A Pleasure to Burn: Fahrenheit 451 Stories (2010)

Author: Ray Bradbury | Page Count: 389

This is a companion piece to Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (1953).  It really should come with a warning on the cover but it doesn’t.  I’ll give it:  DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU'VE ALREADY READ FAHRENHEIT 451.  It'll spoil that novel for you completely if you do.  It has 14 shorts and 2 novellas.  They all echo or inform the 451 novel in some way, some are tenuously linked and others could almost be a part of it.
Editors Donn Albright and Jon Eller should be ashamed for the lack of information they give about the works.  Were they written before 451?  After?  Do they pave the way, or reflect upon it?
I’m a long time fan so know that all but two of the shorts (‘Bonfire’ and ‘The Library’) have been printed before in previous collections.  The novellas, both also previously published are ‘Long After Midnight’ and ‘The Fireman’.  Both are early versions of 451; they’re well written but the plot is almost identical to the novel, and the two stories are almost identical to each other.  With no explanation from the editors the casual reader will be confused.

If you’re thinking of buying the book for the two new pieces I mentioned, you may be disappointed.  They feel like they were abandoned midway.  The ideas were later integrated into other works.
Every writer has these kinds of things lying around in an ideas drawer; they're extended notes, disembodied scenes, ideas given form but crude and severely underdeveloped.  I don’t believe they were intended to be stand-alone works.  Bradbury isn't that shoddy, ever.  The cynic in me says they're simply used to sell more books.  I wonder what the author would think of their inclusion?

I love Bradbury.  I believe he's the finest living American author and I will shed real tears when he leaves us.  I mean no disrespect to his name but I don’t feel this book is of the usual high standard that we've come to expect.  It’s repackaged reprint by editors that aren't fit to wipe the old man’s ass; reprint that offers little in the way of variety for the reader.  Its only real merit is Bradbury’s poetic voice and his words that settle into the mind like treacle.  My score reflects that aspect of it not the collection which is insulting to the long time fan, and ruinous for the newcomer.  Seek out the original.

2½ kerosene canisters and controlled freedoms out of 5

MBQ Volume 3 (2007)

Author: Felipe Smith | Page Count: 232

"Gat Damn! You reek of dog anus!"

The third and last of the volumes brings Omario's story to a close of sorts. Omario's brash attitude is endangering his friendships and a chance encounter with a fellow artist combined with a costly repair job forces him to rethink his priorities. Also Officer Aiden may be reaching his psychological breaking point as the violence in the seedy underworld of the city ramps up.

All stories not featuring Omario have now severed all connection and are now a completely separate story. This makes the underworld violence shocking, but ultimately inconsequential as it doesn't affect Omario in the slightest. The now separate stories are nice even if they now seem to be page filler or I'm looking at it the wrong way and Aiden was always a 2nd main character. If that's the case, he didn't get near enough face-time to convincingly wrap up his plot. Bad form there, but Smith is more artist than writer so I let it slide since his humor and action scenes are in top form and there is a nice message at the end there in Omario's epiphany that all volumes have been working toward.

3½ Showing up a douchebag in front of his ladies with a rose made of $100 bills out of 5

Ghost in the Shell : S.A.C : Revenge of the Cold Machines (2006)

Author: Junichi Fujisaku | Page Count: 204 Pages

'Kusanagi's body soared through the air.  She crashed through the lounge's glass wall, tumbling out into the sky.'

The second in a trilogy of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex tie-in novels.
This time we get three short stories that are thematically tied together; they also tie in with episode 6 of the GitS: SAC: 2nd GIG anime TV series (episode titled: Excavation) but it’s not necessary to have seen it to read the book.  The three stories are stand alone but when viewed together tell a larger story.  The middle one is a Tachikoma story, told from their POV.  It’s fun.  The two that bookend it are more suited to being an actual episode starting point.

The work is a lot less cold and technical than the previous book which makes it easier to read but also highlights how empty the prose is at times.
It sets out to give fans some new Section 9 adventures and it succeeds but don't sell your grandma to afford it because it's not that essential.

2½ sorry I ruined your little Minipat out of 5

Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Lost Adventures (2011)

Author: Various | Page Count: 229

With Nickelodeon being a multi media company and all, it’s understandable that they’d release original creator content from their cartoons in their various printed and digital outlets.

Such is the case for Brian Konietzko & Michael Dante’s epic martial arts fantasy series Avatar: The Last Airbender. The Lost Tales is a compilation of every comic strip that appeared in Nickelodeon Magazine as well as a few others.

The comics have been organized in chronological order with chapters corresponding with the show’s 3 seasons. And while many of the tales are just a page or two long there are a few that can go on for 5 pages or more. The stories themselves can easily be tucked between scenes and episodes of the series with no continuity conflicts whatsoever. Most are just a fun romp but a few of them fill in some story and plot points only skimmed over in the show. It’s nothing monumental or game changing, but they’re still fun little adventures nonetheless.

There are well over twenty different artists and writers who contributed to the making of these tales. And while Justin Ridge, Johane Matte, & Gurihiru’s artwork is the most show accurate and attractive. The rest is great at best and not too bad at worst. One of my favorite things about this is the lively facial expressions. Almost every page has a hilarious reaction image on it. Aang, Katara, Sokka, & Toph are just as cute and funny in this as they should be.

For what it is, Lost Tales is an enjoyable little anthology featuring some very lovable characters.

4 panels that looks like Katara is giving head but I’ve yet to see any shops of it for some reason out of 5

Chasing Lincoln's Killer (2009)

Author: James L. Swanson | Page Count: 208

Chasing Lincoln's Killer is a novel about not just President Lincoln's assassination, but also the entire conspiracy behind it and of course the ensuing manhunt. Following many participants, we see the story unfold from the planning to well past the manhunt and trials of the guilty parties. The text presents the story as a more contemporary suspense novel rather than a history lesson, but still uses many details from transcripts and diaries of the participants as well as numerous photos from the period depicting many things from newspaper articles to actual photos of the conspirators. We learn a bit about how they felt about the events they were a part of.

What we don't really see in the novel is more of the historical causes and such that precipitated and allowed this tale to happen. This dumbing down is necessary for the books intended audience of young teenagers, so I can't really fault it for that. Don't want to scare the kiddies with the boring nuts and bolts behind the words. The book is well-paced and easy to read not just because of Swanson's writing, but also the layout itself. The big font and spaces are also intended to make it easier for a younger audience without the reading skills to handle a regular novels' length and small text. The book would be half the length otherwise.

Interesting subject matter written in an easily digestible style over 14 chapters that could serve as a launching point for the curious to learn more on their own.

3 Booth could have just strolled into the White House out of 5

Crash (1973)

Author:  J.G. Ballard | Page Count: 185

“The intimate time and space of a single human being had been fossilized for ever in this web of chromium knives and frosted glass.”

Crash is a subversive novel about a film-maker named James Ballard (the same as the author) who meets a deviant named Robert Vaughan.  The longer Ballard spends in Vaughan’s company the more influenced by him he becomes.  He's soon happily entwined in a secret world of car crashes and illicit sex, and as a result his own sexual ideals begin to change dramatically.  Robert Vaughan is a character seen previously in The Atrocity Exhibition (1970).  He was a perverted weirdo there and he's much the same here.  He surrounds himself with like-minded individuals and the reasons for doing so become clear the more you read.

There's no doubting J. G. Ballard’s ability to write good prose, he has a unique and commanding style, but there's only so many times I can read about man-sauce running down the cracks of car seats before I begin to get very bored of it (the exact number is once).  In fact, novels that rely on graphic sex bore me completely.  It was the knowledge that Ballard (the author) uses language in a very overtly offensive way that kept me reading, not the story or the hateful characters who were each flawed but not in a beneficial, sympathetic way.

Ballard has pointed out in interviews that the glamorisation and sexual means used to sell fast cars to the public is way out of control.  I completely agree.  How many times have you seen an attractive model draped seductively across the bonnet of a car?  The darker side of car ownership is the death toll associated with misuse.  We accept automobiles as a part of daily life, even lust after them, but they're as much instruments of murder and manslaughter as they are of convenience.  The later part tends to be forgotten—or more precisely pushed out of mind.  We put our children in them.  We fuck in them.  We cry in them.  We die in them.  Crash attempts to remind on every page that sex and death are inextricably linked and that one can be a means to the other, and vice versa.  It’s a largely boring but superbly written endeavour.

2 logic and reason are not the same thing out of 5

The Book of Sea Monsters (1998)

Author: Nigel Suckling | Illustrator: Bob Eggleton | Page Count: 112

"Monsters are always good for a thrill."

A nice hardcover book filled with the myths and legends of the deep and dark ocean from all around the world. From the most notable like Leviathan and Kraken to lesser known ones like vampire squid and merhorses. Presented both as entertaining myths and with a more historical stance examining the stories themselves and what might have led to their creation including some we now know are real such as giant squid and a section on the famous fictional ones like Godzilla. Accompanying the text are numerous illustrations beautifully done in a style resembling old master painters. They are both detailed and yet still vague enough to perhaps give a sense of fear if you let it. We are talking about monsters here. Maybe it's just me since thoughts of the deep ocean frighten me.

I came to the book thinking it was mostly a picture book to ignite a child's imagination, but it turned out to be one that was made to reignite it in adults. It is presented as borne out of a deep fascination of the illustrator and combined with the history presented in the text it is definitely outside the realm of a child's attention span. The history is fascinating, but I would have preferred a less clinical style while reading about myths and legends. Suckling spends way too many words describing lake sizes and the reliability of drunk sailors instead of focusing on the awe and wonder myths should inspire. If the words get too stodgy the articles are mercifully short. Most aren't longer than 2 pages. Good read if you like the history and beautiful artwork.

3½ A lot of monsters are serpent-shaped out of 5