Pneumatised!

It’s actually been a while since I’ve read much fiction. The month of June was a busy month. Following is a list of novels I read between February and probably around April:

The Laughing Corpse (an Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novel) by Laurell K. Hamilton
Year of the Unicorn by Andre Norton
Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Ancestors of Avalon by Diana L. Paxson
Dime Store Magic by Kelly Armstrong
The Spell Sword (published in the omnibus, The Forbidden Circle) by Marion Zimmer Bradley

And, some of my favourite graphic novels:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Retreat (season 8 – volume 6)
Fallen Angel: Reborn (It guest-starred Illyria! )
Angel: Only Human
Angel: Last Angel in Hell (Angel volume 6)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is published by Dark Horse Comics while Angel and Fallen Angel are published by IDW.

My current fiction reading list is:
The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Bitten by Kelley Armstrong (I rather liked Dime Store Magic, but am curious as to how well she can write as different characters since she writes in first person)
Crossroads of Twilight (book ten of The Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan
Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh
A Storm of Swords (book three of A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R.R. Martin
Gormenghast (the sequel to Titus Groan) by Mervyn Peake
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (I am on part three of book two, page 443)
The Transition of Titus Crow (published in Brian Lumley’s Mythos Omnibus) by Brian Lumley (or possibly Necroscope seeing as I enjoyed Lumley’s writing, I am curious if I might like his other series as well)
Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn

I find I rather like the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. It is “smart and sexy” like many reviewers have commented. At the same time, the stories are adventurous mixed with a little bit of mystery, and a certain if morbid sense of humour. One distinction of the Anita Blake series that I like is that vampires have rights. It’s an interesting premise that subtly creates a different world for an urban fantasy series. It also provides some real food for thought about how we determine who has rights. I personally think it goes beyond the tired “life versus death” duality, it’s about conscience and the ability for people, animals, a species to feel pain. But I digress into a topic best left for another time.

Ancestors of Avalon was an interesting enough story. It has a happy ending at the very least, and you probably expect that since it’s about how the Atlanteans arrived on the British Isles. The novel itself starts some time after The Fall of Atlantis, which Bradley actually wrote before The Mists of Avalon. While I liked The Mists of Avalon, I found that The Fall of Atlantis had its own appeal. In many ways, the Atlantis story is darker than the Avalon one, the heroines slightly more tragic. At least that is my sense in comparing the two. Perhaps it’s simply because we know King Arthur is meant to die in the Avalon story, but in the Atlantis story we have no preconceived notions as to what is to happen to the Atlanteans. Arguably, the appeal and success of The Mists of Avalon over The Fall of Atlantis was simply that King Arthur and his sister, Morgan le Fay, are popular mythical characters/legends.

Ancestors of Avalon was meant to bridge the stories of Atlantis and Avalon together. It was written after Bradley’s death by Diana L. Paxson, who co-wrote Priestess of Avalon. There are some differences in Paxson’s writing as compared to Bradley’s. It’s only slight though. It’s actually hard for me to describe the difference because it seems such a slight difference that I can’t put my finger on what exactly is different. Maybe the language is slightly more modern. That’s my best guess for now. If you’re a Bradley fan, maybe you have a different sense about it than me and might have a better way of describing the differences between Bradley’s writing and Paxson’s. I had no real problems reading Paxson, so it’s no big deal to me. Just a curiosity.

After reading Dime Store Magic, which was rather an amusing story, I decided to read Armstrong’s first novel, Bitten, in her series titled “Women of the Otherworld”. Another urban fantasy series like Hamilton’s Anita Blake, Armstrong does not just write about one character, but rather writes about a variety of characters. The first character in the series you are introduced to in Bitten is Elena, a female werewolf – in fact, the only female werewolf. As mentioned, I decided to read Bitten because I wanted to see how well Armstrong writes from another character perspective. So far, I have no complaints, but I have yet to finish reading Bitten.

I’m still trudging my way through Jordan’s The Wheel of Time. I’m on book ten and like many of the previous books, the book is at least 800 pages. I said “trudging”, but don’t get me wrong, I like The Wheel of Time, it’s just sometimes you wonder if Jordan couldn’t have told the story with fewer words. LOL. Really, I’m only complaining because I don’t read as fast as I’d like to, I’m not a speed reader, although I can skim quite well if I’m pressed for time or am searching for something particular in what I’m reading. However, I read fiction for the sheer joy of reading and occasionally I linger over passages for various reasons (amusement at the writing, found something humourous, just can’t believe I read that, and so on). I do like The Wheel of Time story, and like many others, want to know what’s going to happen when the last battle, Tarmon Gai’don, comes. I’m on book ten right now, I have up to book eleven. After that, I might take a break from the series and see if Brandon Sanderson actually finishes the story by book fourteen. There’re a few other books I wouldn’t mind getting around to reading (nevermind the other things I need/want to do).

Currently, I am reading a non-fiction book. Sophie Scholl and the White Rose is an account of a group of Munich University students (in Germany) who were involved in a passive/nonviolent resistance movement against Hitler’s regime. I meant to read this book for a while because I’ve always been drawn to stories about resistance movements since they are usually about the fight for freedom against an oppressive and tyrannical force (government or otherwise). In light of recent events in Canada, I was reminded of the book again and thought I should just read it now. Sophie and Hans Scholl were a sister and a brother who grew up during the Nazi regime. She was twelve and he was just over fourteen at the time of the Nazi takeover. Both were “free-thinkers” having grown up with a liberal-minded father. Later, they would both be part of The White Rose, a passive resistance group hoping to educate fellow students to oppose the Nazi regime. Hans and Sophie Scholl were later executed for treason. One other member of The White Rose was executed along with them, later other members were also executed.

It’s been 65 years since the end of World War 2 and 92 years since World War 1. While I may have grown up with an awareness of how horrible the events of those two wars were (in primary school, we were introduced to some war amputees; the missing legs apparently upset my system so that I actually fainted afterwards – I since have built up a better control over my body so I don’t faint quite so easily, also I ascribe my fainting issues back then to lack of proper nutrition and diet), I fear that over time people will forget and will never understand the horrors of those events. I still remember when Remembrance Day was actually a holiday, but then it changed and although we were still required to go to school on Remembrance Day, the school still held Remembrance Day ceremonies. That eventually changed to simply having a moment of silence at 11 a.m. I have no idea if they even still do that now in school, though the Wikipedia article linked above suggests they do. Yes, I do fear that as we move further away in time from the World Wars, people will never understand how truly terrible it can be to have another one. We have been lucky to not have had another world war for 65 years; yet, at the same time, has this made some people complacent? The threat of oppression from a tyrannical government or regime is never too far away. This threat does not just occur over night, but quietly and subtly. All it takes is the wrong person (or rather, right person depending on how you want to discuss this) to gain a position of power for that person to gradually and subtly make changes that lead toward oppression from a tyrannical government. Then, to end that oppression we will need resistance groups to fight the tyranny, to help spread knowledge and information, we will need resistance groups like The White Rose and many others.

Thus, I am reading Sophie Scholl and The White Rose to remind myself of a time when we didn’t have civil liberties/human rights, to remind myself that throughout history, we will always need the freedom fighters, the resistance groups; otherwise, human civilization is doomed to die, doomed to fail. A thousand years later, will humans still be here? Or will we be a lost civilization? And if a lost civilization, what will be the cause of our ultimate destruction – a war amongst ourselves or devastation from a “natural” disaster that we caused? Either way, we are responsible for whether or not human civilization will continue, if we indeed actually care about it continuing. “What is the meaning of your life?” I ask. Something for my readers to think about.

~~~C

P.S. Yes, I did read The Diary of Anne Frank when I was younger, probably when I was around the age of twelve.

I hadn’t gotten much reading done the past few months. I’ve been busy with a few other distractions. I did get to finish reading two novels that I really wanted to read.

Sharra’s Exile (published in the omnibus, Heritage and Exile) by Marion Zimmer Bradley
A Clash of Kings (book two of A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R.R. Martin

Sharra’s Exile is indeed a nice rewrite of Bradley’s earlier Sword of Aldones. The story is fleshed out more while retaining some of the key plot lines from Sword of Aldones.

I am really enjoying A Song of Ice and Fire, and I have a feeling I might like the third book the best. Without spoiling anything, let’s just say the third book feels like the climax of the first part of the series. (I could be wrong, of course, but that’s my gut feeling about the third book.) After finishing the second book, I had to dig into the third book a bit and read the prologue, which starts with the same storyline as the first book.

I am currently reading Hamilton’s The Laughing Corpse. I have to agree that Hamilton is indeed an imaginative writer. I have to admit that I am at a loss as to who or what the killer is. Vampire? Zombie? Vampires don’t eat brains and zombies don’t have brains to be a smart killer, so who/what could it be that is feeding off people but is leaving no substantial clues? Interesting. I’m about halfway through. So far, I still enjoy Hamilton’s sassy writing style.

My current reading list:
The Laughing Corpse (an Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novel) by Laurell K. Hamilton
Year of the Unicorn by Andre Norton
Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Ancestors of Avalon by Diana L. Paxson
A Storm of Swords (book three of A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R.R. Martin
Gormenghast (the sequel to Titus Groan) by Mervyn Peake
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (I am on part three of book two, page 443)
The Spell Sword (published in the omnibus, The Forbidden Circle) by Marion Zimmer Bradley

What’s next on my reading list:
Crossroads of Twilight (book ten of The Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan
The Transition of Titus Crow (published in Brian Lumley’s Mythos Omnibus) by Brian Lumley (or possibly Necroscope seeing as I enjoyed Lumley’s writing, I am curious if I might like his other series as well)
Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn

~~~C

I’ve been doing a lot of reading again. Mostly trying to get through a stack of books that were piling up again. I really should try to avoid the used bookstore sometimes, but it’s always fun finding a good deal on something that turns out to be a gem.

Comics have really come a long way since I was younger. I hated comics when I was a kid. There were mostly the superhero comics and I was not that much a fan of those. Plus, I never cared for that artwork back then (though it is my understanding they didn’t have a good range of colours then as they do now). I am still keeping up with the Buffy and Angel comics. Not only do I like the Buffy stories, I like the art in this series. Joss Whedon has a good eye for style.

I’ve loved Star Wars since I was a kid. I am enjoying Dark Horse’s collection of Star Wars comics that they published since the 1990s. You can see a gradual change in colours being used in the art over the years. The newer stuff definitely looks better.

Recommended comics:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Predators and Prey (Season 8, volume 5)
Angel: Aftermath (Angel volume 5)
Star Wars Omnibus: Tales of the Jedi (volumes 1 and 2)

Here’s a list of novels I read recently:

Winter’s Heart (book nine of The Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan
The Heritage of Hastur (published in the omnibus, Heritage and Exile) by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Rogue Squadron (book one of Star Wars: X-wing) by Michael A. Stackpole
The Burrowers Beneath (published in Brian Lumley’s Mythos Omnibus) by Brian Lumley
Life, the Universe, and Everything by Douglas Adams
Ralestone Luck by Andre Norton

Finally, onto book ten of The Wheel of Time. Book twelve, called The Gathering Storm, is finally in print. It will be a while before it is in paperback, but that’s okay as I have two books to read to catch up. Meanwhile, I am making my way through Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. While I really like Jordan’s epic, I find Martin’s epic more mature and I rather enjoy his writing more. Martin is technically a much better writer than Jordan, but I do like both stories for different reasons.

Heritage of Hastur was a good read. I can see why many consider it to be Bradley’s best Darkover novel. The next Darkover novel on my list is Sharra’s Exile, Bradley’s re-write of her earlier Sword of Aldones.

Rogue Squadron is part of the Star Wars: X-Wing series of novels. It has been said by some readers to be the best Star Wars series in novel form after the Thrawn stories written by Timothy Zahn. Rogue Squadron introduces a new Star Wars character, Corran Horn… er, correct that, Horn was introduced in the Rogue Squadron comics by Dark Horse. But if you didn’t read those, then this will introduce you to Corran Horn. Corran Horn and Wedge Antilles (along with Tycho Celchu from the comics) seem to be the primary characters of this novel and series. Star Wars fans will remember Wedge Antilles from the first Star Wars movie. Since Return of the Jedi, Antilles becomes the leader of Rogue Squadron and is considered to be a living legend among pilots. I did enjoy this novel (probably because I would love to be a space pilot). For it’s medium length (under 400 pages), it introduces a complicated background story and is filled with interesting new characters. Book two of this series is called Wedge’s Gamble and I am wanting to read that sometime. Before that though, I will be reading the second book in the Thrawn trilogy, Dark Force Rising.

Brian Lumley’s Mythos Omnibus has been sitting around home for a while. Nathan read that a while back and it seemed interesting to me. Out of a desire to read some fantasy horror, I started to read the first book in the omnibus. Lumley has taken the Cthulhu mythos from Lovecraft and created a wonderful Holmesian atmosphere to go with the horror elements of Cthulhu. The main character of the story is Titus Crow, who maintains an interest in occult subjects and begins investigating evidences of Cthulhu. His sidekick, Henri-Laurent de Marigny, is very much like Conan Doyle’s, Dr. Watson. I found I really enjoyed Lumley’s writing and this story. I’ve been interested in the Cthulhu story for awhile so I thought this might be amusing. Having read Lovecraft’s short story, The Call of Cthulhu, I felt that Lumley’s take on the Cthulhu myth is in line with Lovecraft’s original ideas. The added Holmesian atmosphere is a plus for me since I did enjoy the Sherlock Holmes stories when I was younger.

What can I say about Douglas Adams that hasn’t been said? Hilarious. I particularly like “bistromathics”! Brilliantly funny.

Ralestone Luck is Andre Norton’s second published novel, published in 1938. I found a used copy of it, but you can read this novel online at The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ralestone Luck, by Andre Norton. It is an amusing little adventure/mystery story. Norton is a good writer and will get you absorbed in the story quickly.

Here is my current reading list:

Gormenghast (the sequel to Titus Groan) by Mervyn Peake
A Clash of Kings (book two of A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R.R. Martin
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (I am on part three of book two, page 443)

As mentioned, I am trying to make my way through Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. I haven’t gone back to War and Peace yet, since I rather enjoy my fantasy novels more. Along with Martin’s novel, I am making my way through Gormenghast, which is set on a fantasy world of its own. I think I am still wrapping my head around the gothic eeriness of Mervyn Peake’s story. It is also morbidly humourous. Don’t read it unless you like dark comedies, but the writing is brilliant and you would be sorely missing out if you don’t read it. Gormenghast, as I mentioned before, is the sequel to Titus Groan. This novel should be an interesting read if you are curious as to what happens to Titus as he grows up.

What’s next on my reading list:
Sharra’s Exile (published in the omnibus, Heritage and Exile) by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Crossroads of Twilight (book ten of The Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan
The Transition of Titus Crow (published in Brian Lumley’s Mythos Omnibus) by Brian Lumley (or possibly Necroscope seeing as I enjoyed Lumley’s writing, I am curious if I might like his other series as well)
Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn

Aside from reading novels, I’ve gone back to studying Korean. I started it a while back, but didn’t get too far. I decided that to help me study, it would help to be able to type Korean since I like to make notes on the computer. I installed scim onto my Debian laptop and it works wonderfully. I even have Chinese and Japanese language inputting available if I ever need. When I get a chance sometime I will check out which Chinese inputting layouts work best for learning how to write Chinese characters, but it’s Korean studying for now.

안녕히 가세요!
(“Annyǒnghi kaseyo” which means “goodbye” and is spoken by the person who is staying to someone who is leaving)
~~~C

I actually hadn’t had much chance to read a whole lot the past few months. I needed to get a new laptop and since then was spending some time updating my Linux knowledge and skills. I still haven’t finished reading the “Linux bible” aka Linux: The Complete Reference (6th edition) by Richard Petersen. It is a fairly comprehensive reference book on Linux in general covering everything from beginner to advanced topics in Linux.

Fiction-wise, here’s what I got to read:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus Volume 7
Angel: After the Fall (volume 4)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Three Against the Witch World by Andre Norton
The Door Through Space by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Here is my current reading list:
Winter’s Heart (book nine of The Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan
Rogue Squadron (book one of Star Wars: X-wing) by Michael A. Stackpole
The Heritage of Hastur (published in the omnibus, Heritage and Exile) by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Keeper’s Price by Marion Zimmer Bradley and the friends of Darkover (a Darkover anthology of short stories)
Gormenghast (the sequel to Titus Groan) by Mervyn Peake
A Clash of Kings (book two of A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R.R. Martin
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (I am on part three of book two, page 443)

I am still not sure what I think of the Witch World series by Andre Norton. The world is intriguing enough and it is clear that the author has carefully thought out the story and the fantasy world. I find I like Norton’s way of story-telling and tend to feel compelled to keep reading, even if I may not like any of the characters. Perhaps though, that is indeed the mark of a good storyteller. I will be reading more Witch World novels. In fact, I acquired quite a few of them. Recently, there were plenty of Norton novels at the used bookstore (BMV!)

The Door Through Space by Marion Zimmer Bradley is an amusing little story. I believe she wrote this around the same time she wrote her first Darkover novels, and I am hypothesizing that she intended to write more stories taking place in the overall universe that encompasses Darkover, but it turned out Darkover was more popular and readers wanted more about Darkover, so it was Darkover stories she ended up writing more about. The Door Through Space takes place on a planet with a red sun – not Darkover, but Wolf. Seeing that Wolf has a red sun, and it is mentioned at one point that they trade for horses from Darkover, I am assuming Wolf is in the same solar system as Darkover. The story also mentions Vainwal, a planet mentioned in the Darkover novels as well. I feel that The Door Through Space is proof that Bradley envisioned a much larger universe than just Darkover and the Terran Empire, and I find myself curious about how many more stories could be told related to Bradley’s Terran Empire. Indeed, it provides much to think about in relation to a story idea I am still mulling over. (I have more than one story idea!)

In any case, I enjoyed The Door Through Space. The main character amused me and even some of the side characters were quite amusing. Bradley tends to write a few of her characters with their own sense of “honour code”, characters who are quite independent and intelligent. I think this novel by Bradley is well worth reading. It is short, about 180 pages with medium font, so the only thing preventing you from reading this novel is failing to find it somewhere used.

I am currently reading Winter’s Heart. I’d like to finish it before winter sets in.

~~~C

I recently decided to make my reiki manuals one and two available for purchase through lulu.com. If you’re interested in reiki, already a practitioner, or a reiki teacher, you should find my reiki manuals interesting to read. It is a blend of Western reiki and Japanese reiki based on the training I received in Western reiki and my research into Japanese reiki. Only manuals one and two are available right now. I am still working on the third manual. I put it aside about a year and a half ago as I was mulling over some things in my head. In any case, I hope to get that done by the end of this year and will be putting that on lulu.com. I also have a “regular book” that I am planning to write on reiki that I hope will catch a wider readership. To see everything I have published on lulu.com, go to my storefront – http://stores.lulu.com/brighidsflame.

Because I could not decide on the covers I wanted for the manuals I opted for two different covers for each manual. There are also two different binding versions for each manual. You may purchase a spiral bound version or a perfect bound version. The spiral bound version is ideal for note-taking and studying. The perfect bound version is great as a reference copy. Both versions are 8.5″x11″.

Here are the two different covers for reiki manual one:

and for reiki manual two:

To quickly purchase one of my manuals, use the buttons below. They will put the manual directly into your lulu.com shopping cart.

Click this button if you want to purchase reiki manual one (cover 1, spiral bound version)

Click this button if you want to purchase reiki manual one (cover 2, spiral bound version)

Click this button if you want to purchase reiki manual one (cover 1, perfect bound version)

Click this button if you want to purchase reiki manual one (cover 2, perfect bound version)

Click this button if you want to purchase reiki manual two (cover 1, spiral bound version)

Click this button if you want to purchase reiki manual two (cover 2, spiral bound version)

Click this button if you want to purchase reiki manual two (cover 1, perfect bound version)

Click this button if you want to purchase reiki manual two (cover 2, perfect bound version)

A little note regarding my decision to self-publish my manuals:

Why is self-publishing better than the traditional mass-market publishing? The reason I chose to self-publish is that the majority of the revenue goes to the me as the author. If you appreciate the value of what I personally put into writing my books, you will like the fact that what you are paying goes to me rather than the “middleman”, that is, the retailers. Through lulu.com 80% of the net income (sale price minus manufacturing costs) goes to me, 20% goes to the lulu.com. Contrast that with mass-market publishing, where the retailer marks up the price by at least double their costs. This is the formula for selling retail:

Manufacturing costs plus author’s revenue (that would be the royalties I’d want) plus retail markup (this is double manufacturing costs plus author’s revenue) = sales price

Contrary to what some people may believe, books published on the mass-market aren’t necessarily better books than self-published books. (The gods only know how many books I put back on the shelf after flipping through them.) By supporting independent publishers like myself, you are encouraging people who honestly love to write. Part of the reason there are so many pointless books in the retail bookstores is that some people write simply to turn a buck or two. It’s very annoying. So please, please support independent publishers! Thanks.

~~~C

Ah… it’s been another busy couple of months.

Here’s a couple of novels I finished reading recently:
30 Days of Night – Rumours of the Undead by Steve Miles and Jeff Mariotte
A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton

and a couple of comics:
30 Days of Night – Return to Barrow
Buffy – Time of Your Life (Season 8, volume 4)

Following is a list of books that I’ve started reading:
Winter’s Heart (book nine of The Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan
Three Against the Witch World by Andre Norton
Gormenghast (the sequel to Titus Groan) by Mervyn Peake
Rogue Squadron (book one of Star Wars: X-wing) by Michael A. Stackpole
A Clash of Kings (book two of A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R.R. Martin
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (as of today, I am on part three of book two, page 443)
Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

I mentioned that I was putting a few books aside for now. I think for now I am putting Ursula LeGuin’s Always Coming Home aside for now. I think it will be more likely that I will read either The Left Hand of Darkness or The Dispossessed before I finish Always Coming Home when I get back to reading LeGuin novels.

Here is a review of The Sum of All Men (book one of Runelords) by David Farland:

I didn’t actually finish this book because I was disappointed with the story line so far. I think I read the first 100 pages or so. I don’t really buy into the scenario of people seeing how great and glamourous Raj Ahten is to the point that they decided to throw down their weapons and surrender to him. I sort of feel cheated, like he copped out of having to write a decent battle scene between the two armies (which seems strange to me as the overall writing is decent enough).

Then, there is the supposedly “strong” heroine who verbally threatens to risk her life by taking up arms in the battlefield if it was required, but deep inside wouldn’t really. For someone who trains in martial arts and lives its philosophy, suffice it to say the heroine of the novel was a big disappointment for me. Clearly, the author thinks some women can look strong, but really must not be that strong mentally or physically in reality.

I really enjoy George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time much better than this novel. Seeing as I still have some ways to go with Martin’s series, still have to catch up with Jordan’s series, and have a few other books that might be more interesting to read than Farland’s, I doubt I will be inclined to finish reading this novel by Farland any time soon.

30 Days of Night – Rumours of the Undead was a decent story. The story isn’t going to be anyone’s favourite, and it really should be read as part of the 30 Days of Night continuity. The overall 30 Days of Night series is intriguing. I will have to see how well I like it after reading through a few more of the graphic novels.

A Kiss of Shadows (book one in the Merry Gentry series) has Hamilton’s typical flair for sarcasm, humour, and adventure that is familiar from her Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series. The difference is that the Merry Gentry series is more romantic in nature and very sensual (to put it mildly). I am more interested in this series for Hamilton’s depiction of the faery world. So far it is intriguing and she has built a full world with lots of different, not just characters, but species. Intriguing.

Yay, Buffy! What can I say? I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer – the ultimate kick-ass girl. But what happens when Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Fray the Vampire Slayer? Oh no! Time warp! If you are a Buffy fan and haven’t been reading the season eight comics, you really should pick up Time of Your LIfe (volume four of Buffy season 8). I love the art in this series and the whole series is overseen by Joss Whedon. This is stuff you wouldn’t have seen in a TV series.

And speaking of Buffy, I finally got the last Buffy Omnibus – volume 7. “Oh happy happy joy joy!”

I recently went back to reading Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time. I’m on book nine, Winter’s Heart. I am a little more than a third of the way through, but then got into another one of those crazy writing phases where I write almost non-stop and my brain keeps jumping topics so I have to accomodate by working on more than one writing thing at a time. (Yes, my brain really does work that way sometimes. Some days I wonder that I make any sense at all!)

~~~C

Reading time again!

For some reason, I went on a phase of reading graphic novels. Here are the graphic novels I read recently:

Anita Blake: First Death by Laurell K. Hamilton
Watchmen
Fallen Angel – To Serve in Hell (volume 2, IDW comics)
Fallen Angel – Back in Noire (volume 3, IDW comics)
30 Days of Night – Dark Days and Annual 2004
Star Wars Omnibus: Rise of the Sith
Spike: After the Fall
Angel: After the Fall (volume 3)

I really liked the Anita Blake character, so chances are likely I will read the novels, but first I wanted to see how well I like Hamilton’s Merry Gentry character. That series, starting with A Kiss of Shadows, is about a faerie who is working as a private investigator in the human world. Anite Blake: First Death is a new story by Hamilton and is only available in as a graphic novel.

Yes, I admit I am one of those who had to read Watchmen after they decided to make a movie based on it. More than that though, it is pegged as the graphic novel to read if you’ve never read one before so I figured I should read it. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to read it before seeing the movie, but that’s okay. There has been differing opinions about the movie versus the book, but I thought both were equally good. The graphic novel has a certain appeal to graphic novel readers and the movie has a certain appeal to movie-goers. I found the story in the movie did not change a whole lot from the graphic novel and in that regards it was well made and Allen Moore should be happy that the movie didn’t change the story too much. (Yes, I have heard of his comment that if he wanted Watchmen to be a movie he would have written it as a screenplay and not as a graphic novel (or something to that effect), but he didn’t so whatever… he should stop grumbling because now he’s making even more money having movies made and having new people introduced to his graphic novels. Consider the movies to be marketing for the graphic novels.) In any case, I recommend reading and watching Watchmen. Although I am not particularly fond of the ending of the story, I think the story makes some very good points about society. The story is most definitely a commentary on our society, the nature of humans, and why we want to believe in superheroes so much.

Fallen Angel is another graphic novel series that I particularly like. The series was first published by DC comics. DC published 20 issues of the series, then the series was moved to IDW comics. The IDW run is complete now at 33 issues. The story will continue in July as Fallen Angel: Reborn. It will guest star a favourite character from the Buffyverse – Illyria! If you’re a Buffy/Angel fan like I am, you won’t want to miss a story involving both Fallen Angel and Illyria.

30 Days of Night is an interesting graphic novel series. The first volume has an interesting storyline and a movie was made based on the first volume. If you haven’t seen the movie, you might want to check it out. It’s a little fantastical, a little violent, and a little “ew… gross!”, but it’s a vampire story. The vampires have decided to take over Barrow, Alaska since the town experiences polar night. In the story, the sun does not rise for 30 days (in the real Barrow, Alaska the sun does not rise for 67 days, according to Wikipedia). When the sun sets, chaos ensues (of course!) and people are trying to survive the 30 days of night while the vampires roam the town. Dark Days is the continuation of the story and the Annual 2004 has some short stories and introduces the character Agent Norris who is part of the 30 Days of Night: Rumours of the Undead novel, which I am planning on reading.

I am rather enjoying the Star Wars omnibus graphic novels. Rise of the Sith takes place just before The Phantom Menace. The Darth Maul story is particularly violent, but I find it amusing that in graphic novels they can sometimes make you like an “evil” character. There are two stories of Qui-Gon and Obi-wan as well as a short story about a female bounty hunter. The story, “Jedi Council: Acts of War” is my favourite story in this collection.

Ah.. Spike! What girl can resist the charms of Spike? Not even Buffy could, given some time. Spike: After the Fall tells the story of what happened to Spike immediately after the last episode of Angel. Angel: After the Fall (volume 3) is out now and continues the story from volume 1. According to IDW Publishing, both Spike: After the Fall and Angel: After the Fall graphic novels have made the New York Times best-seller lists.

Here are the novels I’ve read recently:

The Fall of Atlantis by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. LeGuin
Star Wars – Heir to the Empire (book one of the Thrawn Trilogy) by Timothy Zahn
The World Wreckers by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Web of the Witch World by Andre Norton

Bradley once again has created some memorable characters in The Fall of Atlantis and an intriguing story. It is a novel worth reading.

The Tombs of Atuan is the second novel of Earthsea and I was particularly amused by Tenar. This was quite an amusing story.

Star Wars – Heir to the Empire is the first real Star Wars novel. It is the first novel in The Thrawn Trilogy, and it captures the essence of the original Star Wars trilogy. I found I did not want to put the book down because there was action and adventure one after the next, what I always loved about the Star Wars movies.

Ah… Darkover. I finally got to go back to Bradley’s Darkover novels. I really like these novels. There is a certain hm… “je ne said quoi” about them. I think it might be because they have the same action and adventure feel as Star Wars, but there is also an overall sense of intellectual questioning in the stories. I particularly liked The World Wreckers. Although at the simplest the story is about saving the planet Darkover from destruction (so that others may sweep in and rebuild it for “planetary investment”), Bradley manages to weave a complex tale involving at least seven characters who turn out to be fundamental in saving Darkover.

I found I enjoyed the second novel of Witch World, Web of the Witch World, more so than the first. I think this might be simply because the story picked up pretty fast, but I suppose if you didn’t read Witch World you might not understand fully what was happening in this novel. I think it will be interesting to see how Norton opens up the world she created.

I finally finished reading A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. A brilliant read and much more philosophical than it would seem to the casual peruser. Ah… I still love astronomy. At one time, astronomy and astrology were considered to be the same, astrology being a more difficult study as it involved interpreting what you see in the skies. I do think I am akin to the classical astrologers, such as William Lilly. After I finished reading A Brief History of Time, I studied some astrology, as I find myself doing every so often. I am still making my way through William Lilly’s Christian Astrology. It’s hard to read that book without wanting to have your natal chart in front of you so you can compare it to what Lilly is writing about.

Following is a list of books that I’ve started reading:
30 Days of Night – Rumours of the Undead by Steve Miles and Jeff Mariotte
A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton
A Clash of Kings (book two of A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R.R. Martin
Winter’s Heart (book nine of The Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (as of today, I am on part two of book two, page 384)
Gormenghast (the sequel to Titus Groan) by Mervyn Peake
Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
Always Coming Home by Ursula K. LeGuin

I’ve decided to put these three books aside for now – for various reasons:
Dawnthief (book one of Chronicles of the Raven) by James Barclay
Running with the Demon (book one of The Word and the Void) by Terry Brooks
The Sum of All Men (book one of Runelords) by David Farland

~~~C

It has been just over two months since I last wrote. Sometimes life just gets in the way. It’s hard to write when other issues suddenly become more important and distract you from having any creative thought. Astrologically, it’s called transiting Uranus opposite my Venus in the 4th house. Yikes! Not fun at all. My life was in chaos from January 29th until this week and the only thing I have been able to maintain is training in and helping teach taekwondo. Aside from a few comics, the books I’ve read were mostly read around the end of December and in the month of January.

I read the following books:
Fur Magic by Andre Norton (part of The Magic Books collection)
Witch World by Andre Norton
A Game of Thrones (book one of A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R.R. Martin

and comics:
Star Wars Omnibus: X-Wing Rogue Squadron Volume 2
Star Wars Omnibus: X-Wing Rogue Squadron Volume 3
Fallen Angel (volume 1, DC comics)
Fallen Angel – Down to Earth (volume 2, DC comics)
Fallen Angel – To Serve in Heaven (volume 1, IDW comics)
7 Brothers by John Woo
Y: The Last Man – Cycles (volume 2)
The Hedge Knight by George R.R. Martin
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus Volume 6
Spike vs. Dracula

This list is a list of books that I’ve started reading (though I’ve put a few of them aside for now, and might come back to them later predominantly because other stories seem more interesting to me):
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
The Fall of Atlantis by Marion Zimmer Bradley
A Clash of Kings (book two of A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R.R. Martin
Winter’s Heart (book nine of The Wheel of Time) by Robert Jordan
A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton
Star Wars – Heir to the Empire (book one of the Thrawn Trilogy) by Timothy Zahn
Gormenghast (the sequel to Titus Groan) by Mervyn Peake
Dawnthief (book one of Chronicles of the Raven) by James Barclay
Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
Always Coming Home by Ursula K. LeGuin
Running with the Demon (book one of The Word and the Void) by Terry Brooks
The Sum of All Men (book one of Runelords) by David Farland

Aside from fiction there is some reading I need to catch up on that was set aside over a year ago (I think I last mentioned these on my previous blog in January 2007):
The World’s Religions
China: Its History and Culture
The Meaning of Witchcraft

I also have to finish reading A Brief History of Time. I’ve been reading this off and on over the years – mostly because I kept getting distracted from the book, and partly that for each chapter I read I need to let my poor brain mull over it for a long while… I generally get the gist of what Hawking is talking about, and I am determined to finish this book sometime.

I recommend A Song of Ice and Fire. It is a very mature fantasy series and extremely well written. I think the writing is better than Robert Jordan’s actually, although I like both series very much. I plan on returning to either of those series after I finish reading War and Peace and The Fall of Atlantis. Witch World was pretty interesting. I can see the similarities between Witch World and Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover novels. I plan on reading more Witch World novels (it’s a series of novels set in Witch World) and returning to the Darkover ones when I finish reading The Fall of Atlantis. In case I didn’t mention, The Fall of Atlantis was actually written before The Mists of Avalon, but published after. You might be able to pick up similarities between the characters in the Atlantis story and the Avalon story, and in fact, Ancestors of Avalon is written to bridge the Avalon story with the Atlantis one. Very intriguing the way the mind of Bradley worked.

~~~C

I finished a few more novels the past few months.

First, I read a two more Darkover novels – The Winds of Darkover and The Bloody Sun (expanded edition). I expected by the storyline that I might like these two stories better than Star of Danger, and I did. The Winds of Darkover is a classic “siege and hold people captive” scenario, but the telepathic abilities of the characters adds a nice twist. The Bloody Sun tells the story of a man desperate to find out about his past and who his father and mother were. On his return to Darkover, he gets an unexpected welcome by Darkovans and Terrans alike. Then I finished reading The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (I was halfway through it already), and read The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. I found I didn’t like The Restaurant at the End of the Universe as much as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, though it was an amusing read. I did get a good chuckle regarding where… er, when… to find the “Restaurant at the End of the Universe”. I just love “space-time mucking about” ideas. I followed those books with a short novel by Andre Norton called Star Ka’at World, which is probably written for children, but is still a fun read.

I went back to reading Nightseer by Laurell K. Hamilton. It is her first novel. As it turned out, the story was quite interesting and intriguing. The pacing of her novel is excellent – it keeps moving until the end. I decided that, overall, Hamilton isn’t a bad author. Her stories are fairly intelligent and amusing, and her characters – quite amusing. Her first Anita Blake vampire hunter novel is available in graphic format now. I decided that I would read the graphic novel first to see if I liked the character, Anita Blake, or not (since I liked the art in the graphic novel it wasn’t a waste to buy it). The Anita Blake character is every bit as amusing as the female protagonist in Nightseer. It seems likely I will read Hamilton’s Anita Blake novels at some point. Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter – Guilty Pleasures is published as two graphic novels.

I found a used copy of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, a short story that I’ve been meaning to read. I had it on the computer, but it hurts my eyes to read on the computer for long sprees. I was pleased to get a used copy of Heart of Darkness and I finished reading the story in one day. It has a nice narrative style and you soon find yourself in the “Heart of Darkness”. An eerie story. The movie Apocalypse Now is based on Heart of Darkness. It might be that I should watch that movie sometime plus I’ve heard about it before.

I had been reading the following three novels in rotation since they are all fairly long – The Path of Daggers (book eight of The Wheel of Time), Runelords: the Sum of All Men, and A Song of Ice and Fire: A Game of Thrones. I’ve become disenchanted with Runelords for various reasons. The characters feel stereotypical to me somehow. I’ve put the book aside for now. The writing isn’t bad in the novel, but the characters don’t seem to be realistic to me. In fact, reading Runelords just made me want to read either The Wheel of Time or A Song of Ice and Fire more because they are better stories with more interesting characters. I ended up finishing The Path of Daggers (book eight of The Wheel of Time). Yay! I’m almost caught up with that series – just books nine, ten, eleven, and hopefully the final book in the series will be published in the next few years.

For simplicity’s sake, I’ll just list the books that I have started reading (in some random order):

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
The Fall of Atlantis by Marion Zimmer Bradley
A Game of Thrones (book one of A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R.R. Martin
Running with the Demon (book one of The Word and the Void) by Terry Brooks
Gormenghast (the sequel to Titus Groan) by Mervyn Peake
Dawnthief (book one of Chronicles of the Raven) by James Barclay
Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
Always Coming Home by Ursula K. LeGuin (I really want to read her book, The Left Hand of Darkness.)
The Sum of All Men (book one of Runelords) by David Farland

I started reading War and Peace because I always wanted to read it. I decided that if I can plod my way through eight of Robert Jordan’s books, I can certainly muster my way through War and Peace. It would just be a shame to never read a book I’ve wanted to read before. With the holidays coming up, I figure it was a good time to start it. War and Peace is originally a Russian novel. It was translated into English by two people Tolstoy trusted to covey his story accurately. I have to say the writing is superb and I found it easy to get absorbed into the world of War and Peace. I should mention being literate in French helps too because some dialogue is in French. At the time War and Peace was written, most literate Russians understood French. In the story, the characters converse in Russian and French as the Russian aristocracy would have during that time period. The novel is divided up into four books plus two epilogues. Book one has three parts. I’m almost finished part one of book one. I’m finding the book easy to read because the chapters are fairly short, but overall the writing keeps you captivated. One particular event in the story is quite hilarious. A young man gets drunk one night and ties a police officer to a bear, then tosses the bear into the river for a swim. The young man then gets kicked of Petersberg and sent back to his father in Moscow. (Ah… doesn’t sound too different from young men these days, although we don’t have bears in the city to which we could tie a police officer and then set afloat. ^-^ )

Aside from novels, recently I’ve gone back to studying astrology and the I Ching. I am still making my way through William Lilly’s Christian Astrology. Part three of the book deals with interpreting the birth chart and making predictions. Thus, it is easier to read when you have your horoscope at the ready. Of course, I’ve been reading the book with mine and Nathan’s horoscope in front of me and I’ve been making notes. Thus, it will take awhile to get through this section.

I’ve been meaning to study the I Ching some more. Awhile back, I got a used copy of Richard Wilhelm’s and Cary Baynes’ translation of the I Ching. It was in really good condition. Recently, I found a used copy of Alfred Huang’s translation of the I Ching, also in good condition. I had been looking for that translation used for a while now. Now that I have both these translations I decided to do a comparative study of the translations. Huang’s understanding of the I Ching and its philosophy is superb as he learned about it back in China from a taoist master. I already read Huang’s The Numerology of the I Ching, which has answered questions Western students of the I Ching have had over the years. I also had a used copy of James Legge’s translation of the I Ching, but in comparison to Huang, Legge’s understanding of the I Ching is dismally low. Legge’s translation is too literal and he fails to understand the symbology of the I Ching. Thankfully, with the help of Carl G. Jung, Baynes’ translation of Wilhelm’s translation sheds more light on the symbology of the I Ching. Huang’s knowledge of the I Ching only adds to what we already know and brings deeper understanding and clarity to it. If you are interested in studying the I Ching, I recommend Alfred Huang and the Richard Wilhelm/Cary Baynes translations. (Note Richard Wilhelm translated the I Ching from Chinese to German. Later, Jung asked Baynes to translate Wilhelm’s work into English.)

Time for some more reading!

~~~C