Just Walkin' Around Lookin' Around

Thinks, Likes and Reviews.

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The Day I lost a Friend

So today is May 25, 2016. There's nothing ground breaking about this day except for some comic fans; Nick Spencer's Captain America #1 came out. Like really came out, as in it was revealed that Cap is a member of Hydra.

I sat on this news all day. I watched it on Twitter, vented my disgust, thought about it more than some people would think a grown man should. I vowed never to read Marvel again, and to return the graphic novels I have checked out. I thought of a bunch of random things to lash out, what I could do to change it.

Then I took a step back. At this point in my life, I have a very real interest in marketing for anything written, and spend a good part of my time writing or researching stories I’m working on, so I’m not a fool. I recognize this is all part of an agenda to sell oodles of comics (and I’m sure it’ll work), and I also know how fluid comics can be. After reading more about it, I’m convinced it’s all going to come out okay, if complicated. Cap is one of Marvel’s flagship characters, and one of their main money makers in the theaters especially. So I relaxed enough to read an article by the guy whose idea it was to right all of this, and see what was behind it. A few things then happened to me.

1.       I cemented my understanding that this is primarily a business and attention gaining story line, and if I give it time, I might not hate the whole world.

2.       I realized Marvel has been part of my life for 32 years, maybe more. I’m not going to be able to walk away that easy.

3.       I cried.

Yes, cried. I’ve loved Spider-Man and Captain America since I was 8, maybe before. I could count in increments of 75 as a kid because that’s what comics cost, and the majority of my allowance went to seeing what Peter and Steve were up to.

But now, this Nick Spencer jerk took this hero, this friend, this someone who has lived in my head for all this time…and he took him away from me. People evolve. People grow apart. But the beauty of fictional characters, of super heroes in particular, is you can hold on to them, you can count on them forever. But Cap is no longer one of them.

I’m not dumb enough to think I actually won’t read the comics, and definitely know myself well enough to realize Marvel will still get my money in the future. But, for now, I’m going to sit here and mourn the loss of an old friend.

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Behold the Bones is a fantastic return to Sticks, Louisiana.

Told primarily from the point of view of Candace Pickens, this book is a lesson is how to paint relationships in a story. Couple that with some excellent world-building and Sticks' unique flavor of magic, and you have one hell of a good read.

I particularly enjoy Natalie's ability to illustrate a characters thoughts in a way we can't help but know exactly how they feel:

"I sweep my light at the level of the water, ready to pee if I spot the flash of eyeshine."

A fun, fast romp that I recommend to anyone who likes fantasy.

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The MAGIC is back! A GATHERING OF SHADOWS hits shelves today. Pirates, princes, magicians, and thieves. Oh my. http://thndr.me/3QPXUG

[angua]

Introverts (x)

[idolprincessrinny]

This helped me understand like all my friends

[noxamoris]

This is 10000% accurate

[weloveshortvideos]

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This had to be shared.

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I'm one of those people who reads to escape. I love going away to a different world, and getting to not be 'here' for a little space of time, and most of my favorite reads do just that. But I've rarely had the pleasure of being grabbed and pulled through an adventure like Six of Crows did to me.

Within minutes of reading this one, I was completely captivated. Leigh's storytelling is fantastic, her world is vast and beautiful in it's intricacies, and the characters are just...real. You spend time in numerous and varied points of view, but unlike some books that attempt this, you never mind. In fact, I almost stopped noticing. The transitions are seamless, and it always moves the story along beautifully. In short the writing is just superb across the board.

In a year of absolutely amazing books, this one stands head and shoulder above most of them. Finish whatever you're reading and go pick this one up next.

5/5 stars. 5.5, if I’m being honest.

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This is a GREAT standalone novella. Full and imaginative, and like most of Sanderson's work, gives you insight into an enormous and complex world. Read it.

[odious]

one of the things the harry potter franchise did right:

not put the movie poster on the cover of the book(s)

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THIS.

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Sometimes you read a book, and the only difficult part about it is writing the review. The temptation even comes up to skip the review, and just rate it; that would be easier. But when a book is as good as Tessa Gratton's last entry into her United States of Asgard series, you just have to let people know about it.

Set in an alternative (way cooler) world where Odin and Thor steer national policy, The United States of Asgard series has a ton of awesome going for it. Creatively interwoven into our own world, the reader is able to escape to a much more magical place, a place where you could not only get a good job or get to serve your country, you might even get the honor of being born a Berserker or earn your way into becoming a Valkyrie. You could get to meet Baldur the beautiful, or be able to help others by seething the direction their lives are heading.  All of these things are fantastic, fun and enamoring. But you hardly notice them, because they are just a setting for the complex and incredibly well written characters.. You will KNOW Tessa's  characters . You will be annoyed by them, you will be mad at them, you will be ashamed at and for them. But most of all, you will love them, because they are all real, and full and oh so human.

The Apple Throne is this idea nearly to perfection - we get to know imperfect characters, and get to love them because of their imperfections. Perhaps best of all, we get to see how we can love others because of the power of her characters and how powerfully they can care for others, even when everything  says they should not, they should be full of anger. I don't feel like I can even iterate how powerfully Tessa pulls this off; let's just leave it at, some of her characters leave me wanting to be a better person, and the bookworm/daydreamer in me just wishes the characters were real so I could actually get to know them.

In a year of amazing books, this is one of my favorites. Do yourself a favor and read it.  

5/5 Stars

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I went into this one not expecting much. The whole 'retelling' idea has fallen a little flat for me in the past, so I was a bit hesitant, and the only reason I started it was it was the only book on my phone at the time. Well, you'd think I'd learn by now that a book with a 4+ rating after 260k reviews would hold up well.

I really like the direction Marissa Meyer went with this. Making her a Cyborg and a mechanic was a unique idea to me, and Marissa was able to spin this whole world while staying remarkably true to the feel of the original fairy tale. The romantic spin was well done, most of the characters had decent depth, and the world was really well fleshed out.

Pick this one up, folks, it's definitely worth your time. I know I'll giving at least book 2 a look down the line.

[superheroesincolor]

Idris Elba Front-runner To Play Roland Deschain In ‘The Dark Tower’

“Sony Pictures and Media Rights Capital may just have found their lead gunslinger for The Dark Tower, the Stephen King novel series set in a world woven with magic and revolving around the gunslinger Roland Deschain. 

I’m told that Idris Elba has emerged as the front-runner to play Deschain. He would square off against Matthew McConaughey, who’s in talks to play the villainous Man in Black. Nikolaj Arcel is directing…

Sony will distribute what is planned to be the first in a series of Dark Tower movies. A complementary TV series is also being developed by MRC….”

Keep reading at deadline

The Dark Tower series tells the story of Roland Deschain, Mid-World’s last gunslinger, who is traveling southeast across Mid-World’s post-apocalyptic landscape, searching for the powerful but elusive magical edifice known as The Dark Tower. Located in the fey region of End-World, amid a sea of singing red roses, the Dark Tower is the nexus point of the time-space continuum. It is the heart of all worlds, but it is also under threat. Someone, or something, is using the evil technology of the Great Old Ones to destroy it.

In Roland’s where and when, the world has already begun to move on. Time and direction are in drift, and the fabric of reality is fraying. However, things are about to get much worse.

Get ‘The Dark Tower’ books here

[ Follow SuperheroesInColor on facebook / instagram / twitter / tumblr ]

[unseenphil]

This is just kinda genius because, like, in the illustrations in the books, Roland’s look was constantly evolving, and usually through a selection of…older action heroes. (Some of the earlier books gave him a pronounced resemblance to Eastwood, some of the later ones were more than a little Bruce Campbell.) Elba would be sort of a natural evolution from that.

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THIS IS THE GREATEST THING EVAH

[rhubarbes]

ArtStation - Older Optima F100, by Khyzyl Saleem

More Digital Custom here.

[salopress-deactivated20230907]

Break often - not like porcelain, but like waves.

survival kit - Scherezade Siobhan (via fur-linedghettos)

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I've loved reading my entire life. My dad claims I taught myself to read. That one day I was able to read the paper back to him, after spending weeks asking questions about words in books and on signs. It wasn't until Jr High though that I realized I also wanted to write. I read a book that was so good, that I connected so well with, I knew I wanted to be able to do that someday, to be able to share a story that rich and full with my friends and family, others if I was lucky. Fangirl just gave me that experience all over again.

At it's base level, Fangirl isn't super complicated. Twin girls go to college, drama ensues, boys are met, mistakes are made, fanfiction is being written. But Rainbow Rowell is freaking ridiculously good in how she delivers it to you. I very quickly forgot I was reading, and just felt like I was part of Cath's world, and could see everything through her eyes. I felt her happiness, her pain, her love of writing, her joy when she triumphed. The characters are all so well fleshed that you just KNOW them.

This book was just a joy to me. Every time I had to put it down, I was tempted to go straight to writing something, anything, in the hopes that I could create something that connects 1/100th as much as Rainbow connects to her readers. This one is going straight to the favorites list, folks.

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I'm going to be quick and to the point with this one.

I don't really like short stories. Actually, I usually hate 3 out of every 5 I attempt, so I just don't attempt them much anymore.

This is a short story. A fantastic one, with a deep, likable bad behaving female lead. I LOVED it. Go buy it.

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I have read a LOT of amazing books this year. I feel like we readers have been particularly blessed by some good books in 2015, and therefore the bar is pretty high across the board for what qualifies as a must read. Well, if you like fantasy at all, this one definitely belongs on that list.

N.K. Jemisin spins an amazing, deep world that has some dark undertones to it and does it in such a way that you are turning pages as fast as you can to find out more about it. There is a unique magic system, several (very, to me) interesting new races and a somehow familiar but new civilization that the reader gets thrown into. The best part is N.K. introduces this world using powerful (and sometimes scary) main characters that are also at their essence so, so human. I've never had my heart break so many times for a character that is so strong before, and its a wonderful, joyous experience. I believe the baseline for loving someone is recognizing how strong they are while knowing exactly where all the chinks in her armor is, what open wounds they carry that can turn them on you; N.K. captures that fantastically.

Sometimes you read a book, and you can just tell how talented the author is, how the sky really is the limit. I believe The Fifth Season to be that type of book. I don't actually buy many books (I work at a library), but I've already purchased two copies of this one. I'll read all of N.K. Jemisin's books in the next year, and I have no doubt that they will all be well worth my time.

Read this one as soon as you can get your hands on it. 5/5 stars.

[fuckyeahcomicsbaby]

Thermohalia

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Holy crap. I don’t know what else to say. This is AMAZEBALLS.