December 2011
2 posts
Razer Nostromo review →
Nice write-up on the Razer Nostromo. Been looking at this for Star Wars: The Old Republic.
3 tags
Halo: The Art of Building Worlds
I suck at first-person shooters. There, I said it.
That being the case, I have only a passing knowledge of the Halo universe. Its impact on the gaming industry is obvious, and my two younger brothers are avid fans of the series—but my knowledge pretty much ends there.
Perhaps it was that more than anything that made me jump at the opportunity to review Halo: The Art of Building Worlds....
November 2011
1 post
3 tags
DC's New 52 Week 11
Grifter #3, Suicide Squad #3, Demon Knights #3, Mister Terrific #3
Unfortunately, it’s time to start cutting titles from the pull list—and this week it’s a 50/50 split. Tune in to see which titles made it (and which ones got the axe)!
October 2011
6 posts
2 tags
Star Wars: The Blueprints
I love spaceships. When I saw Star Wars for the first time, I didn’t want to be a Jedi—I wanted to fly an X-wing.
For that reason above all others, I was downright giddy to hear the announcment of Star Wars: The Blueprints.
There’s much more than spacehips, of course; these technical drawings detail the Star Wars saga at its planning stages, ranging across all six films.
...
3 tags
DC's New 52, Week 8
Justice League #2, Batman #2, Nightwing #2, Red Hood and the Outlaws #2
I missed these titles the first round, so I’m playing catch up with Justice League, Batman, Nightwing, & Red Hood and the Outlaws. Tune in for my take on Gotham Week (with a side of Justice).
3 tags
DC's New 52, Week 7: Grifter #2, Demon Knights #2,...
Grifter #2 - Cole Cash has some serious problems; namely, voices in his head and an APB for his arrest. But the real question is, will this story pick up before I decide to drop it?
Demon Knights #2 - Looks like Demon Knights is going to be more of a team book than previously thought. That could pay off in the long run, but right now it’s a little muddled.
Mister Terrific #2 - Michael...
1 tag
Sherlock Holmes: The Breath of God
Sherlock Holmes is everywhere lately. There’s the Guy Ritchie film, BBC’s Sherlock (which is excellent, by the way)—it’s even infiltrated my comics circle in the form of Daniel Corey’s Moriarty.
In short, my interest has been piqued. Mystery may not be my normal genre, but Holmes is a classic all to himself, and as a result I’ve been reading Doyle’s...
3 tags
DC's The New 52: Batwing #2, Men of War #2,...
This week marks the first round of #2’s for DC’s New 52. My picks for this week:
Batwing #2 - Massacre is still on the loose, but Batwing isn’t out of the fight just yet.
Men of War #2 - Sadly, Men of War hasn’t made good on its promise of soldiers vs. metahumans. Tune in to find out why this title gets the axe.
Huntress #1 - Paul Levitz and Marcus To may have the...
2 tags
Captain Nemo: The Fantastic Adventures of a Dark...
A few weeks ago I received what I thought was Kevin J. Anderson’s latest book, Captain Nemo—only to find that it’s actually just the latest edition (originally published in 2002—a new edition from Titan Books is in stores now). I do try to keep up with these things, but the guy’s written over 100 novels—I’m not beating myself up too much.
So just in...
September 2011
4 posts
3 tags
DC's New 52 Week 3
The New 52 continues! My picks for this week:
Grifter #1 - Cole Cash is happy to simply part fools from their money, but what happens when he starts to hear voices that no one else can?
Demon Knights #1 - King Arthur’s court has fallen, and Merlin has merged the demon Etrigan with an unprepared Jason Blood. Why? Only Merlin knows…
Suicide Squad #1 - Hardened criminals pressed into...
3 tags
DC's The New 52 Week 2
It’s Week 2 for DC’s New 52, and the first big release day. Hot this week are Detective Comics #1 (the first official Batman comic of the relaunch) and Batwing #1, the Batman of Africa.
Also up: Justice League International #1 begins the United Nations’ answer to the Justice League, while Dan DiDio & Keith Giffen pay homage to Jack Kirby with O.M.A.C. #1 and DC’s war...
3 tags
DC Comics' The New 52: Justice League #1
It’s finally here—for better or worse, DC Comics has relaunched their entire universe into The New 52. Justice League #1 is the first collaboration between writer Geoff Johns and superstar artist Jim Lee—and the first issue of the whole New 52.
2 tags
The Omen Machine - Terry Goodkind
In discovering that Terry Goodkind was writing another Sword of Truth novel—excuse me, anotherRichard & Kahlan novel—I had some mixed feelings. Like many people, I really enjoyed the first few books, but by the sixth or seventh book I’d checked out (although I still read a couple past that).
When Goodkind began the series, it almost seemed he wasn’t sure he’d...
August 2011
3 posts
2 tags
Ernest Cline Interview: Ready Player One
Hopefully by now you’ve read my review of Ready Player One and picked up a copy of your own—but if not, why not hear it straight from the horse’s mouth?
The wife and I attended Ernie’s first book signing at Houston’s Murder By The Book on Monday and got a chance to talk with him about Ready Player One, Fanboys, and why only one man could perform the audiobook of...
2 tags
Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
In the year 2044, the world is a pretty grim place. The oil’s run out, the planet’s a mess—you know the drill.
But then there’s OASIS: a virtual reality MMO that’s grown into something more akin to Second Life. Sure, you can work or go to school there—but in your off-hours you can also fly an X-wing through space, find and complete countless quests, or shake...
2 tags
Diversity, Originality, and Hand-Me-Downs: A Look...
The big news at DC is The New 52, a complete relaunch of the superhero line, with each title returning to #1. Like many folks, I’ve become a little disenfranchised with mainstream superhero stories, but I’m cautiously optimistic. However, I find the constant reminders that DC is committed to Diversity somewhat curious.
For the record, I’m pro-diversity. What I don’t...
July 2011
1 post
2 tags
The Last Four Things - Paul Hoffman
Warning: The Last Four Things is the second book in a series. Spoilers for The Left Hand of God ahead.
Last June I reviewed The Left Hand of God, the first installment in Paul Hoffman’s trilogy. It had its flaws, but I really enjoyed the dark view of the world and the atypical protagonist, Thomas Cale.
Many reviewers found Cale to be unlikeable, but I found him fascinating; raised in an...
June 2011
3 posts
1 tag
Outer Limits meets Sandman in Roddenberry's Days...
You hear a lot about “missing time” with alien abductions and whatnot, but did you know the British Empire actually jumped ahead 11 days in the 1700’s?
I didn’t either, but according to Warren Ellis’s foreword that’s exactly what happened. It’s got to do with calendar specific gobbledy-gook, but the takeaway is this:
What if we actually DID have...
1 tag
Author Interview: Daniel H. Wilson Talks About...
Fair Warning: Minor spoilers for Robopocalypse ahead. If you haven’t read it yet, check out my review here.
I love author signings. Getting a chance to hear an author speak and possibly interact with him/her always adds another layer of enjoyment to the book—one that you can’t get from Twitter or a YouTube interview.
So Wednesday night, I headed down to...
2 tags
Robopocalypse - Daniel H. Wilson
If you’re thinking the name Robopocalypse says it all, you’re not wrong—but that doesn’t stop it being a fun romp through the not-so-distant future.
You may have already heard of Robopocalyse—it’s gotten some press over the film rights being snatched up by DreamWorks before the novel was even finished (Steven Spielberg is already signed on to direct)....
April 2011
1 post
2 tags
Star Wars Invasion Volume 2 - Rescues
Star Wars Invasion Vol. 2 - Rescues is Dark Horse’s latest installment in the New Jedi Order era—namely, the invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong.
When I flipped through the first trade paperback last year, I was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t particularly care for the NJO series from Del Rey—nineteen novels was spreading the story incredibly thin, for my taste—so it was all...
December 2010
1 post
2 tags
In Stores Now: The Art of Tron: Legacy
I have to give Steven Lisberger, Syd Mead, Moebius and the other designers of Tron immense credit. In 1982, before most people had desktops, they imagined a world where people would go live in alternate realities as avatars, and today we find ourselves in a world of Second Life and MMOG’s. The world they imagined—it has happened.”
—Sean Bailey, Producer
It’s...
October 2010
2 posts
2 tags
The Black Prism - Brent Weeks (Lightbringer...
If you’re a Sci-Fi/Fantasy geek like me, you’ve probably seen Brent Weeks around at Ye Olde Bookstore. Orbit Publishing did something interesting with Week’s debut series, the Night Angel Trilogy, by releasing all three in consecutive months. Fantasy fans are used to long waits between books, so for me, that was a pretty cool move.
I feel obligated to admit I haven’t...
1 tag
Sci-Fi Art Now - John Freeman
Normally when I pick up a book about Sci Fi or Fantasy art, I get one of two things: curvaceous women in chain-mail bikinis or 150 pages of spaceships. So for me, Sci-Fi Art Now was quite the find.
The book starts out with an foreword by veteran sci-fi artist Chris Foss and an introduction by the author, John Freeman. Foss gives a personal history on his career, where Freeman’s...