Let me start this review by quoting Harlan Ellison "anyone who misses this milestone event in the genre of the fantastic is a myopic dope."

I'm glad that after reading Alan Moore's "Watchmen" i am not a myopic dope anymore. For some they ask the question "Why comic books should grow this far?"

My answer is why not, comic books or graphic novels whatever you may want to call it still serve its purpose as another reading option whether it tells simple, fanatical stories or complex, dark and haunting story line with troubled characters and the impending doom of the world plots, i say it's even better thanks to Alan Moore's groundbreaking "Watchmen".

Watchmen is set in the year 1985 of a distinctly altered history with Richard Nixon still the US President, America winning the Vietnam War. 8 years before that costumed superhero or vigilantes were outlawed by the Keene Act. Before that, outlawed superheroes were an ordinary part of society, grabbing headlines with their anti crime crusade until pressures from other law enforcement agencies forced some lawmakers passing a law regulating vigilantes.

Watchmen is part political thriller, part murder mystery when the opening panels shows a murdered former costumed vigilante named "the Comedian". An investigation to the cause of his death was closely followed by another costumed vigilante named "Rorschach".

After a mysterious conspiracy that drove the only remaining but regulated adventurer Dr. Manhattan out of Earth and into Mars, a series of conflicts arises beginning with the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and the looming threat of a nuclear war closes in, the remaining costumed vigilante like Rorschach, the Nite Owl II unites and decides to get into the bottom of things and try to uncover the identity of the individual behind the whole conspiracy starting with the murder of the Comedian, the character assassination on Dr. Manhattan and mysterious threat to the life of the other Superheroes.

The flow of the story is very entertaining with brilliant lines and magnificent artworks which is done by renowned artist Dave Gibbons.

Another interesting concept that the Watchmen offers is the "Black Freighter" , a comic book written within the Watchmen world, a so called "post modern metafiction" that also annotates and represents some of the ideas for the main plot.

The book has an abundance of themes, mainly it expresses the notion of questioning the main perception of authority. As there are Watchmen that watches over us, fights crime and all, but the question lingers as to "who will watch the watchmen", this is definitely the one thing each reader may ask themselves once they got into the surprising conclusion in the end.

The possibility of the Apocalypse and other conspiracy theories also forms a part of the plot.

Over-all this comic book, deserves to be at the top of your reading list, if you still haven't read this one.

*****
A "Watchmen" movie is currently in the works with "300" director Zach Snyder working behind the lens...can't wait for it, tentatively scheduled for release on May 2009....yes that's a year and a half from now.

The Sandman: Endless Nights is a follow-up to the Sandman series written by Neil Gaiman. It depends if you want to try the Sandman series you may try reading this first as to get a glimpse or an idea about the whole Sandman story.

*****
In "Endless Nights" Gaiman wrote seven chapters, each devoted to one of the Endless, a family of brothers and sisters ( namely Dream, Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium, Destiny and Destruction ).

It was his way of telling their own story in relations to the different representations of the aspects of life.

Each tale is stylistically written in a different way, and allows Gaiman to work with different talented artists like Milo Manara, Miguelanxo Prado, Glenn Fabry to name a few.

****
"Death and Venice" tells the story of a man's encounter with Death and how he helps her open a door to a world in a different time. This is probably my favorite chapter of the book

"I shall see her again, i know that in my heart, one last time..Until then i shall continue to send people to her"

"What I've Tasted of Desire" is tragic love story of a woman who "wants like a forest fire." The object of her desire is the chieftain's son. They eventually became lovers until a horrible event made the story turn darker. Desire who is neither man or woman is intelligently portrayed through the art renderings of Milo Manara.

"The Heart of a Star" Neil Gaiman takes us to one of the earliest Endless tales, here Dream is seen with one of the very first woman he ever loved. Readers will have a glimpse of the Endless world. While Dream introduces his girl to his other siblings like Desire and Delirum.

"Fifteen Portraits of Despair" isn't really a narrative but a collection of portraits made by Barron Storey, designed by Dave McKean with each image being represented by bits of text that narrates every moments of Despair, like the man who losses his job and continues to pretend to his wife to still have one, a young woman who killed herself and so on, it is as Dark as any one can expect.

"with this pain, i thee feel..."Her kiss is the black dog that follows you in the darkness"

"Going Inside" is a multi facet story that revolves around Delirium, it tells the story of a rescue mission involving a young girl by the most uneven host of characters.

"On the Peninsula" Delirium agrees to help his brother Destruction to dig in an excavation site that they believe lies hidden underneath is the Future.

"Endless Nights" doesn't tells a story because as how it goes only Destiny knows our stories and so on and on. And everything is written in a book he carries all the time. The Artwork by Frank Quitely in this chapter is by far the best among the rest in this book, that is if you will ask me.

*****

This is a must read for Sandman fans, and helps first time readers a wonderful start for those who would like to try out Neil Gaiman's graphic work but were doubting about collecting the ten-book series.

Hunter S. Thompson's groundbreaking novel about his real life experience traveling to Las Vegas under a pseudonym Raoul Duke and his attorney Dr. Gonzo ( Mexican lawyer and activist Oscar Zeta Acosta in real life).

Tasked by Sports Illustrated to cover the annual Mint 400 race that's going to be held in Las Vegas, after haphazardly planning the trip both Duke and Dr. Gonzo ended up with what Hunter S. Thompson describes as:

"The sporting editors had also given me $300 in cash, most of which was already spent on extremely dangerous drugs. The trunk of the car looked like a mobile police narcotics lab. We had two bags of grass, 75 pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a saltshaker half-full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers . . . and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls"

What was supposed to be an easy sporting coverage of the Mint 400 race quickly turned into an frenzied LSD driven "savage journey to the Heart of the American Dream" and what transpired next is a mixture of mayhem, more drug addiction, hallucinations, booze and pissing every god damn people along the way. Which includes running off from an expensive hotel bill, ditching the Great Red Shark and Lucy the under age girl, and a side job covering the National Narcotics Convention as HST reasons out "the drug people should be rightfully represented".

A classic type of "Gonzo Journalism" that HST have famously invented and practiced throughout his whole writing career. "Fear and Loathing" although lacking in real reportage of journalistic norms or a clear plot, nobody can deny the fact that this book offers some of the best narrative writings only a great writer such as Hunter S Thompson could ever deliver.

From the opening line of

"We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like, "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive . . ."And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about 100 miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming: "Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?"

to the classic "wave speech" that is for everybody to read out loud and for me belongs in the same league as thet "mad people" quote by Jack Kerouac.

“San Francisco in the middle sixties was a very special time and place to be a part of. Maybe it meant something. Maybe not, in the long run . . . but no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant. . . . History is hard to know, because of all the hired bullshit, but even without being sure of "history" it seems entirely reasonable to think that every now and then the energy of a whole generation comes to a head in a long fine flash, for reasons that nobody really understands at the time — and which never explain, in retrospect, what actually happened. My central memory of that time seems to hang on one or five or maybe forty nights — or very early mornings — when I left the Fillmore half-crazy and, instead of going home, aimed the big 650 Lightning across the Bay Bridge at a hundred miles an hour wearing L. L. Bean shorts and a Butte sheepherder's jacket . . . booming through the Treasure Island tunnel at the lights of Oakland and Berkeley and Richmond, not quite sure which turn-off to take when I got to the other end (always stalling at the toll-gate, too twisted to find neutral while I fumbled for change) . . . but being absolutely certain that no matter which way I went I would come to a place where people were just as high and wild as I was: No doubt at all about that. . . . There was madness in any direction, at any hour. If not across the Bay, then up the Golden Gate or down 101 to Los Altos or La Honda. . . . You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning. . . . And that, I think, was the handle — that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn’t need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting — on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. . . . So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark — that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.”


If those passages does not amaze you then you don't know how to recognize great writing...and for that you need a reality check....

"Fear and Loating in Las Vegas" its more than being the "best book about the dope decade" its a book where words and prose forms this energy high and dry that will catapult one's imagination LSD or non-LSD into a frenzied acid trip, back to reality and make you crave for such wonderful prose that no other writer living in the world today are capable of writing.

Reading a short story collections is like walking through a rain drenched street. You'll never know if its going to be a worthwhile experience or if you wish the sun is up and everything is dry around you.

Same goes with "Fragile Things" it has its wonderful moments and some stories that you wished Neil Gaiman should have just kept in his much talked about attic.

But, Good news is, In this latest short story collections from Neil Gaiman, it is obvious that the good to great short stories outnumbered the bad ones.

From the spine tingling "Feeders and Eaters" which will send scares to any reader, just the thought of having an elderly woman as a next door neighbor eating raw meat and cats is frightening enough and also wonderfully written by Gaiman in this story he said came from an old dream.

In a parallel world setting of a slightly changed streets of London, the world of Sherlock Holmes becomes the opposite of what it was in the "Study of Emerald", and a fitting homage to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's masterpiece character creation of a great detective solving a crime. It's the first story of the book and mainly sets the bar of expectations of readers for the following stories.

My personal favorite i should say is "Harlequin Valentine" a twisted romantic tale that is recommended for multiple readings, written with such magical prose and character development.

"Monarch of the Glen" a novella which serves as a sequel to "American Gods" here you'll find Shadow two years after the events in "Gods" getting involved with another interesting Gaiman character creations "Mr. Smith" and "Mr. Alice".

In "Keepsakes and Treasures" the narrator details in cold blooded admission his growing up years and his experience hunting down four individuals who may have been his father and how he killed them in the process, the narrator which later turned out to be Mr Smith and how he became the right hand man of Mr. Alice.

The "Sunbird" is also one of my favorite, it tells the story of a club known as the Epicurean Club who shared the same passion of tasting and cooking every known specie on the planet until they realized they haven't tasted a bird called Sunbird which can only be found in Suntown in Cairo, Egypt..but what they found out was a reason why nobody has to eat the Sunbird ever.

"How to talk to Girls at The Parties" involves two coming of age men looking for a party they were invited to, only to end up in the wrong party inhabited by strange but human looking creatures from a totally different world.

"Goliath" inspired by the movie "The Matrix" tells the story of a man tasked to save the world, the real world i mean, not the dream world that he was used to. The last part although saddening shows him living the life he wanted, with a family, home, job only it was only in the dream world as in the real world he was just living the last 20 minutes of his life in a floating spacecraft drifting further into space.

"Closing Time" narrates an effective but mysterious and strange ghost story.

Other notable short stories includes "Bitter Grounds" "Other People" "October in the Chair", an unsolved disappearance in "The Facts in the case of the Departure of Miss Finch".

While the rest, don't worry its just a few, about 4-5 stories and 4 other short poems are just average. With "Diseasemaker's Croup" being the worst inclusion in this otherwise great short story collection.

Volume 2 of the Sandman series. ( it includes issues #9-16 ).

I enjoy Preludes & Nocturnes and i find The Doll's House as notching it up higher in terms of great storytelling and visual feast.

The Doll's House follows a girl named Rose Walker who later learned the real identity of her grandmother, Unity Kincaid ( the hapless girl who spent a great majority of her life in a deep slumber in Preludes & Nocturnes ).

And later on trying to find her long lost brother Jed, at the same time Rose is being monitored by Morpheus aka Dream with her possibly being the "Vortex" that threatens the world and the dreamworld as well.

Hatched through the story are fantastic single-chapter sub plots and short stories that take us away from the action but also help refine the Sandman as character from long way back. The story telling is executed perfectly; never dragging and always perfectly paced.

I particularly like the totally unrelated story ( but it could be in the upcoming volumes ) "Men of Good Fortune", about Hob Gadling, a 14th century man who tried and succeeded in defying death, saying that "It's a mug's game. I wont have any part on it" ( referring to death ).

He then attained immortality. And from his initial conversation with Dream they agreed to meet at the same place once in every hundred years, eventually they both became friends.

But nothing will beat the great storytelling, horror and humor of "Collectors".

In this chapter, Rose Walker and Gilbert find themselves among a Cereal Convention but in reality was a "Serial Killer Convention, where lifelong criminals ( grass widow, psycho killer, candyman, nimrod, dark angel etc ) are gathered and engages in panel discussions in topics like "We are what we are", "Women in Serial Killing" "There is no sanity clause".

It's a humor laden chapter and a harrowing one as well.

The Corinthian: "the good doctor likes to skin people, Nimrod is a bone hunter. He can bone joint and gut any animal in minutes. For myself i have a penchant for eyes. And you know what we're going to do now, Philip?...We're going to take turns"

Not to mention Gilbert's retelling of a supposed to be original version of "Little Red Riding Hood".

*****
Over-all as i said, it keeps getting better. My sandman experience is turning out to be a great one, calls for more urgent needs to get my hand on the following volumes.

The artwork is outstanding, a "Visual Feast" as Bunnylette would say and i agree.

As one online review would say

"This is arguably one of the highlights of the Sandman series and sets the standard for what follows. The Doll's House seems to expand and improve with every reading and should take pride of place on the bookshelf of anyone who likes a good yarn, comic reader or not"

Good Omens is a fantasy tale written in collaboration between Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman about the coming Armageddon or the end of the world. This is my first Terry Pratchett book and one of the many of Neil Gaiman's work. As Terry Pratchett told in an interview about 60% of the idea and the book itself was written by him, with Gaiman contributing through hours of phone conversation.

*****

 

The book centers around an angel Aziraphale and a demon Crowley ( probably the most lovable Demon ), as they try to avert the incoming End of the World as we know it.

Playing a large role in the incoming end of the world is the so called "Anti-Christ" or the Son of Satan.

Despite being on the opposite side of the spectrum, one representing Good, the other one Evil, Aziraphale and Crowley decided to join forces and work together to track down the Son of Satan.

But after a mistake in the switch-up at birth, the perceived Anti-Christ was in fact a normal 11 year old boy, while the real Anti-Christ grows up unsupervised by the followers of hell, in the person of Adam.

Adam is the 11 year old decided leader of a group of kids who called themselves as "Them". Unconscious of his powers he unknowingly sets of a chain of events that eventually started the incoming Apocalypse ( rise of the Atlantis, typhoons, and the 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse ).

When Aziraphale discovered the real identity of the Anti-Christ with the help of the book "the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter" He and Crowley then gather themselves together in a race against time to try and avert the End of Days. That is amidst all witch hunters, other Duke of Hells who want to make sure that the Final war between Heaven and Hell takes place on Earth pronto!.

*****

If this is the end of the world, then what a way to go, laughing our asses off. Pratchett and Gaiman succeeded in creating a funny, not so serious yet with serious implications kind of story.

The novel is complete with equally hilarious footnotes ( i suggest you read all of it ), sympathetic characters who in their own way endear themselves to readers alike.

Reading it, i had nothing but love to all characters even Ligur and Hastur makes a fun duo as the Duke of Hell who are after Crowley.

****
Good Omens is a book about good and evil, and the order of things. But most of all, it is a book written by authors who clearly know all the weird and wacky things in the world and most importantly knows how to write them and put it all together in one great novel.

Jack Kerouac's "The Dharma Bums" is a semi-fictional novel that has since become the trademark of Kerouac's work. In here the narrator Ray Smith ( based on Kerouac ), a poet and self described "Dharma Bum"  a person who searches for the Meaning of Life by following the Buddhist Way) details a period in his life as he hitchhike across the vast frontier of the West unto San Francisco, where he meets a handful of colorful characters where one stands out in the form of Japhy Ryder (said to be poet, essayist and Buddhist Gary Snyder in real life).

 

 

It was the best of times as Ray Smith hangs out with his friend Japhy and other poets in San Francisco getting drunk, going to poetry readings on evenings and generally having a wild Bohemian time the Dharma way.

The best part of the novel comes when Ray Smith narrates their trip to the High Sierras to climb the Matterhorn. A seemingly simple experience but was given life by Kerouac's "Spontaneous Prose" which has influenced writers from the following generations like Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Robbins and even Bob Dylan.

Finding and knowing his spiritual side seems to hold Ray Smith with utmost importance as it parallels these events to the real life Kerouac whose life took a turn to celebrity status after the publishing of his "Legend Turning" work "On The Road".

Driven by the eccentricity of Japhy Ryder whose allure to the simple life and Zen Buddhism greatly affects those around him, thus savoring a simple meal around a small campfire is an experience much greater than dining in an expensive restaurant, they went on buying clothes in run down used clothing store, carrying rucksacks and spending the night in the woods on sleeping bags. Living life the mountaineer way. Being introduced to the Buddhist sexual rite called "Yab-Yum" .

I know today's generation would credit modern writers like Alex Garland with his work on "The Beach" as something of rekindling the "Backpacking" culture. But truth was, Jack Kerouac has been advocating that lifestyle years and years ahead of his time.

Kerouac though his Ray Smith character as he sets out yet another trip across America to visit his mother, spending 3 months meditating and living almost entirely in a garden and going back to San Francisco as he reunites with the rest of the Dharma Bums including Japhy Ryder who in turn is preparing to make his life defining voyage to a monastery in Japan.

The book ends as Ray Smith spends the summer as a fire look-out in the mountains and enjoys the solitary life. ( Jack Kerouac did served as a fire lookout for the United States Forest Service on Desolation Peak in Washington state. )

Semi-Autobiography?, part fiction? nevertheless it's a wonder how a Kerouac book can make me appreciate life as if it was served in a gold platter. You wonder how much else is out there at the tip of your mind just waiting to be discovered.

Wherein "On The Road" painted us a picture of life literally on the road and the somehow captivating experiences we meet upon a reckless yet determined journey, "The Dharma Bums" offers us in insight on the "beat generation's" romance with the Buddhist influence in searching and building an enlightenment for that inner you, in your inner life. Solitary or accompanied by others, simple or grandeur, poor or rich, 5 star accommodation or a rucksack and a sleeping bag in the cold smoldering piece of lot in the wilds. It doesn't matter as long as you embrace life as it was, as it come to you and appreciate it like "spontaneous prose" telling you a great story.

The Light Fantastic is the 2nd book of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. It's a fantasy tale set in a world consisting of a slightly convex disc atop on the backs of four huge elephants which are in turn standing on the back of an enormous turtle, named Great A'Tuin.

The novel starts where the very first Discworld book "Colour Of Magic" ended, with bumbling wizard Rincewind and the Discworld's first ever tourist Twoflower setting adrift, falling over the edge of the world.

But as the wizards in the Unseen University found out about an impending doom that will cause by the Great A'Tuin walking towards a collosal star, which will set the whole Discworld on fire, the only remaining solution to the end of Discworld lies on one of the so called "eight most powerful spells from the octavo" which turns out to be locked inside the head of Rincewind.

With the help of the magic book, Octavo, Rincewind and Twoflower were saved and found themselves back in Discworld, amid talking trees and giant rocks and being tracked by other wizards led by Rincewind's former classmate Trymon.

They encountered countless close brushes with death (whom Rincewind met face to face in Death's domain) Rincewind, Twoflower with the help of aging superhero Cohen The Barbarian, and the girl they saved from a sacrificial ritual named Bethan and Twoflower's luggage who has a mind of its own described as "half suitcase, half homicidal maniac" and was able to save the duo  in a few occasions.

They all set out for a wonderful and entertaining adventure that only Terry Pratchett and a few writers can provide and as the Great A Tuin gets closer to the burning star, triggering panics by the inhabitants of the Discworld who thinks that the only solution would be for all wizards to die and have their spells and magic completely dissappear.

Rincewind will need to remember the spell and say aloud the great eight spell in order to save the Discworld from a head on collision with the burning star..

It's a short and entertaining read, with lots of Terry Pratchett's trademark humor and lovable characters. It's a must read for everybody.

Haruki Murakami's "Dance Dance Dance" (my very first Murakami book, per recommendation by my officemate Fae ). Follows the story of a 34 year old unnamed narrator, who spends his time working as a freelance writer, abandoned by his wife who runs off with his friend (ouch that fucking hurts), after battling depression in the past, but by now able to function normally in society in his own words by "shoveling snow" (a term that he describes those who goes on with their own roles in society).

Until a recurring dream compelled him to return to Dolphin Hotel, a seedy and strange establishment in a city called Sapporo. The very same place he shared with a woman named "Kiki" who mysteriously disappeared without a trace 4 years ago.

Upon arriving in Sapporo, the narrator finds out that The Dolphin Hotel has been transformed into a modern and five star hotel, gone are the old seedy image of the said hotel.

He learns that it has been has been purchased by a large corporation and converted into a hip, trendy and a style that resembles the great hotels of the west.

But still no answer to the whereabouts of Kiki.

Here our narrator or protagonists meets a wide array of interesting characters, from the serious, uptight female hotel receptionist who shares a mysterious experience with him, an eccentric famous photographer and her 13 year old daughter with psychic abilities who spends her time listening to 80's era bands like the Talking Heads, a one armed poet, a former classmate now an actor typecast as teacher and dentist in the movies.

And then the strange metaphysical experiences starts to unravel as the narrator finds himself in dark corridors, talking to a man called as the "sheep man", and as people he got in contact with either gets murdered or met an accident, he tries hard to come in terms with the mystery of the sheep man and his dreams and what message Kiki is trying to tell him.

In the process Murakami tells a story of a bond forming with a narrator busy with studying the complexities around him and a seemingly uninterested and aloof but smart 13 year old girl, put in a friendship with the former classmate turned matinee idol, and a budding romantic relationship with the sympathetic hotel receptionist.

Whether he finds what he's looking for, in the person of KiKi or some other life realizations, like whether all of them are connected in one way or the other, this book will keep readers interested to the very end.

*****

One will not find it hard to relate to the narrator, i know i did. Because here, the narrator deals with past alienation, his role in society ( whenever he was ask about his profession he always adds the term "shoveling snow" ) doing your own role without abandonment and also a serious tone to it, there were descriptions of what capitalism can do to a country, the effect of having a Masseratti instead of a simple Subaru in telling a person's level of success to society as a whole.

The absurdity that somehow frolics around human relationship with each other, what do we really need in life? a topic that usually comes up with his conversations with his actor friend. The importance of family as he sees the 13 year old girl Yuki's predicament.

All in all this novel is part murder mystery, "metaphysical" tale ( reminds me of Martin Amis' "Other People" ) and throw in a sci-fi edge courtesy of the sheep man.

Wow is all i can say, Haruki Murami, i bet i will be buying more of your books soon.

J.G. Ballard's highly controversial novel: famously one publisher's reader returned the verdict "This author is beyond psychiatric help. Do Not Publish."

****
Well if i have read this book, let's say 5 years ago before i would be accustomed to reading the likes of Chuck Palahniuk, Alex Garland, Irvine Welsh and indulging in the brutal humor of Hunter S. Thompson i would probably come into the same conclusion that J.G. Ballard needs professional help.

But knowing what i know now ( haha ), i see J.G. Ballard's "Crash" as a unique work of fiction, powerful and brutal in a way it challenges our imagination by writing about what he calls "an extreme metaphor for an extreme situation, a kit of desperate measures only for use in extreme crisis"

And that metaphor is technology by way of automobiles, wrecked cars and car crashes serving as the "hellish tableau" in which the book's protagonist Vaughan a mad "TV scientist" experiments the relationship between a seemingly traumatic car accident experience and the forming of erotic atrocities with survivors amidst the lifelong remainder of body scar and injuries inflicted by the violent ordeal.

The Narrator which is named after the author, James Ballard relates his initial experience surviving a near fatal car accident which took the life of another person and left him in hospital for weeks, with countless scars on his body.

After being followed by Vaughan, Ballard develops a fetish for erotic experience in the confines of automobiles, developing a sexual relationship with other car crash survivors including the wife of the person he killed in his own automobile accident, Dr. Helen Remington.

As he gets to know the renegade scientist Vaughan, Ballard founds out more strange intricacies in the weird mind of Vaughan, which includes the grand design of his own death involving a terrifying "union of blood...engine coolant in a head on collision with actress Elizabeth Taylor" ( during which time this book is written circa 1973, is still a very popular Hollywood actress )

As Vaughan prepares for his own judgment day, he and Ballard participates with other willing subjects in more erotic experiments involving car accidents more sinister than the last, the end result is a mixture of blood, gore and acid trip and a surprise ending for Ballard.

****

" Vaughan unfolded for me all his obsessions with the mysterious eroticism of wounds: the perverse logic of blood soaked instrument panels, seat-belts smeared with excrement, sun visors lined with brain tissue...He dreamed of ambassadorial limousines crashing into jack knifing butane tankers, of taxis filled celebrating children colliding head-on below the bright display of windows of deserted supermarkets"....

If these passages doesn't make you cringe, then maybe you can read and enjoy this book.

This is my first Tom Robbins' novel, fellow multiplier Karl and Aimee has been recommending him forever. I now know why.

"Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas" as the title would suggest is filled with humor and hilarious situations and most of all extra terrestrials without becoming a science fiction novel.

The heroine, Filipina stockbroker Gwen Mati ( her father being a Filipino, mother an Irish ) thought she just had the worst day of her young career, as stocks crashed and she tries to cover her ass while awaiting the resumption of the trading over the course of a long weekend she encounters strange happenings around her.

First, her boyfriend's jewel stealing monkey but presumed to be a born again monkey went missing, offering her help in trying to locate the damned monkey her bestfriend Q-Jo a 300 pound psychic went missing too after meeting with a fellow who later turned out to be Larry Diamond, a former stockbroker turned financial renegade who just spent a long time of soul searching or should i say searching for the origin of mankind in a far away place called as Timbuktu.

Over the course of the next few days, Gwen Mati will jerk around from one revelation to another (most seemingly crazy) brought on by the eccentric Larry Diamond ranging from the origins of frogs, mysterious African rituals to outer space sexuality.


There isn't much of an in depth character study that most novels had, some will prove great while others tend to bore you. I think it's Tom Robbins' style to write stories like this, with plots twisting and turning until it becomes a real mystery with killer lines and quotes that will make one ran out of highlighter ink.

For the more serious readers who lack a sense of humor they might find Tom Robbins a disappointment, but knowing what i know now, why most of his books have weird titles and the plot are outrageous to say the least, well at least it gives me joy and enriches my imagination with the things he writes and most of the times he writes it real good.

As for me, there are still two Tom Robbins book waiting on my shelf to be read and I'm sure hell looking forward to reading those books and scoring more Tom Robbins novels...

Love him or hate him, i'm talking about Chuck Palahniuk.

In my case, i have nothing but love for his work.

Probably America's most nihilistic writer, Chuck Palahniuk once again has tip toed in the world of madness, the grotesque, human sufferings all that plus salt sprayed with endless dark humor.

As one critic would put it "If you're looking for comparisons, I'd say Palahniuk is like a cross between Tim Powers on acid and Kurt Vonnegut gone postal."

Diary takes form as a journal written by Misty Wilmot, a former art student with a once promising future but now reduced to waiting tables at a seafront hotel in an island called Waytansea.

To rub salt to the wound, her husband Peter is in a state of a coma after a seemingly failed suicide attempt. Soon Misty finds herself besieged with phone calls from angry customers, regarding house renovation jobs that Peter did in the past, seems like Peter has a fondness for leaving vile and disturbing messages painted on each of the houses' walls and plastering off whole rooms.

After the intervention of her mother in law, Grace. Misty, in a sudden burst of creativity goes back to painting. After finishing about a hundred paintings, believing her daughter Tabbi is dead, befriending a "handwriting expert", a cop assigned to the nations 'hate crime division' showing up to ask some questions, harboring a connection to painters from the past Maura Kincaid and Constance Baron, Carl Jung theories, Jain Buddhists and a conspiracy that threatens the lives of hundreds, Misty's world is rapidly turned into one frenetic chase for sanity amidst all cynical and unusual twists that only Chuck Palahniuk can deliver.

*****
Most critics take against Chuck Palahniuk was that all of his characters are almost the same, shocking, mad, anger prone, a walking "fuck you" sign all that plus his sick humor.

Which i don't get, why take it against the man whose style is synonymous to spookily imaginative and superbly grim, well in this case in Diary, gone are the Tyler Durden charisma, but for the second time since "invisible monster" it takes form at a female point of view, a girly character although not the usual chick on the block.

Misty Wilmot is the closest you'll ever get to the Tyler Durden type bullshit-philosopher character, in "Diary" Chuck Palahniuk laid out an "in your face" narratives with cool repetition phrases such as "Just for the record, the weather today is calm and sunny, but the air is full of bullshit", "bermuda triangulated" when falling short of an explanation.

I can understand the short cuts that Palahniuk makes in his novel, in his own admission he is a minimalist, no need to go into the depths of a scenario, i mean who cares, as long as the character is, as i said before an "in your face" who don't give a fuck about his/her surroundings.

Bottomline: This novel is most of the times hilarious, expectedly disturbing, frightening and poignant at the same time ( thus the association with Douglas Coupland everytime i think Chuck Palahnik ) -- but it's always clever and well-written. Not a book to be missed.

The novel in which French Novelist and moralist Albert Camus explored what he termed as "the nakedness of man faced with the absurd".

Meursault ( his surname ), narrates the last part of his life, from the opening line of "Maman died today" ( Maman being a child's term for mother ) , Meursault tells with all honesty the events that followed.

Upon returning to Algiers after burying his mother he crossed paths with an old officemate Marie, whom he develops an intimate relationship, life for him is going to work everyday, being loyal to his firm, waiting for each Saturday to spend the day with Marie, dealing with his neighbors in a friendly manner, Salamano and his dog, restaurant owner Celeste and a self described "warehouse guard" Raymond.

Problem arises when Raymond got in trouble with a group of Arabs.

During a trip to an Algier beach side, Raymond, Masson ( Raymond's friend ) and Meursault got in a fight with the Arabs who followed them, Raymond was cut by a knife in the arm and side of the mouth.

Afterwards for no reason, Meursault went back to the beach, at the same spot where he found the Arab in the sun drenched Algiers Beach, in what he narrates as

"I knew i had shattered the harmony of the day, the exceptional silence of a beach where i'd been happy. Then i fired four more times at the motionless body where the bullets lodged without leaving a trace. And it was like knocking four quick times on the door of unhappiness".

Meursault, an ordinary man now unwittingly gets drawn into a senseless murder.

Meursault then narrates the investigation that follows, the trial and the sentencing all with cunning and honest description of his feelings, the freedom, the life that he lost and the eventual acceptance of his fate.

******
Originally written in French, translated into English countless times, the new English version by Matthew Ward is called as the most truest Camus English rendition ever.

"Mother died today" was aptly replaced by "Maman died today" as one of the example of being true to Camus' version.

Albert Camus is considered as a moralist, a philosopher among being a great novelist, among his works are the non-fiction philosophical essay "the Rebel" and fiction like "the Plague", "the Fall" and "exile in the kingdom" all dealing with Man's inner senses and nature, with the Plague being a parable of Man's moral resonance.

In the Stranger, Camus writes in a fast faced manner, short in details of the surroundings, more cut to the chase with regards to the Narrator's feelings of himself and those who are around him.

"I explained to him, however, that my nature was such physical needs got often in the way of my feelings, the day i buried Maman, i was very tired and sleepy"

In explaining to his lawyer the reason for his seemingly "insensitivity" during his mother's funeral.

It was a book that lets readers an inside spot in the mind of a person as Camus stated "faced with the absurd", dealing with his actions, getting use to life with no freedom and eventually accepting the fate that awaits him.

"When i was first imprisoned, the hardest thing was that my thoughts were still those of a free man, for example i would suddenly have the urge to be on a beach and to walk down to the water...all of a sudden i would feel just how closed in i was by the walls of my cell...but those lasted a few months...afterwards my only thoughts were those of a prisoner"

****
It was a short read like a long essay, 123 pages in all, it will just take up an hour of your life, but i tell you its one hour you would never ever regret losing.

The shortest so far from the 5 other Sandman volumes that i've read. This volume is a collection of four stand alone stories that explains some aspects about the Endless namely Dream and Death. Although not a continuation of the Sandman storyline, still it offers readers a lot in regards to the over all scope of this monumental Sandman series.

Calliope - a short story about a struggling one hit writer Ric Madoc and his obsession to reach top form again, doing so he receives a present from cult filmmaker Erasmus Fry, in the form of a muse, whom he abuses and rapes after drawing inspiration from her and writing bestsellers, directing movies and unto the peak of success. Until Dream, who is the muse's former flame, escapes from his captor and decided to free up his muse and gives Madoc a lesson or two about not having any ideas at all.

A Dream of a Thousand Cats - an imaginative tale that shows a gathering of cats and their dream of a world where cats are the masters and human as its servants, a frightening possibility that one feline speaks of, if only all the cats in the world will believe that it is the case ever since the beginning of time.

A Midsummer Night's Dream - won the World Fantasy award for best short story, tells the story of William Shakespeare and his wandering theater troupe and it's performance in front of an audience that looks like not any audiences they have played for in the past.

Facade - is a short story related to another Sandman volume, the Kindly Ones. Former superhero known as the Fury, Lyta Hall now lives in almost seclusion. In the end with the help of "Death" her powers becomes the solution to how she will be freed.

Although i really want to read this volume because i was so curious about Midsummer Night's Dream, although it turned out quite well, i can say my favorite is "Dream a Thousand Cats", the artwork is creepy, the theme so dark and the message frighteningly chilling.

While Calliope reminds me of people who would sell their soul, in exchange for a burst of creativity, makes me wonder who among us right now has a muse somewhere hidden in their bedroom whom they keep imprisoned and abused. Yes another creepy tale.

Plus the inclusion of the sample script by Neil Gaiman will teach you a thing or two about how to write and imagine a story that is ought to be written as a comic book.

All the more makes this a must read for everybody.

William S. Burroughs' first novel "Junky" (originally titled "Junk") is a fictional narrative, but was heavily based on facts of Burroughs' real life experiences with junk addiction, junk being (opium or any derivatives of opium, morphine, heroin, marijuana etc.).

One can say "Junky" follows the path of the normal "autobiographical fiction that characterized the Beat Generation writing". But unlike Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" , "The Town and the City" and "The Dharma Bums", Burroughs' "Junky" narratives was concentrated heavily on one aspect of his life, which was his own drug addiction.

It's not really what you can call autobiographical, but sort of early day "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" i can imagine Hunter S. Thompson having "Junky" in his mind while writing his legendary book with regards to the effects of Drugs into having hallucinatory dreams.

"Almost worse than the sickness is the depression that goes with it. One afternoon, i closed my eyes and saw New York in ruins. Huge centipedes and scorpions crawled in and out of empty bars and cafeterias and drugstores on 42nd street. Weeds were growing up through cracks and holes in the pavement. There was no one in sight".

It's a book about a particular phase in William Burroughs' life, an accurate portrayal of the junk world and all the characters that got involved in it, the most candid, eye popping account of an underworld that is a taboo to Americans back then, it is an honest assessment of a man's relationship with Junk as Allen Ginsberg wrote in the afterword.

"no attempt at self-exculpation but the most candid, no romaticization of the circumstances, the dreariness, the horror, the mechanical beatness and evil of the junk life as lived".

*****
Junky opens with the first person narrative of William Lee ( Lee being Burroughs' mother's maiden name ) of the very first time that he got introduced to junk just about the latter part of the war ( 1944 or 1945 ). It then goes on with the usual telling of getting used to injecting junk in his system, meeting underworld characters like drug peddlers, hustlers, thieves, pimps and other form of "lowlifes".

To his experiences as a drug peddler himself, in this way Lee get to earn money to support his junk addiction, hustling drunks on trains ( which they refer to as "lush" ) where they will sit beside a sleeping lush target with Lee reading a newspaper and his cohort Roy would put his hand behind Lee's back and reach for the pocket of the "sleeping lush".

"The car was almost empty and there we were wedged up against the mooch with twenty feet of empty seats available"

To summarize it all up it was as Ginsberg wrote "a systematic history of the events of a habit, the cravings, the jailings, the night errands, the day boredoms"...

From hustling croakers ( term for doctors ) to write scripts ( drug prescription ) for morphines, picking lush pockets along different avenues and train stations of New York, William Lee's junky phase will take him to Texas, New Orleans and eventualy running away from the law unto Mexico.

It's more of a window to the persona and soul of a person with a drug habit,
Burroughs at the same time insists that Drugs is not a habit forming drugs, that virgin drug users will take at least 4 months to develop withdrawal symptoms, nonetheless all the characters he wrote tells us that Junk is Junk, it either leaves you lifeless and lost forever depending on substance and chemicals to bring life to your tormented cells.

******
I enjoyed reading this book, the book gives me an accurate portrayal of a person deeply hooked in drugs, it has a serious overtone especially its about someone who wasn't born to be a loser, Burroughs' background is superb, he went to Harvard, studied and lived in Europe and came from a decent family, it shows how vices or drug dependency can hit almost anyone. And William Lee's narratives gives us with all honesty and a brutal characterization of what life is about when you put yourself in such seemingly un-escapable situation.

This is my first Chuck Klosterman book, I've read it a few months ago and I'm just making the review right now. Don't know what to write whether I enjoyed it or what. It definitely shows some promises and I heard "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto" is the book to read if you really want to discover Chuck's writing talent.

nyway here's a bit of the rundown about his book "Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story".

It was conceived as a sort of documentary book about death with emphasis on the deaths of rock and roll icons. With this path Chuck Klosterman embarks on a road trip across the United States visiting the places of famous death sites of rock and roll stars. Suffice to say he at least visited some sites particularly the NY hotel where Sid Vicious stabbed and killed Nancy Spungen and Sid Himself died, the highway where Duane Allman died in a motorcycle crash, the site where the plane carrying members of Lynard Skynard crashes, Kurt Cobain's Seattle home, the lake where Jeff Buckley drowned, the club that burned killing a hundred people at a Great White show and of course Graceland where the King died.

Apart from tackling what he perceives as death being more advantageous to these figures, thus citing Jeff Buckley's death made his debut album "Grace" from average to something of a "must have" album. Buckley's drowning made him a rock icon from an ordinary good musician.

But the twist if ever there's one is when Chuck Klosterman becomes sort of Charlie Kauffman in "Adaptation" wherein he incorporated himself to the book, the supposed to be death documentary now becomes a sort of memoir of Chuck's experiences with his present and ex-girlfriends. A development that gets annoying sometimes but to his credit he wrote at the first part of the book

"“Well, the larger thesis is somewhat underdeveloped” and by the end, I had my co-worker telling me, “Please don’t write a book about women you used to be in love with,” and when I asks why not, she replies by saying, “Because that’s exploitative. And narcissistic. And a bit desperate.”

Which is what the book became...Chuck Kloster man at his narcissistic stage, can be very well be humorous at a number of occasions and I think that is the only thing why this book belongs on my shelf. I admire his sense of humor and his writing style is something to envy about.

But still, Klosterman wasted a great opportunity here, I mean road trip, death sites of famous rock and roll stars...too bad all of this ended up in the background as Klosterman ended up writing about himself.

After an injury that he suffered while cutting trees in Boston. Sebastian Junger, a journalist in profession thought about writing a book about the different dangerous occupations in the United States. Living in a nearby fishing community of Gloucester, Massachusetts writing a non fiction book about the events that transpired during the great storm that hit North America in 1991 become the obvious choice.

And the result is "The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea". A narrative account about the preceding moments and the days that followed after the doomed sword fishing boat "Andrea Gail" set out on its fishing journey.

With veteran fishermen who spends more than 10 months on the high seas each year, coming home only to unwind at the local favorite watering destination the Crow's Nest. Junger introduces us to the characters led by Billy Tyne, the captain of the Andrea Gail along with the ship's five other crew members who would suffer a mysterious fate at the very eye of the Hurricane Grace.

Sebastian Junger captured every details about what is life as a fisherman, the rich maritime history of the industry in Gloucester, thematics about fishing and sailing and even the last thoughts that crowds the head of a person about to die by drowning.

Readers will learn to care for the doomed characters to the point that you'll hope for their eventual safety even though its common knowledge that the Andrea Gail was never found and presumed to be swallowed by the sea.

A feeling of abruptness comes while Junger is narrating the events after the Andrea Gail's last radio message, the possibilities of what happened makes it more poignant as it leaves the readers a mystery of the unknown only the real life crew of the Andrea Gail have experienced minutes before their impending death.

The way Sebastian Junger wrote and researched for his material is well applauded, by countless interviews with family members and friends of the crew of the Andrea Gail, he was able to clearly write a narrative that describes each character's life previous to the tragic event and each motivation in risking their life for such a voyage towards the end of the fishing season.

The book also details other close brush with death of other ships and carriers in the region where the Perfect Storm hit. Which involves a heroic cost guard's successful rescue of three crew members from a sailboat.

Over-all, The Perfect Storm is a story that grips the readers about the real life horrors that fishermen encounters each day on their job. The characters are well portrayed without exploiting or sensationalizing each motives and memories of what transpired.

With this book, Sebastian Junger was hailed as the new coming of a writer in the molds of a Hemingway and help usher in a zest for a genre called the "macho non fiction".

"Haunted" is a collection of 23 short stories in between the narratives about a group of writers who answered an ad that says "Artist''s retreat abandon your life for three months" in an isolated writer's colony run by an old dying man named Whittier.

None of the characters were named by their real name, they were refered to by various aliases like; Mother Nature, Earl of Slander, Duke of Vandals, the Missing Link, Lady Baglady to name a few.

The narratives about their ordeal in the writer's colony are intertwined with the different short stories that these characters have written (which are mostly about them ), the cover of the paperback version of this book has a line from observer that says "brutally graphic".

Which is expected of any Chuck Palahiuk book and with the first short story called "Guts" is of any indication, readers are in for a horrific ride.

As i have learned, "Guts" has been in circulation prior to the writing of this book, Chuck P. has made some news around America during a book reading tour, wherein while reading this short story, scores of listeners dropped unconsciously on the floor, mainly because of the graphic details of the story.

"Guts" was about a teenage masterbation gone wrong, if you are curious. And as i found myself, i cringe halfway through it, finished the story without passing out, but still, true to it, i found it brutal and darkly funny, the true Chuck P. style.

So as the days goes by on the "Artist's colony", with lack of food and stable living condition sets in, the mental state of the writers are greatly affected, the stories they write soon becomes darker, their relationships towards each other becomes spiteful, starvation eventually leads to a suicide and more contempt with each other to the amusement of the old man Whittier...yeah i guess i should stop right here hahaha...

Over all the novel is what every critics have said it is, "full of gore" to some they find it as "worthless piece of graphic literature" (probably the same critics who gave John Grisham's novels a 5 star ).

Reading a book is an intimate experience, its like consentual sex, you wont go on if it doesnt pleases you, and i find reading this book as one of my joyful exuberant moments in reading just about anything ( that includes porn ), if i may say, this one isn't for everybody.

This book aint for the sissy readers who thought "Da Vinci Code" is the greatest book on earth and are foolish enough to watch the film, if you're a Harry Potter junkie, i suggest keep up with your reading habbits, no need in making a grothesgue and sudden change in genre.

But if you are a Stephen King, Irvine Welsh, Alex Garland, The Canterbury Tales reader? then this one is for you.

It will delight you to no end, its brutal content will either leave you laughing your ass of or it might produce some nightmares in the coming night.

Which coincidentally i did, night after i got done reading with "Haunted", i had a nightmare, even though i dont remember the details, it was enough to wake me up in the middle of the night, leave me sweating and unable to sleep the rest of the way.

I can say "Haunted" has gotten under my skin....hahahaha....

Brief Lives is the 7th collection of Neil Gaiman's acclaimed The Sandman Comics series. It was the 4th volume that i've read so far and probably the most insightful one in terms of explaining to me the relationships between each member of the family of the Endless.

Brief Lives starts with with an old man named Andros climbing up a rocky hill into an almost obscure island, among the small inhabitants of that island where some of Andros' family playing the modern day version of "the priests of Orpheus", it is then revealed that they were guarding and taking care a severed head which seems to be alive and at the same time talking.

Same with almost the previous Sandman volumes, each will start out with a scene that may resonates with the reader as they advance through the story, here the mysterious "talking head" will play a great part in the mysterious past of Morpheus aka Dream.

But the events of Brief Lives progresses on when Dream's youngest sister Delirium ( childlike in any sense of the word ) decided to find the Endless' missing "prodigal" brother Destruction, who about 300 years ago has abandoned his realm and responsibilities.

Delirium travels through the different realms of her older siblings to ask for help in locating their brother, after being churned away by both Desire and Despair telling her that they should respect their brother's decision, Delirium then was able to convince Dream to help her find Destruction in the waking world.

Dream accepted to help childish little sister Delirium so he can take his mind off the pain caused by the latest break up of a relationship with an unmentioned female.

Their quest costs the lives of many people who would be entangled in their search, because of what will be revealed later as result of 'mechanisms' Destruction set up before he left his realm. Eventually, the pair do track Destruction down, with the help of Destiny who in turn told Morpheus to ask for the help of an oracle.

The oracle that will help Morpheus and Delirium's quest for their brother turns out the severed head in the opening chapter, the Oracle's name is Orpheus, none other than Morpheus own son.

In exchange for the information, Orpheus demands a "boon of his father": where he wishes to die; and bound by his sense of obligation to his son, Morpheus cannot do anything but consent to his wish of dying and finding peace. Thus the shedding of family blood.

****
As i said, Brief Lives offers a great deal about the relationship of The Endless, in spite of their different realms and responsibilities, a feeling of love bounded by hundred of years of existence still exist with each other, Destruction's fondness of both Delirium and Despair is both touching and endearing.

The conversation between Dream and Destruction towards the end that explains Destruction's decision to leave offers a hindsight on the start of the existence of the whole Endless family.

Destruction: "As the universe came into being, Destiny came with it, alone on the darkness...before the living thing came into existence, our sister was there waiting"

Dream: "And when the first living thing awoke to life, i was also there"

And how Destruction's decision that he doesn't want any more part in it.

Destruction: "The Endless are echoes of Darkness, and nothing more. We have no right to play with their lives, to order their dreams and their desires"..

And with that Dream and Delirium watch as their brother descends to another world.

Frank Miller's "Sin City: The Hard Goodbye" tells the story of a down on his luck man named Marv, a huge character with a soft heart for doing good.

 

 

Problem arises when after making love to a beautiful woman named Goldie an experience that Marv describes as:

"I'm staring at a goddess, she's telling me she wants me. She sounds like she means it. I'm not going to waste one more second wondering how it is i've gotten so lucky"

And the next day Marv awakens to a dead Goldie in his bed.

"Not a mark on her, you'd have to check her pulse or notice those perfect breasts of hers aren't moving like they would if she was breathing...and there's nothing telling me it wasn't just a heart attack in her sleep..nothing but that cold thing in my gut getting colder"

And as Marv promises vengeance to those responsible for Goldie's death, the rest of the book details Marv's single-minded pursuit of vengeance in a classic true film noir fashion.

A journey that will lead him to encounter characters like his sexy but lesbian parole officer Lucille, a well-endowed stripper named Nancy, a gun wielding Wendy ( Goldie's twin sister ), Kevin, a sadistic, cannibal who doesn't speak but is a deadly killer to be reckoned with and Roark, a man who lives in the shadows, but holds the ultimate power.

Ultimately Marv got his revenge to those responsible for Goldie's death.

During the time after he sawed of both of Kevin's legs:

"Not even at the end, not even when the mutts had his fill and Kevin's guts are lying all over the place and somehow, the bastard is still alive, still staring at me, not even when i grab the saw and finish the job. HE NEVER SCREAMS"

The best part was when Marv meet up Patrick Henry Roark in his own place.

Roark: "Will that give you satisfaction my son killing an old helpless old man" ( dont be fooled by his rhetorics about being helpless )

Marv: "The killing, NO!, but everything up until the killing will be a gas"

"And when his eyes go dead, the hell i send him to must seem like heaven after what i've done to him"...


*******

It is graphic, violent YES! but the writing are slick, no wonder Robert Rodriguez based the movie page by page, line by line. All you ever wanted in great pulp fiction is here. Frank Miller delivers the goods. And i'm left wondering how great the other Sin City Volumes would be. I guess i had to collect them all.

Damn another reason to be broke, but as Marv would put it
"Everything is worth dying for, worth killing for, worth going to hell for Amen"

Although i aint dying and killing for nobody...i guess Reading "Sin City" is very much worth being broke for.

In America the November Presidential Elections was just the culmination of months of rigid political positioning, the long and winding political process of choosing the Democratic and Republican standard bearer is the blast from the gun that will start all of this.

Through the backstage of every primaries, conventions, secret deals, quick minded handlers, political maneuvers, media, supporters all rolling together to help a candidate get that prized trophy...The Presidential Nomination.

And this is what a full time Rolling Stones correspondent Hunter Stockton Thompson did cover during the time of Dec 71 - March 73, from the onset of the Democratic Presidential race unto the Nationwide Presidential Election itself.

A must read for every political junkie and even to those who are sick of it all, like me, hell this is sort of history as told by HST, even as dubious as American Politics, its eye popping and very informative at the same time.

The 1972 race to the white house was probably one of the most crucial in modern American history, for it was the era of the Vietnam war becoming more of a burden and a thorn in American society, A president who is in the midst of the watergate scandal gunning for re-election, disillusioned young people who would rather become hippies and smoke "marrywanna" than practice their right to suffrage.

Gone are the leaders of yesterdays, ( Jack and Bob Kennedy ), a disgraced Lyndon B Johnson, what remains are the Nixon thugs, a young but reluctant Edward Kennedy and of course the hope of the Democrats, front runner Ed Muskie, Hubert Humphrey and a long shot and the "only honest senator" Sen. Mcgovern.

The madness of that era in American Politics was widely told by HST with cunning reality, bold conviction, brutal truth, obscene, horrid and driven narrative, only he, the quintessential outlaw journalist, Prince of gonzo journalism, fueled by the "edge", Hunter S. Thompson can deliver.

who in his own words "my garb and demeanor is not considered normal by Washington standards" in comparing himself with the normal Washington reporters.

It was a typical HST, but not at all typical by any body's standards, here he relates the all unfolding events, from the get go to the end of the whole madness, thereby taking a toll on himself also., the struggles in finishing the book, the White House's indifference to him ( not giving him press credentials ), the wacky Ed Muskie train junket ( courtesy of some heckling hippies sporting an HST press ID ).

"it become obvious both by the bizarre quality of his first draft work and his extreme disorganized lifestyles, that the only way for the book could be completed was by means of compulsory verbal composition" - HST's editor's note.

Thus explaining the Q&A style in the book's last chapter.

As if the drama, highs and lows of Senator Mcgovern's rise from being merely a contender to the eventual Democratic Presidential nod was not enough, HST was able to cough up some personal account of his life at the time, and some NFL snippets ( Nixon's NFL jinx ), all proved to be entertaining.

Obviously the book shows HST's distaste at the thought of Nixon occupying the White House for another 4 years, at first he explained that his choice of Mcgovern was a fact based on the "lesser of two evils" comparison, but as time goes by he was able to firmly believe with all sincerity that Mcgovern is the man that deserves to be in the White House, at the same time contradicting this belief that Mcgovern is a better Senator than a President working on a National level, still bottomline, its anyone except Nixon.

Its clear cut that he supported Mcgovern's drive to the Democratic race and the Presidential campaign itself, but he was cut out honest enough to enumerate probable varying factors, political miscalculations, mistakes by the staff that contributed to Mcgovern's coming up short in beating Nixon.

the doomedness and failure of the campaign right from the start is written on the wall, against Nixon's well oiled political machinery and "thugs" are very well explained in here.

Right then HST is already writing about the importance of the youth vote, the first timers, who unfortunately was seldom taken advantage by the Politicians then, from a statistic viewpoint of about 25 million youngsters, it was concluded that even at least only 10 % would troop to the polls, it may after all proved the difference.

One factor that Mcgovern failed to take advantage of, maybe it was the 60's mentality or the hippie culture, that instilled on the Politicians mind at that time.

Well HST is right after all because if all of you would remember the various campaign by different organization in the last American Presidential election about the youth vote, you know MTV's "rock the vote", it was all pointed towards youth participation on the election.

Even though i never lived in that era, hell i am not an American to say the least, reading this book fills me with so much understanding not only about American Politics, where "democracy" is built upon, i also got a firm grip on issues that are relevant, ingredients in a successful campaign, and most of all the complexities of the search for power...to attain that one particular Political prize...

Hell its American politics, full of deceit, scumbags, lies and more lies...it can very well be PHILIPPINE POLITICS....

or this book can be very well be Fear and Loathing: Philippine Politics..

By way of a so called "chrono-synclastic infundibulum" wave phenomena, millionaire Winston Niles Rumford travels through space as an energy all across the universe, mainly through so called "materialization" a process where he appears with his dog Kazak for an hour every 59 days on Earth, at his residence at Newport, Rhode Island to be exact. When he entered the infundibulum, Rumfoord became aware of the past and future. Throughout the novel, he predicts future events that always come true.

During these materialization he engages the novel's main protagonist, Malachi Constant, a happy go-lucky playboy and the richest man in 22nd century America of a future prediction that will take him to Mars, Mercury and an obscure Saturn moon called "Titan". Sire a child named "Chrono" with Rumford's estranged wife Beatrice.

Both Beatrice and Malachi did in their very best to avoid fulfilling the said predictions. But little did they know a conspiracy that ranges far to Martian armies, mysterious disappearances and mind control is being conducted upon and to what purpose?

But as Vonnegut's central theme of the meaning of life. Or rather, the meaninglessness of life, future events conspires that things happens for a reason.

Readers then were taken to a colony in Mars where Armies recruited on Earth work together in preparation for an impending invasion of Earth. One man who goes by the name "Unk" is among them. With no knowledge of the past, Unk was given a clue by a man in the gallows on the verge of being executed about a secret location of a letter that may very well be the answer to Unk's real identity.

And the rest of the plot which i don't have to divulge is a great storyline that purely entertains readers with a classic science fiction tale from bright lit yellow colored "harmoniums" of Mercury, to a distant planet called Trafalmadore, coded message represented by the Stonehenge, the Great Wall of China and even the Kremlin House. Put in a dose of religious theme as Winston Rumsford organize a religion on Earth called "the Church of God the Utterly Different".

****

Vonnegut's detailed storytelling is more than realistic to transport us through space and time among the vastness of the universe. He makes the ridiculous more hilariously entertaining. He has written a most detailed renderings of the nature of the human being and complete with snapshots and annotations about our history. As well as writing some passing shot to the antidote to all of our foolishness.

Eventually, Malachi Constant does find out what's important in this life and even love with Beatrice, Chrono their only son eventually finds out more about life as evident when he said towards the end "Thank you Mother and Father, for the gift of life, Goodbye"

And, then, so do we. How much of life is determined by luck or by fate? How much does God and man conspires with each other in creating human events? Kurt Vonnegut may not give us all of the answers, but his observations are satisfyingly enough.

I've put my reading habit on the sideline for over a month, hopefully I'm back to reading again because I still got lots of backlog books on my shelf.

Anyway here's the one that broke the streak and put me back to reading again.

"The Dream Hunters" is Neil Gaiman's homage to mythical Japanese literature, served with an appetizing dish by way of the artworks of Yoshitaka Amano, one of Japan's legendary painters. 

 

 

While the original plan was to create a graphic novel version of the retelling of the classic "The Fox, the Monk, and the Mikado of All Night's Dreaming".

But according to Gaiman, Yoshitaka Amano insists while he is a fan of the comic medium he does not create one and the plan to make a novella with accompanying paintings by Amano proved to be a wise idea.

The Dream Hunters started as the back blurb would say "begins with a wager between a badger and a fox".

The wager's conditions was who among the badger and the fox would succeed in driving out the monk out of his temple. After unsuccessful attempts by the badger and the fox to get rid of the monk. Unexpectedly, while the fox transforms into a female body to try and fool the monk to leaving his temple, the fox formed a deep connection with the monk and eventually falls in love with him.

Driving the badger away the fox accompanied the monk in the temple. Life together was peaceful until the fox overhears a countryside conversation between two creatures plotting to kill the monk.

On the other side of the country a rich Master of Yin-Yang known as the "Onmyoji" is bothered by unexplained fear amidst a life of wealth, convenience and the company of a wife and a concubine. After consulting with three wicked sisters, the "Onmyoji" learned that the only thing that can drive away his fears lies on a monk living in a secluded temple somewhere.

And as the "Onmyoji" plots a plan to get rid of his fears at the expense of the Monk, the fox approaches the "King of Dreams" with the hope of saving the Monk's life.

The ensuing events and what happens next is for you to discover!.

****

The prose and the way Gaiman commands his storytelling which is patterned after Japanese mythologies and Yoshitaka Amano's fine artwork, which sometimes would force you to tear a page from the book and put it in a frame to hang in your wall. All of it makes this a "must read".

Most importantly it brought me back to reading again...I pick just the right book to kickstart my reading habits again.

Called by many as "the long lost novel", it was written by then young 22 year old Hunter S. Thompson.

Years before he would make a name for himself and become America's notorious journalist, his technique, method and flamboyant writing style created the so called "gonzo journalism" its style which blurred the distinction between writer and subject, fiction and non-fiction was widely imitated by a lot of witers, all of them coming up way short. 

 

When asked how much of the "fear and loathing" series are facts, he stated his own explanation through Truman Capote's own words "as a non fiction novel in that almost all of it was true or did happen..just warped out a few things"

And the result was a list of cult smash hits like ( are mostly non-fiction or true accounts )
"Fear and loathing in America"
"Fear and loathing in Las Vegas"
"Fear and loathing: the campaign trail of 1972" ( national bookstore in galleria has this one )
"hell's angels" ( his account for riding with the bikers in america known as hell's angels for over a year )
"better than sex"
and the self autobiography "Kingdom of fear" ( which i am now a proud owner )

Either way "The Rum Diaries" is HST 100% shot at fiction, one would just wonder how many "fiction" novels he may have written if he just "found a drug..that can get you anywhere near as high as sitting at a desk, trying to imagine a story no matter how bizzare it is" ( Kingdom of Fear - HST )

The Rum Diaries is set in Puerto Rico circa 1950's, a place where "American dollars and American cars flows through the streets....a rum is a drink of choice better than gin" Paul Kemp a young journalist fresh from countless stints in Europe was called on to join the english language paper called "San Juan Daily News"

A place where rampant drunkenness, stubborness and riotous traits abound, mix with the volatile personas of his peers, third world environment, exotic beaches, un-hospitable looks of the locals, it all becomes a question of survival just trying to exist. A true gritty story and study of human nature forced to different implications by their environment.

A must read indeed not only to HST fanatics.

in what critics called "reveals a young Hunter S. Thompson brimming with talent"

some of the lines from the book

"the sun woke me up the next morning, i sat up and groaned, my clothes were full of sand, 10 feet to my left Yeamon and Chenault were sleeping on their clothes, they were both naked & her arm was thrown over his back, i stared at her, thinking that no one would blame me if i lost my wits and pounded on her, after first crippling Yeamon with a blow on the back of his skull"

"I covered my head with my arms and lashed out my feet, but the awful hammering continued, there was not much pain, but even though the numbness i knew they were hurting me and i was suddenly sure i was going to die, i was still conscious and the knowledge that i was being kicked to death in a Puerto Rican jungle for $ 11.50 filled me with such terror that i began to scream like an animal"

Notable American "Pulp Fiction" writer Jim Thompson's psychological tale of a psychopathic serial killer, published first in 1953, at that time the idea of such monsters existing in our midst is quite shocking and hard to believe.

But a dozen Ted Bundy's, Charles Manson and Jeffrey Dahmer later, the public have grown accustomed to such evil men that walk the Earth as if they wouldn't hurt a fly.

"Wouldn't hurt a fly" Just like Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford, a man everybody looked up to, as the defender of peace in a small county in Texas. Lou Ford is appreciated by his boss and the town's citizenry, but hidden beneath that philosophical gestures and image of the law and the badge that he carries, Lou Ford carries something more sinister, more evil that only the past can betray.

It seems that as the body count rose, and nobody is a likely suspect. Lou Ford begins to think that people around him are suspecting him of the recent crimes being committed in his small county. Is Lou Ford capable of this crimes?

It seems that a "sickness" from the past, long been absent has resurfaced and this time there won't be any family to look after and cover up for him. As Lou Ford tries to act as the Sheriff in charge of solving the mysterious crimes another part of him tries to cover up by killing anybody and he means anybody who would at least dig up some dirty secrets from beyond.

 

"The Killer Inside Me" as Stanley Kubrick's blurb on the cover says "probably the most chilling first person criminally warped mind (written)".

Frightening indeed it was. The coldness of the narratives, the brutality that the character displays are enough to make you drizzle in sweat. One doesn't need further to be reminded of the evil and sickness that lingers around us, one just have to pick this book and read it cover to cover. And i dare you, you won't look up at a friendly neighbor, teacher, boss at work the same way ever again.