different way. I found it entertaining as one of its characters is demonstrably based on Australian standover man and garrulous toecutter Mark Brandon “Chopper” Read, which immediately gave me a cultural ‘in’ on the work. But also of importance, for me, was its focus on pop fame, and the construction of identity.

As ever, Gibson is a thriller author concealed in tech. He’s adventure by stealth, Continue reading “Book review: Idoru” →

Book review: Virtual Light

CaptainFezLeave a comment

Virtual Light.Virtual Light by William Gibson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So I’m continuing the Gibson jag I’m on. This one’s the first in the Bridge trilogy, another set of novels set in a future dystopia. This time, though, he’s more tuned into portraiture than hardware.

What’s interesting is that the tech which is so much a part of the fabric of the earlier Sprawl trilogy is here relegated to the background. The virtual light of the title ends up playing a role similar to that of Marcellus Wallace’s briefcase in Pulp Fiction, or the statue in The Maltese Falcon. They’re technical and advanced, yes, but they really exist to provide a motivation for the book’s events. It’s pretty refreshing to see something so fetishistic used for so base a narrative purpose. Continue reading “Book review: Virtual Light” →

Book review: Burning Chrome

CaptainFezLeave a comment

Burning Chrome.Burning Chrome by William Gibson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you wanted to only read one ‘cyberpunk’ Gibson book and still take away the nut graf of his world, this would probably be it. Burning Chrome is a collection of shorter fiction: ten stories, three co-written with others. The title story is where the term cyberspace – so ubiquitous these days – first appeared.

It’s likely that I should’ve read this book before I embarked on Gibson’s Sprawl trilogy, but there’s something neat about discovering these stories after the fact. It’s almost as if they’re a crib sheet for what’s to come in the trilogy. These are the seeds that grew, equally informative as they show Gibson’s talent for creating meaningful, engaging stories in shorter spaces. That, and his ability to invent junky dolphins. Continue reading “Book review: Burning Chrome” →

Book review: Humans of New York

CaptainFezLeave a comment

Humans of New York.Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York project has received a lot of praise and some criticism. Cultural tourism? Slumming? Respectful record? Most likely it’s a combination of the two. What’s true, however, is that Stanton seems to have a knack for capturing someone’s essential spark.

This is the first book of HONY images, and it’s a wonderful example of portraiture. It does tend a little towards the garish and the colourful, which in a place like NY might seem to be shooting fish in a barrel. For my money, the portraits shot Continue reading “Book review: Humans of New York” →