Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road

Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Stalking the Vampire (John Justin Mallory #2) 3Stars

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Title: Stalking the Vampire
Series: John Justin Mallory #2
Author: Mike Resnick
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 223
Words: 74K

Not bad but not great. Mallory runs around Manhattan on Halloween trying to track down a specific vampire. I was hoping that his partner, the old lady who was a hunter, would be part of the story, but aside from getting bit in the neck and hunting with a pack of trolls, she’s not really involved.

There is a funny side character who writes detective novels and he’s always trying to solve the case like his character would. But he gets to find out, along with us the reader, that detecting work is one big slog. There’s no excitement.

Resnick seems to have been an Idea Guy and I think that much like Asimov, if he had stuck to short stories he could have done very well. But writing a novel is a very different beast and while Resnick didn’t suck at it, he still wasn’t that good. Sometimes his ideas carried things, like Santiago, but here, JJ is barely an idea. And it is a slog.

Nothing is bad, it’s just not really good. That seems to be Resnick’s style and I think I’m accustomed to it.

★★★☆☆

From Bookstooge.blog

Mallory’s partner, the hunter lady, has her nephew come visit. He ends up biting her in the neck and it’s revealed that he has been bitten by a vampire and is in the process of turning into one. He disappears so he won’t snack any more on his dear old aunt and it’s up to Mallory and the Gang to find him and help cure him. They find him, dead. So now they have to find the vampire that turned him and then get rid of it somehow. They do, to both. The End.

All of My “Mike Resnick” Reviews

Monday, November 13, 2023

Crystal Rod - MTG 4E

Sunday, November 12, 2023

Angel in the Rain

I am tired and worn out and the week has barely begun. Whooh boy, it’s going to be a long 8 weeks until New Years.

Sense and Sensibility (1995 Movie)

Wow. Just wow. I am pretty wow’ed at the moment. But let me explain, because it does take a bit of explaining, especially with how I’m going to describe things in the following paragraph.

The Book, a fully fledged beautiful woman in flowing period gown. She swishes, she glides, she sits, she pours your tea with aplomb and brings a glow to every room she enters. The 2008 TV Miniseries is a painting of that woman. Beautiful and wonderful and as it hangs on your wall, it brings back wonderful memories of the woman herself. This 1995 Movie is a skilled impersonator. You know it isn’t the Lady herself, but she looks like her, acts like her and carries off her manner and attitudes so that from across a room you could fool yourself into thinking it is her.

Now I realize that might sound like a slur, but in reality, it is the highest complement I can give. This movie has the very bones of Austen’s novel. It has the heart and soul of it. Most of the changes were excisions and I was fine with all of the changes. Why I was ok with the changes in this movie I do not know, but it worked, and it worked very well.

I am sure that some of my comfort with this movie was the amount of actors that not only did I recognize but recognize as very good actors. Kate Winslet was perfect as Marianne. I’m sure part of that was her actual youth (she was a mere 19 at the time) but she also simply brought a very real energy to the role. And yet she didn’t steal the movie. There were too many other wonderful actors. Emma Thompson as Elinor. Hugh Grant as Edward Ferrars. Oh, Hugh carried off the “awkward and stilted” Edward to a t. It was like he had a pebble in his boot and a thistle in his britches. It was exactly as I imagined Edward to be. Then we come to Alan Rickman, playing Colonel Brandon. What an understated performance. In this version, I’d like to mention one of the side characters. Hugh Laurie plays Mr Palmer, a very minor character even in the book. He was a cold, self-centered man and he starts out that way in the movie. He has a silly wife and is either silent or speaking very cutting remarks. But as Marianne’s sickness progresses, Laurie manages to convey a deep well of sympathy and humanity in just a scene of 30 seconds. I just had to nod my head in admiration.

I have to say, I enjoyed this way more than the miniseries. It felt like a perfect movie and it swept me along. I’m extremely happy to have watched this. Now I have to live with myself knowing I’ve got two more movies to watch and neither of them are this one. Mercy on my soul….

Saturday, November 11, 2023

[Art] Flight in the Night

The problem most Heroes find is that the Villain always wants to kill them. It’s just one of those things, like the sun rising in the East. Sure, you can complain, or whine about it, but that doesn’t change a thing.

Thankfully OUR hero, as an outcast pegleg ninja pirate, not only has friends in low places, but also in high places. In this case, VERY high places. Fleeing the Warriors of the Emperor, our hero retreats to the vast uncharted mountainous regions.

Will he return? Will he face the Emperor? This narrator does not know and begs your indulgence for not being able to see the future. “Difficult to see, and in motion always the future is”, as a wise jedi master once said.

Friday, November 10, 2023

[Repost 2023] About

It has been 2 years since I last reposted my “About” page. While it is in a nice obvious place, I know not everyone immediately goes there to find out all the important things about me. I also know that as I change, my About page will change to reflect that. It is also a good reminder for those who have been around awhile who might have forgotten a thing or two.

Here are some things to know about me that might make your interactions a tiny bit easier. If you still have questions, you can always email me:

Bookstoog eat proto nmail do tcom

1) I am a pretty devout Christian. Weird personal mix of Baptist and 7th Day Adventist. To over-simplify it, that means I believe in the Bible literally and I go to church on Saturday instead of Sunday. It also means that it influences what I read, how I read and how I review.

2) I am a Man. I cannot state this boldly enough or enough times. Be prepared. Mancakes Ahead!

3) I like Science fiction, Fantasy, Classics [1900’s and earlier] and mysteries. I’ll read other stuff, but not regularly. As I’ve gotten older, my tastes have broadened though, so chances are pretty good you’ll see more than what I listed there..

4) I tend to read 100+ books a year.

5) Of the 5 Love Languages, [quality time, words of affirmation, gifts, acts of service, or physical touch] my main one is Words of affirmation. Or just words 🙂 Which means that I tend to post and comment quite a bit. I am NOT a once a week poster.

6) To go along with #1, I graduated from a non-accredited Bible school, so I’ve got a working man’s knowledge of how to be a Pastor, just not the actual degree. Or the temperament.

7) I am NOT a people person. People wear me out, even online. Then I say things that later I sometimes regret. Then I need chicken fingers to recover!

8) I am happily married to Mrs Bookstooge. For some reason she really loves me. Weird, huh?

9) If you disagree with something in my posts or reviews, feel free to say so; IF you want to actually have a conversation with someone who disagrees with you. Most times I will try to move such conversations to email.

10) I am a land surveyor. I work outdoors year round in New England. The picture below is of me. It typifies why I like being a surveyor.

Thursday, November 09, 2023

Groo Meets Pal and Drumm (Groo the Wanderer #23) 3.5Stars

Title: Groo Meets Pal and Drumm
Series: Groo the Wanderer #23
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 24
Words: 2K

Hahahahahahahaaa. This was another great entry in the Groo comic. Groo is suckered into putting on fake fights with another warrior and of course, he bungles, every single time.

I thought it showed Aragones’ creativity to be able to think of these “simple” situations and then make comedy gold out of them. It’s not easy to do humor on demand (as shown by almost all of our modern media writers, who are nothing but hacks, at best) but Aragones hasn’t let me down yet.

One thing I don’t think I’ve mentioned about the artwork before is how Aragones manages to draw a scene filled with people and it is busy and full but he shades things in such a way that your eye is drawn to the important part. That takes skill too and I appreciate it. The artist of a comic should be directing the audiences’ eyes and if he’s not, he’s a complete failure of an artist and should be tarred, feathered and run out of town on the rails! (I’m looking at you, modern comic artists who draw 2 page spreads with so much crap going on that the reader gets epilepsy just looking at it!) The following pix is the last page in the comic and I think illustrates this principle perfectly.

★★★✬☆