Review of 2009 and What's Coming in 2010

This was an different year for me. I start working on an hard scheduled and that messed up my mind for some months. My physical conditions did hampered my reading as well... In the end it was not a lost year but it could have been better.

I've read only 73 books. And 11 of them I didn't finish. That's a new for me. As I said I wasn't good on my mind and some books didn't grab me.

But I will read them eventually...

My Top of the List books were

Gunheads by Steve Parker

On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony

The Death of Grass by John Christopher

No Boundaries by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore

Harry Potter the first three books

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Cadian Blood by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

My Least Favourite or dissapointed of the year were

Only Forward - Michael Marshall Smith

Blood County - Curl Selby

Icebound - Dean Koontz

November's Mourns - Tom Piccirilli

Out of the Ashes - William W Johnstone

The Execution Channel - Ken Macleod

Shadow of the Xel'Naga - Grabiel Mesta

The Return of the Time Machine - Egon Friedell

Well let us see what this new year will bring. I will try to read more books than this year. 100 books is my goal.

Some of the books/authors that I will try to read...

Rick Riordan (The first three books)

Harry Potter (the other four)

Out by Natsuo Kirino

Two books by José Rodrigues dos Santos (our own Dan Brown)

Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The first book of Dune (finaly)

Some Vampire Hunter D books (finally as well)

Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

Under the Dome - Stephen King

Flash Forward - Rober J Saywer

K J Parker

The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart

Dean Koontz

Ice Station by Matthew Reilly

Ramsey Campbell

Mel Odom

Brent Wekks

R Scott Baker

John Scalzi

The City and the City

Of Course many books of Black Library (I've got them all), Abaddon (I've got them all as well), Solaris (I've got plenty of them) and AngryRobots (I've got several of them) and Forgottem Realms

Well...

This is my want to read list... There are several I forgot to mention and several will come up with time. I will try to make more revies this year... Maybe a little smaller...

Good day to you all...

Review: Mort – Terry Pratchett

Book Mort
Author Terry Pratchett
Pages 272
Year 1987
Publisher Corgi
Reading time 26 days (I was reading several books at the same time.)
Rating 8.5 / 10

Mort is an unpromising, gangling teenager who becomes as apprentice toDeath, but proves less than gifted at his new task of ushering souls out of the world. In fact, when it comes to the rather attractive Princess Keli (due to be assassinated) Mort fluffs it completely. He kills the assassin instead, thus interfering with the implacable workings of Fate. But reality isn’t changed so easily; history as it should have been begins to take shape around Keli’s city-state of Sto Lat. Can Mort save Keli before she is squeezed out of existence?

Death, having delegated much of his work to Mort, is displaying disturbingly human characteristics: drinking, dice-playing and becoming curious about the nature of fun. Mort, meanwhile, is becoming much less cheery and showing a worrying tendency to

SPEAK IN HOLLOW CAPITALS…

Everyone knows Terry Pratchett. Before of this book I’ve only read a book by him. It was Good Omens written by him and Neil Gaiman. I started several years ago another book but I didn’t enjoyed and didn’t finish.. Carpet People. Several years and several hundreds book later I tried again. I was… suprised. Before reading this book I watch Hogfather on my PC and it featured DEATH so I gave it a tried. In the beginning was hard to get into the world because of the nosenses but after reading several pages I was enjoying his writing style and all the comic and references to our universe. The plot itselfs it’s simple (or isn’t?). DEATH wants to train someone to cover for him. He want’s to learn what makes humans human. In the beginning we see him training young Mort and it resembles the first movies of Karate Kid. There are two other residents (well three if you count the horse); Albert the buttler and DEATH’s daughter (not real one) Ysabell. After teaching him the arts he entrusts Mort with several responsabilities while he take humans small pleasentries like drinking, fishing, dancing, gambling etc… Mort starts doing DEATH job and one of them doesn’t go as plan and he saves accidently a princess. But the problem is that reality doesn’t know that and so everyone (with the exception of mages) think that she is dead or simply ignore it.

The pace of the book is fast and the plot advances nicely. There are several secondary plots like Albert part on all, DEATH’s expriences, the princess way of coping of being (un)alive and several others… We get several (to be expected) cultural references and jokes that I enjoyed. The characters are funny and their talk is typic british. Next book I will read by Pratchett will be the first… Colour of Magic

TV Series: Stargate Atlantis and Other Series

I've been a fan of Stargate since it's beginning.
I enjoyed Stargate SG1 but only the first seasons. Then it got too much confusing and it seems they got to a dead end and were starting to make up stories with not good plots. Then Dean Richards leaved the series... darn.

Then we got Stargate Atlantis... now this was a good series. I enjoyed all five seasons and I was a bit of sad and upset when they cancelled. Rodney McKay was my favourite character and I will miss it.

Now we've got Stargte Universe. Just watched the first two episodes and so far so good. The formula is there. Let us see what they make of it.

One of the things I enjoyed was the episodes regarding explorating. Then others were far-streched with politics and bah...


Well there are only a few series I follow religiously...
Eureka, House MD, Star Wars Clone Wars, Stargate Universe, The Big Bang Theory. I also enjoyed Star Trek (Voyager mostly).

Well there are few good series than can add every episode with something new and interesting. Some start pretty good but then they go down a hill.

Review: Poirot Investigates & The Mysterious Affair at Styles & Death on the Nile & Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie

I've been reading Agatha Christie for some time. The books are in portuguese, they are the only ones I read in portuguese because it was a pretty collection with black spines and very eerie covers. The translation is acceptable and I think it was the first time I enjoyed the translation. I enjoyed so much that I collected all books and now I read a book between other books. It's quick and it's kind of a relaxation.

I've read this past year six books.

Murder on the Orient Express (1934)

Death on the Nile (1937)

The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)

Poirot Investigates (1924)

Ten Little Niggers (1939)

The Murder on the Links (1923)

Next will be The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926).

First is the most famous of all books written by Agatha.

Title: Murder on the Orient Express (1934)

Pages: 256

Main Character: Hercule Poirot

Reading Time: 19/09/2008 to 21/09/2008 : 3 Days

Rating: 9

So far was the book I gave best rating... Why? Because it's a mythical book. Until the end I wouldn't say who the criminal was... and I was blown away by the explanation. One of the clues most important clues I figured it out myself. The cyrilic letter... that's for having a bulgarian girlfriend I guess. (but that didn't help solving the crime whatsoever).

This book was based upon a true kidnapping and killing of Charles Lindbergh's son in 1932. The book itself presents us with a carriage that is going from instabul to calais and a murdered passanger. As Poirot investigates with everyone on board. We have american, british, swedish, french, scotch, italian, hungarian and russians. Some were untouchable (due to their political status) but Poirot stills intervews them all. I will not tell the end so I don't spoil anything but it will blow you away. Undoubtly one of the best detective's books. It's not only me that say this. If you don't want to read the book then watch the movie. It's not as great but still it's good enough.

Title: Death on the Nile (1937)

Pages: 288

Main Character: Hercule Poirot; Colonel Race

Reading Time: 12/10/2008 to 17/10/2008 (6days)

Rating: 8

If the previous is her most famous work this one was the first I saw (well on TV series) a long time ago. I didn't remember the plot nor the ending... It was very interesting to read this book. As Poirot explains his conclusions you can't have your mouth closed gasping for breath saying "What? When? How that happened? What book was I reading because I didn't understant? What again?"

It was very entertaiting to read this book. A boat through the nile river... the mystic. I loved it. If I to choose a book to offer I still offer the Murder on the Orient Express because I know you would be buying the second and eventually this one... The ending (not the plot) but the finale is quite dramatic.

After reading this book I started from the beginning.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)

Pages: 296

Main Character: Hercule Poirot and Hasting

Reading Time: 24/11/2008 to 26/11/2009 (3 days)

Rating: 8

This was the first book Agatha Christie wrote. I think it is a solid book with a good plot. It deals with poison and inheritance of a will. There are several suspects (as any other book) and everyone has a motif. Well one part of the crime anyone can discover (I think) and the other we never saw it coming. This book deals with Double Jeopardy. It says the same person can't be prosecuted by the same crime twice. In the end I was satisfied and I think it was a good book.

Title: Poirot Investigates (1924)

Pages: 310

Main Character: Hercule Poirot and Hastings

Reading Time: 05/12/2008 to 02/02/2009 (60 days)

Rating: 7.5

This is the collection of several stories. Eleven stories to be precise.

The Adventure of "The Western Star" - 7

The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor - 9

The Adventure of the Cheap Flat - 6

The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge - 7

The Million Dollar Bond Robbery - 7

The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb - 9

The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan - 9

The Kidnapped Prime Minister - 8

The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim - 8

The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman -7.5

The Case of the Missing Will - 9

This book is a collection of stories. Most of them I already knew from the TV Series from along time ago (it was being re-schedule here in Portugal).

I think the series itself were good and the 50minutes were enough to tell each tale. Unfortunaly I didn't enjoy that much most of the stories in the book. I don't know why. I think some of the stories could have been a full novel or at least a novellete. ( I think it's written this way). But there are some good stories and we see Poirot's brain cells at their maximum.

Ten Little Niggers (1939) (And Then There Were None)

Pages: 256

Main Character: None

Reading Time: 16/02/2009

Rating: 8.5

Probably one of the most famous and widely regonized books of Agatha. During the novel, ten people, who previously committed murder but escaped due to technicalities, are tricked into coming onto an island. Even though the guests are the only people on the island, they are all mysteriously murdered in the manner of the nursery rhyme, one by one...

"Ten little Soldier boys went out to dine;

One choked his little self and then there were nine.

Nine little Soldier boys sat up very late;

One overslept himself and then there were eight.

Eight little Soldier boys traveling in Devon;

One said he'd stay there and then there were seven.

Seven little Soldier boys chopping up sticks;

One chopped himself in halves and then there were six.

Six little Soldier boys playing with a hive;

A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.

Five little Soldier boys going in for law;

One got in Chancery and then there were four.

Four little Soldier boys going out to sea;

A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.

Three little Soldier boys walking in the zoo;

A big bear hugged one and then there were two.

Two Little Soldier boys sitting in the sun;

One got frizzled up and then there was one.

One little Soldier boy left all alone;

He went out and hanged himself and then there were none. "

In the end It was a fantastic read with a finale you couldn't predicted (well only if you were Poirot and Poirot doesn't enter this tale). I enjoyed too much of this story that I read in one day.

The Murder on the Links (1923)

Pages: 298

Main Character: Hercule Poirot and Hastings

Reading Time: 28/08/2009 to 02/09/2009 (six days)

Rating: 7.5

This was of all books the one I liked the least. Don't get me wrong. It's a good book but compared with others it's not that great. We see the future Hasting's wife which it's good but the plot it's as all books one you couldn't figure it out. Well this one was the easieast but even there it was a difficult one. Unfortunally before I read this book I watch the serie and so I was a bit dissapointed because I already knew most of the plot. That spoiled the book for me.. Oh well...

Next one will be The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. I've read somewhere that this book is one of the best books Agatha Christie wrote. Let us see..

Unfinished - The Execution Channel - Ken MacLeod

I am reading this book right now and I am going well under half the book.

What have I learn?

Fascism is Evil and Communism (and anarchism) is Good

White People are Evil and Black, Chinese, Muslims are Good

England is Evil and Scotland is Good

This is a political book. Worse. This is Propaganda book.

I've read "Turners Diaries" by Andrew MacDonald but I've also read "Aftermath" by Levar Burton. One says the black people should die and the other says let the white people die.

Well this book Execution Hour is a Communist book. It's a book that say everyone is evil with the exception with the hard-working communists and anarquists..

I truly hate this peoples. Everyone. They are all the same. Preaching a lesson but the end is the same. Kill the other bastard.

I will continue to read the book because I don't believe letting the book half done and because I still believe Macleod can do a good work on its stories..

I really hope he reads this post.

My grandfather was an anarchist. He made bombs against the regime of Salazar in Portugal. What did he get? Several years in one of the worst prisons in our colonies. But even knowing that I don't hate the fascists and I hate communists and anarchists. We westerns tend to hate fascists because some of us had a fascist power or was fighting one. Some young people (and say again young) people turns to the left side and the communists. In the other end the Eastern Bloc it's the other way around. Has they had a communist past they hate communist and view the right-wing as a salvation. Can't you see that?

The fascists killed people? Yes. And the communists? Yes as well.

The fascits stole from the people? Yes. And the communists? Yes.

And don't start preaching about anarchism.. That's the true evil. You know why? Because the people who are anarchists are either living stealing from all of us not wanting to work and worst than that... They believe in the humankind. They believe humankind is responsable for themselves. What a laugh. Every human being is at heart a jeoulous person.

If fascism and communism are good utopias, anarchism is nothing. It's umpracticable.

I hope Macleod starts writing good books again.. If he wants to write a political book then I suggest he writes one and do not mix it with fiction. It's ridicolous.

Oh well...

Tell Tale Lore (V): O Acontecimento - Paulo Gonçalves

O Acontecimento

(950 palavras + 70 fim)

Paulo Gonçalves

É o fim. Enquanto visto a minha armadura e preparo-me para enfrentar a morte penso na vida que tive desde o Acontecimento. Lembra-me tao bem quando começaram a surgir os primeiros zombies. Bem... eles nao sao bem zombies. Sao seres vivos em que a sua capacidade mental se reduzio ao mais basico da sobrivencia. Comer. Não sei o que prefiro... Zombies ou estes seres.

Lembra-me quando passaram na TV as primeiras imagens e as primeiras mortes... Lembra-me quando os cientistas diziam dia após dia que nao sabia como tinha aparecido tal peste nem como poderiam eliminar-la. Bastava o contágio de sangue ou saliva e passado algumas horas tornavamo-nos nestes monstros. Canibalismo começou a ser uma palavra usada diariamente. Os monstros nao se limitavam a comer outros humanos mas também animais... Os seus actos nao ficavam por ai... Verduras e frutos também estavam na sua ementa embora preferisem carne e sangue. O mais estranho é que era resilientes a dor. Pessoas que tinham sido mordidas com dezenas de cortes e mesmo assim andavam e eram tão perigosos como pessoas sãs.

Lembra-me quando atingiu Portugal... Foi em Agosto. A minha namorada estava na Bulgaria e a ultima vez que consegui falar com ela antes dos telefones se avariarem ela estava na aldeia dos avós e estavam um pouco isolados da maior parte das pessoas. Dizia-me que os aldeões muitos velhos estavam a tentar criar barreiras para proteger a sua pequena aldeia. Não sei nada dela a muito tempo... espero que esteja bem mas... o mundo todo está dominado destes seres... Os paises cairam. Os governos incapazes de cooperar com esta ameaça cairam no anarquismo. Existem algumas zonas controladas mas nao tem grande poder... voltamos a era medieval. Os cientistas diziam que era esperar.. Esperar que a comida terminasse e eles morressem a fome. É o que tento fazer...

Cá estou eu a usar a minha armadura que me trouxe a esta casa. Nao sei de quem era mas estava muito bem protegida e tinha muita comida. Vivi aqui durante 6 meses... Agora é Inverno e a chuva cai constatemente faz tres dias...

Os zombies (o nome que lhes deou embora incorrecto) descobriram-me e estao nos portões.. Mais de cem zombies... Nao tenho chances mas nao me vou tornar num deles. Vou lutar até ao fim como um guerreiro honrado.. um samurai.. um Drizzt Do'Urden. Veremos o que vai acontecer. Foi bom estar aqui durante 6 meses. Os meus unicos companheiros eram dois gatos... nao sei como sobriviviam nesta selva mas vinham ter ao meu quintal diariamente... Talvez um doz zombies tenha os visto a entrar e pensou.. um almoço gratis. Nao sei como apareceram tantos... Eu acho que eles conseguem comunicar entre si... Aqueles grunhidos devem querer dizer algo.

Matar zombies ja nao me incomoda. O primeiro zombie que matei foi no meu trabalho, na PT. Nao sei como mas a peste nos primeiros dias invandiu a PT e varios comunicadores transformaram-se em zombies. Matei um com um monitor pela cabeça abaixo e outro com um faca de cozinha. Eu sempre disse que alguns comunicadores necessitavam ser espancados para ver se melhoravam... Levei isto ao extremo. Um sorriso...

Voltei para casa nesse dia e a minha mae nao tinha voltado do trabalho... Nunca mais voltou... A minha avó estava no hospital e lá foi dos primeiros sitios a cairem sobre o dominio dos zombies. Nunca me perdoei por nao ter conseguido ir lá a tempo e descobrir o seu paradeiro. O meu irmão? Longa história... Matei-o. Como? Ele foi mordido e cuidei dele durante doze horas... Quando ele se transformou eu peguei na minha wakizashi e cortei-lhe a cabeça. Nao sofreu nada. A minha gata? Morreu como ela sempre quis. Gorda.

Peguei nas minhas coisas e parti a procura da minha avó no hospital só para saber que o hospital tinha sido bombardeado pelo exército para evitar a propagação da doença. Procurei uma casa que me pudesse proteger e que tivesse um quintal grande aonde pudesse cultivar algumas coisas... Encontrei em lisboa uma casa mesmo boa.. Voltei a casa e peguei em caixas cheias de livros e levei-os numa carrinha que encontrara. Nunca aprendara a conduzir mas em tempos dificeis os humanos tornam-se imaginativos. Depois procurei em varios supermercados comida enlatada e guardei-a religiosamente. Água também. Cultivei algumas coisas mas em seis meses pouca coisa cresceu.

Agora tenho aqui os monstros a minha porta... A minha paz interrupida... Finalmente tive tempo para ler o que queria... Sem luz nao havia grande coisa a fazer. Escrevi um livro que nunca irá ver a luz do dia mas é o que interessa. Escrevi-o. Devo admitir que apesar de toda a dor e sofrimento que passei a minha vida até que nao era má... Raramente via outros humanos e também nao queria saber deles para nada. Os gatos eram suficientes para mim...

Agora é o fim.

Pego na minha Wakizashi e na minha Katana e preparo-me... Com uma cota de malha e um elmo para me proteger do sangue que irá jorrar. Um corte é suficiente para eu me tornar num deles. Mas isso jamais irá acontecer. Antes matar-me-ei.

"Obrigado Perkunõs por tudo o que me deste ao longo da minha vida. Obrigado e peço-te que no fim me des força para matar estes seres abominaveis aos olhos da Mae Natureza. Dá-me força."

Os zombies inrrompem pelos portões e atacam-me com aqueles olhos vazios cheios de fome...

Com o joelho no chão e o meu arco prepardo envio flecha atrás de flecha. Impossivel falhar. Mas por cada um que cai outros dois aparecem. Odeio-os.

Retiro as espadas dos freixos e gritando ataca-os.

"Por Perkunõs!". Despedançado-os eu corto membros atrás de membros mas eles sao tantos...

********* 1 Fim (Caso seja necessário) *********

Eles derrubam-me e mordem-me nas pernas. O sangue deles cai sobre os meus olhos e boca contaminando-me... Nao irei tornar-me um deles. Pego na wakisashi e tento cometer seppuku mas nao consigo... A Dor. O Ódio.... Com tantos cortes torno-me num deles rapidamente... os meus pensamentos vão para a minha avó... para a mina... "Mina... irei reunir-me contigo brevemente..." Levanto-me e começo a caminhar para este... A caminho de ti...

********* 2 Fim (Caso seja necessário) ********

Hack and Slash através dos zombies... Ninguém me consegue parar. Os seus dentes ineficazes contra a minha armadura... Sinto-me cansado... Ainda bem que chove... A chuva limpa-me do sangue. O meu elmo protege-me. Um após outro eles tombam... Nao podemos matar quem ja morreu para o mundo...

A minha solaço está destruido... Vou a caminho da Bulgaria. Vou procurar a Mina. Nao tenho mais ninguém. Se morrer até lá morrerei bem. Veremos...

Review: Downshadow - Eric Scott De Bie

title: Downshadow (Greenwood Presents Waterdeep)
author: Eric Scott De Bie
series: Greenwood Presents Waterdeep 3 Book
isbn: 978-0-7869-5128-4 * 06 Apr 2009
pages: 320
reading time: 8 days (18/05/2009 to 25/05/2009)
rating: 7.5/10

This is the third book of the series entitled Greenwood Presents Waterdeep. The First being Blackstaff Tower and the second Mistshore. I haven't read any of the above but this one intrigued me. The backcover says...

The Dark Knight Must Choose: Justice or VengeanceA dangerous, subterranean labyrinth haunted by outlaws and monsters.
The upper reaches of the legendary Undermountain.
The only law is that of the sword in
Downshadow
Ever wondered what it's really like to be a paladin? A holy knight, struggling to live in a very unholy city? A city crowded with tempting women who take a great interest in you, and old enemies increasingly thirsty for your doom?
Downshadow shows you, in a tale packed with battles, betrayals, sticky situations, lurking foes . . . and the deadly rooms and passages of Waterdeep's most dangerous neighborhood of all: Downshadow, beneath the cobbles and cellars and the sewers that underlie them.
This is one wild ride. I highly recommend it, have read it several times through, and look forward to re-reading it many times more!
-- Ed Greenwood

When I read this cover and after reading two of the priests series I thought to myself... time to get my hands on forgotten realms books... as a bibliophile as I am I bought a dozen books... I bought two books from the Citadels and two from the Dungeons, the trilogy The Haunted Lands, the Last Mythal and two books from Sembia (The first two), the Erevis Cale Trilogy and The Twilight Trilogy... (Too many don't you think? Oh do shut up)...

Well I had read Ghostwalker by de Bie and I enjoyed it so I gave it a try. I wasn't dissapointed but I didn't enjoyed as much as I would like...

First the Plot...

We follow the adventures that the mysterious Shadowbane as he patrols Downshadow as he deal with the it's wicked denizens. The book is very entertainment because it's full of altruistic deeds (not only by Shadowbane), betrayals and deceits acts and plenty of battles. In his first book I enjoy the fight scenes and in this book he didn't disapointed me. The flux of the book is mixed. Either is fast-paced or it's too slow... At sometimes I had to re-read a part because I felt kind of lost.

There are several characters on this book that we get to know... Kalen, Araezra, Talanna, Fayne, Rath, Myrin...

We have the evil doers that were portraid nicely and I think they were the jewel of this book. (alongside with Kalen). Talanna has a small part in the plot but I think it was essential. Shadowbane.. I prefered in the beginning (the first a hundred pages) then we know who his shadowbane and I think he lost depth. Kalen is the main character (and Shadowbane). I really enjoyed the back story and the plot. I learn something about spellplague and the fate of some of the gods. Araezra and Myrin were not that interesting... well only in the love story with the main character...

I learn as I said before about the spellplague and the spellscar powers.

Some dialogue were not that interesting and think the writer should had dwell some more time in it. (I tink the first novel by de Bie was better in this area). The powers they had (and I know this is just the beginning of the spellscar powers) were kind of ... x-men alike. I think Myrin powers were kind of deus ex machina .

The writing itself was very good. I think it was kind of dark writing and de Bie doesn't mind (or even secretly enjoyed) to drag the characters to a bitter downfall so they can stand up. I think this is are "real" characters who have pass some difficulty times. I enjoyed it...

The villains were very well portraied. Specially Rath. (It reminds me some of warhammer villains).

In the end a good book that seduced me to read other forgotten realms novels...

I think this author would do great in the Warhammer World. It's a darker world where he would fit very well.

Review: The Rising: Selected Scenes from the End of the World - Brian Keene

Title: The Rising: Selected Scenes from the End of the World

Author: Brian Keene

Publisher: Delirium Books
Pages: 215
Reading Time: 3 days (15/06/2009 to 17/06/2009)

Rating: 8.5/10

I told ye all that I would be reading this book as soon as it arrived at my house. Well this is a combination of several short stories (thirty-two) that are interlinked and shared the same mythos with the previous Brian Keene's books The Rising and City of the Dead.

I must say I read this book a long time ago (and I also got a comment by the author himself) and so I forgot several things... I remember the plot and the different zombies Keene used but the name of the characters have already flipped from my mind...

Well now the short stories... All of them if I am not incorrect don't exceed the 1000 words. They are almost all of them 5/6 pages. The ones who are more are divided in two short stories (There are two situations but both short stories can stand on their own...

Highlights... (each story is one day so the number that appears before is the day the story happenend)

1. Don's Last Moch - It tells the story of a guy who goes to a metal concert trying to have a moch but instead it's bitten by a girl (he was flirting or trying to) who was killed in the concert. Here Keene's interest in metal bands is evidential... Unfortunally as mostly americans the Metal they hear is not the same as we hear here... Well some are but the metal in that side of the atlantic evolved for one way and ours to another. I think he deslikes Black Metal... Oh well we can't be perfect...

2. Family Reunion - A story about two gay guys who wait for the arrival of the members of the one of them. This story as nothing much to offer but I thought about the location they were was a good one... As before I talked about being in the artic but an island in lake is a good posibility as well... It can be easily defended to human zombies... if the zombie plague pass to the birds and fish then they are doomed.

6. Watching the World End -This story turns out to be as the reaction of the human psyche in terrible conditions.. aka zombies. How crazy people can become and this example is a good one... and I think would happen to alot of people... Most people crack in life and death conditions... I liked the story. I don't know why but like Bentley Little, Brian Keene kills cats too often but dogs no... It's an aversion of horror writers against cats?

7. The Fall of Rome - I liked the story. One man against an horde of zombies. On a bell tower killing zombie after zombie. After killing all he could kill he killed himself. Rather good story... I wish I was that guy...

8. 20 Walkabout - Two part stories - Great story of human love and dedication... but as other stories it doesn't end well...

9. Hellhounds on my Trail - Again another story of sacrifice and what people do for love... Two lovers are trapped over a double decker tour bus.. The zombies try making a deal that they will have a quick death if they come down... Instead of that the boy split the girl's head (so she don't turn into a zombie) and lit a light with a propane gas killing the zombies trapping them... Nice love story...

10. Spoilers - Dark comedy... That's the reason I enjoyed. A man trapped a zombie and instead of killing start talking to it. It asks his opinion on books and on videos but the zombie is limited to the knowledge of what the "owner" of the body knew... In the end the man starts talking of a book but other zombies enter the house and kill the man freeing their brother. As the body is decaying fast the zombies ask the captive if he wants that body destroy so he can go to another... The zombie says that he do but they must wait because he is waiting for another brother revive in that body so he can hear the rest of the story of that book.

13. Pocket Apocalypse - How a person can redeem themselves... I llike this story. Human mind at the work and while some crack others reveal themselves for what they are...

15. If you can see the mountain... It's a story of human surival. First when the leave the wounded... some disaproove but don't do anything to help them... It's the law of survival at it's best... I like this story.

16 You only live twice... At night I imagine what I would do in a apocalypse... And most of them I think I would leave somewhere with my cat and my 1500 books... maybe now I had the time to read them all... This story is about that. I enjoyed it because it's what I think.

25. Zombie Worm - Again another dark comedy story... I laught with this story and felt sorry for the zombie. It was a good story.

26. The Night the Dead Died - Another good story and the first that talked about the end of the first part of the invasion and the coming of the second... Elilum.

28. March of the Elilum -Another good story of survival and bitter end. Again I liked this part of the invasion even if this is too hopeless... If we can run away from zombies how can we run away from insects and plant zombies?

29. Best seat in the house - again another good love story and of Elilum. I enjoyed it even if it was a bid sad...

30. American Pie - Survival insticts at the maxim... This story describes a way to survival I talked before.. Cold!

31. Two suns in the sunset - There is no hope is the only thing I can think of... Good story.

32. Other worlds than these - A good story that connects other books by Keene and leaves hope several doors to more books in the mythos. I enjoyed it.

In the end was great read and I really hope he returns to this mythos. I don't give more than 8.5 because some short stories are not that good... they are not awful but some of them were rushed. I think he had a wordcount limit of 1000 words and I think some stories could have much more. Some of them could be told in a book...

I just want to say that he gave me some ideas and I will try write a short story... or a couple. Thank you Brian Keene. Keep up the excelent work.

Review: No Boundaries by Henry Kuttner & C. L. Moore

title: No Boundaries

author: Henry Kuttner & C. L. Moore

year: 1955

publisher: Consul Books

pages: 159

reading time: 4 days (12/06/2009 to 15/06/2009)

rating: 9/10

Henry Kuttner was a briliant sci-fi, fantasy writer in the late fourties and early fifties. He died with barely forty years and the world lost one of the best early sci-fi writers... C. L Moore was his wife and they had a couple books written in coalition. She had several books on her own... One of them was published recently by Gollancz as as Fantasy Masterworks called Black Gods. I have the book and I must read it...

Well this book was bought in strange conditions... I was searching with my girlfriend for a book in portuguese by HG Wells or Philip K Dick for her. In a store I had been only a couple of times there was a sale of some small books that called my attention... before this I've never heard of Consul Books... I bought this one and another called The Devil Doctor by Sax Rohmer (a Fu Manchu story).

Well I started immediatly reading it... This book is a collection of six stories...

The first is called Vintage Season and it's about space travel. We have some space travelers trying to rent a house in a small city. Another group appear and try to buy the house and with the owner try to kick the previous renters out. The main character starts interacting with one of the first space traveler and starts seeing odd things... He finds out that they are indeed space travelers and they tell them how is the future and why they are there but they can't say anymore. The book then turns to speaking of space travelling and the pros and cons of it. Why they can't change anything and what it happenend if they did. The end was very interesting and I was suprised by it.

Rating 7.5/10 (51 pages)

The second story is The Devil we Know. For me was the pearl of them all. This is a short story about the pact between one human and a devil. The story itself is very straight forward and appealing but again as the previous one the devil and the main character start talking about paralele universes and the big differences between humans and devils and their feelings and notions. for example the meaning of evil or good. The meaning of natural and supernatural.

The story itself is simple... A devil makes a pact with a human to help it in everything. the Human (Carnevan) starts asking small things and his thinking of what is going to happen to him.. what the devil wants in enchange. In the end we know the devil only wanted to get to our universe because he is being persocuted by some being he doesn't understand and he thinks coming to our universe he is safe. In the end this being stays stalking Carnevan and the devil flees to his universe...

There is a interesting part where Carnevan asks if the demon enjoys hurting people and the demon asks him if he knows what evil is... The man answers that is a matter of semantics, it's an arbitrary term, humanity has set up its own standarts... The demon responds that the is answer is a moral anthropomorphism and egotism. That he hasn't considered enviromental, that the physical properties of our world caused good and evil as we know it. Carnevan responds that Morality comes from the mind and the emotions. Afterwards the demon says that humans and all other species on earth have two common instincts... Self Preservation and Propagation and the demon don't have because they can't propagate.

Then he starts telling differences between both universes and goals...

I think it was a interesting story and it says that if for us the demon are supernatural then there are things supernatural to them and so on...

Rating: 9/10 (27 pages)

Our ignorance is everlasting and the quest for knowledge is eternal... (it came from my mind... how deep...)

Home there's no returning is the third story. This one involves robots and wars... The plot is quite simple. In the middle of a war (we are not presented on what war except that it was on the pacific) the general in charge of a base wants to activate a robot (called Ego) that will win the war. That's it's order. Win the war. This robot is different from the others because he can think and its tottally independent. It doesn't need anyone to tell him what to do or how to do it. The robot is activated with the protests of it's builder and it goes berserk. It starts going from level to level destroying everything and obtaining knowledge. Meanwhile the only thing he says its "Want". In the end he desactives itself as he says "Want - To stop wanting."

He says that no machine can act on partial knowledge. You can't expect machines to face the unknown. Only human beings can do that. Steel isn't strong enough. Only flesh and blood can do it and go on... he thought that maybe win the war was impossible and maybe that consisted on a paradox for the machine and stopped it. But the General was human. It didn't stop him. He could accept the thought and push it aside, knowing that sometimes humans really do achieve the impossible. Maybe that was all that had kept us going this long...

Rating: 8.5/10 (31 pages)

Exit the Professsor was another pearl in this collection. First it's told in the first person by a person who can't write that good so it's kind of fun reading it. We read the words as we say it and not as we read it... (making sense am I?). The story involves on a family living on the suburbs of a small town in Kentucky. The family itself are mutants... They can fly, turn invisible, read other people minds and make strange things (in this case a weapon).

Well the plot involves a professor that wants to study them but they know that if they start being study they will become a circus show. The main character reveals that their grand-grand father was a miner in Cornwall in the time of the druids but it was poisoned and so it change their DNA. The professor starts blackmailing the family and the main character says that he will go to New York if they leave them alone. Meanwhile he gives the professor a kind of gun thingy...

The grandfather says that he mustn't go, so he confronts the professor and says it. The professor refuses to hear it and asks him to go or else he will bring a commision. Saunk (the main character) then decides he must stop the professor. Since he can't killed because of the sheriff he tricks the professor of using the weapon and everybody in sight now have toothache. The sheriff arrests the professor (Saunk was invisible) and in jail he appears and say to the professor that he will help him remove the toothache if he leaves them alone. The professor says that if doesn't help him he will bring the comission. Saunk asks the rest of family for help and in a great hall they fix the gun and remove the toothache from the sheriff. As he is trying to remove from everyone an invisbile member of the family do something to the gun that removes all clothes from the people on the hall, it shortened the hair of everyone and removes every gold from the tooths. The people try to lynch him but the family saves him and brings him to their house. There he agrees not to bring the commision if they help her. The grandfather reads his mind and says he is lying so they hide him on the basement inside a bottle....

This is a great story about science and seeing how far scientists are going to achieve new things... in one part the professor says they must go new york because they must be studied, for the glory of science and the advancement of mankind. This says it all... we humans are in hunger for knowledge. We must understand and control everything even it means destroy it or damage it.

Rating 8.5/10 (17 pages)

Two-Handed Engine is the last story of the book. And a nice one. This story focus on a future society were machines have been made to help humankind. The story begins with a guy asking another to kill someone so he can take his job. He knows (the man who is doing the killing) that if he kills someone a Furie (a machine who is police, judge and executioner) will come. This furies as they arrive near someone they don't kill it. They have another interestic tactic. They stand just beside the killer and stay like that for days or what time they deem necessary. And without warning they will kill. This way the machines "think" that this will persuade others not to the same.

The story them involves and we have a glimpse of the past. The man falling to anarchism as the machines do everything to us. The wars and then the trying to rise. Humankind as they fell into barbarism they became more and more individualistic.. this was ripping apart society as a whole. This is a good story and focus on society and evolution... I enjoyed it.

Rating 9/10 (29 pages)

In conclusion it was a great read. Every story focus on one theme and on science fiction or fantasy and that pleases me. I think books in a couple of decades early had something to make us think. I remember reading several yellow dust books by Daw that were printed in 70 and 80 and they were small.. almost no book surpassed 200 pages but they were good stories. They had a plot and then they and a thought of something... politics, nature, society etc...

I don't feel the same reading books from nowadays. They are fiction books with references but not as good as the earlier years... Bear in mind that doesn't mean they aren't good. They are or else I wouldn't read them.

I have to read something more by them... I pre-order another book by them from 1950. Let us see if it's as good as this...

Review: The Conqueror Worms - Brian Keene

title: The Conqueror Worms
author: Brian Keene
publisher: Leisure Books

reading time: 7 days (05/06/2009 to 11/07/2009)

pages: 326

rating: 8/10

After reading Dead Sea I start reading this book. I still have to read The Hollow, Ghoul and Dark Hollow and the anthology the Rising (arriving this next week). The others I don't have... Maybe after reading this ones... I must save money...

Well this book is a homage (is it?) to Lovecraft and it's Cthulhu Mythos. That and the makeover of the Flood by... God.

The story again it's in the first person point of view. Again (in a good way) it's a not typical main character. It's a old man with more than 80 years. I enjoy that. First in Dead Sea and now on this book.

The book is divided in three parts... The first part starts in the end and the main character starts telling what made him write that book.. The main character is called Teddy Garrett. The first part of the book is how the main character and his friend Carl Seaton do to survive. Teddy and Carl are joined by Kevin and Sarah who survived the crash of their helicopter due to the insane actions of another survivor, Earl Harper.

The second part is the tale of Kevin and Sarah. I Think this is better than the first. We are told how they survive in a world that is slowing drowing because it's raining for forty days. Every character as a thought of why it's happening. Then we are awarded with the Lovecraftian monsters .... Giant Worms coming out of the mud. Mermaids enchanting persons and driving them mad and even a Leviathan. This was a fast-paced part and I think the only flaw of the books is the first part. I think it's too long.

The third part begins with them all together and again we are presented with an Lovecraftian ending. In the end as he ends the book we are as Dead Sea presented with a open-ending (it's word right?). The ending makes you think what happened to the three characters that could be alive... As Dead Sea, Herr Keene can comeback to it...

I can see him making a couple of short stories with this world... I would enjoy it.

There are several thing that I enjoyed.. First the monsters. Then the magic and bible references and the alusories that they bring. Third the Lovecraftian theme. Excelent. Then the fast paced second part. (I would enjoy reading more of that world or other monsters). Then the "Satanists". Here Brian Keene starts telling that the satanists hunts and sacrifices people to their dark sea gods but then he show us that he indeed knows what are satanists and what they believe. Maybe he is trying to remove some bad relations to them. Unfortunaly there some young and not that young people that say they are satanits and they are only couple of anarchists with painted white face and red lips trying to be cool...

The other thing that I noticed was "The Sons of Constitution" reference. This is the second book of Keene that says something about them... I wonder why...

Well in the end was an interesting book without zombies but good nevertheless. The next book is going to be the anthology of the Rising.