The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

Journey Into Mystery Volume 1: Fear Itself Kieron Gillen, Doug Braithwaite, 2012 (Issues released 2011) Premise: Loki brought destruction down on Asgard, then sacrificed himself to save the world. No one knows why. But Thor still cares for his brother, so he found him (reincarnated as a boy) and brought him home. Young Loki isn’t quite the god who died, but he’s not sure who he is, either. No one trusts him, but as war comes to the Marvel Universe, he will find his own path to walk. This is fabulous. Beautiful, evocative art, clever, intriguing dialogue and narration, twisty, fascinating plots. Oh, this is everything I had heard and more. I have always wanted to love Thor and his supporting cast, it seems it should be a great blend of superheroics, fantasy and high adventure. And I’ve read some that I liked, and some that I disliked, but this? This I loved. This story is set during the Fear Itself crossover from 2011, and you can see the larger plot playing out around the e...

A Christmas Memory Truman Capote, 1956 Crossposted for Mainlining Christmas Premise: A ostensibly autobiographical story about an unlikely friendship. The narrator, known only as “Buddy”, describes his memories of celebrating Christmas with his best friend, an older relative whom no one else seems to understand. This was recommended to me by a friend, and I’m so glad I sought it out. It was just lovely. ‘Buddy’ and the elderly woman called only “my friend” have a lot in common; they are both thought of as strange and they both have a rather whimsical view of the world. The relationship here is touching and sad, you only get little subtle snippets as you follow them through the ritual of making holiday fruitcakes for all the people they like. Not “friends”, but rather shopkeepers and politicians and other public figures; anyone who they feel a connection to or think could use a fruitcake. The larger family seems to be somewhat low-income, but not poverty-stricken. It’s wors...

The Gift of the Magi O. Henry, 1906 Crossposted for Mainlining Christmas Premise: You know. No, really, you've seen or read something based on this story. You know, anything with two people who buy each other gifts but give up something important to do it, making the gift exchange generally somewhat ironic? I told you you knew. I’ve seen so many versions of this story as part of Mainlining Christmas, that it hadn’t occurred to me until yesterday that I’d never actually read the original story. And hey, it’s better than I expected. The style is humorous and playful, with more than a few sly jokes. The story focuses on the wife, Della, and while she’s a bit childish at times, she's also forthright, determined and loving. The ending is much sweeter than I expected. I quite enjoyed reading this. Why am I still talking about it? It’s a short story and it’s Free . Here, read it yourself! http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7256

DCU Holiday Bash (1997) Dennis O’Neil, Walter Simonson, Sal Buscema, Jim Aparo, et. al. This is a pretty fun assortment of stories. First Lois tells a story about Superman’s early attempts at being a hero to a lonely guy on Christmas Eve. I thought the story about Highfather and Orion filling in for a department store Santa was surprisingly awesome. Denny O’Neil’s contribution is a little noir tale about Catwoman rescuing a woman and child who were targeted by mobsters. There’s a humor piece starring Etrigan, and a maybe-too-preachy piece about Green Lantern going after some punks who desecrated a synagogue. Flash shops for a gift for his girlfriend (Reprinted in DC Universe Christmas) and Alfred closes out the issue with a little wordless piece called “Just Another Night”. This is a really solid assortment, and a very enjoyable read. DC Universe Holiday Special (2010) Joey Cavalieri, Tony Bedard, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, et. al. This was much less interesting an iss...

DC Universe Christmas Various Writers and Artists Compilation released in 2000, Issues originally copyright 1940-1999 Premise: A collection of holiday-themed stories from across the first six decades of DC comics. Talk about hits and misses! This is a really interesting read, but it’s not always interesting because it’s good. There is a huge array of styles and quality here. It starts really strong, with a Denny O’Neil Batman tale from 1980 about an ex-con turned mall Santa, and a cute piece from the 90's about Flash (Wally West) shopping for a present for his girlfriend. Then we get a Wonder Woman story from 1943. There’s some historical interest here, but mostly it’s all kinds of horrible. Soon after it is a Teen Titans tale from 1968 with a hokey plot-line and a lot of ‘groovy jive-talking’. There’s a Robin story which is corny, but cute, a Legion of Superheroes bit that’s wild and kinda wonderful. I was really intrigued by a Green Lantern/Green Arrow team-up that...

Letters from Father Christmas J. R. R. Tolkien, 1976, 1999 Crossposted for Mainlining Christmas Premise: This whimsical volume reproduces a series of letters that Tolkien’s children received from “Father Christmas” between 1920 and 1943. This was very interesting, as a student of early fantasy writing and as someone with interest in different ideas of Santa. It is not, however, exciting to read. These letters were clearly never intended to be published. They were purely a gift from a father to his children, and while they are often elaborate and entertaining, there is very little in the way of plot here. Plus we are only getting half the story, as Father Christmas often thanks the children for their letters or answers their questions. The time and skill involved in creating these mementos is obvious. Most letters came with an enclosed drawing, all reprinted in lovely color here. As more characters were introduced over the years, they developed their own writing styles. H...

Marvel Holiday Special (1991) Various Writers and Artists, including Scott Lobdell, Walter Simonson, Dave Cockrum, and many more. There are eight short pieces in this double-size special, plus a selection of art pieces. Some I think might have been reprints, but it’s unclear. They’re a mixed bag, overall. The X-men story is rushed and strange, the Fantastic Four one is kinda nice and kinda heavy-handed. There’s a short Punisher piece with a nice melancholy tone, and a corny-fun Thor piece which is quite explicit about the Asgardians’ roles as gods, and Odin’s connection to Santa. After that is a sweet little story about Captain America meeting Bucky’s elderly sister, and a zany tale about a blind kid who mistakes Ghost Rider for Santa. There’s some badly written Marvel-themed lyrics to be sung to the tunes of various carols, and a farce about Captain Ultra (yeah, I don’t know who he is either.) The issue closes out with a piece about Spiderman visiting a children’s hospital over th...

A Christmas Journey Anne Perry, 2003 Crossposted for Mainlining Christmas Premise: A bunch of rich snobs drive a young lady to suicide at a Christmas party and then make another lady travel to Scotland because she feels guilty. What in the hell did I just read? It wasn’t a romance. It wasn’t suspense. It barely had a plot. I guess it’s tepid historical fiction? It was really odd. I liked the beginning, I thought maybe it was going somewhere. I liked that the main character’s name was Vespasia, that’s dramatic even just to read. However, as the insignificant details mounted, and discoveries came to light about a character who really got very little page time prior to her death, I just couldn’t bring myself to care. There were some almost okay parts where Vespasia reflects on her friendship with Isobel and how it brought them both to the back end of Scotland in the dead of winter (to carry the news of the deceased young lady to her mother). But sadly, most of it was just nav...

Manga Claus: The Blade of Kringle Writing: Nathaniel, Marunas, Art: Erik Craddock, 2006 Crossposted for Mainlining Christmas Premise: One small disgruntled elf plus a large amount of black magic spells trouble for the North Pole. Can even his magic swords help Santa save Christmas now? This was an odd, cute little book. The art was fun, and the story was silly. The beginning was probably the best part, and I wish it had been a story about Santa just hanging out in feudal Japan. I really wanted to like this more; it seems like a cute idea and one of the creators thanked a (sadly now-gone) comic store I’m rather fond of. But it wasn’t great, just fine. The evil magic teddies were cool. The larger plotline of the elf messing with magic worked at times, but the resolution felt really wrong to me. I just don’t have much more to say about this. It was really short. 2 Stars - An Okay Book

Crossposted for Mainlining Christmas Generation X Holiday Spectacular (1995) Scott Lobdell, Chris Bachalo, Mark Buckingham This little story about Generation X (Generation X is a team of teenage X-men, mostly second and third stringers I don’t know much about) intervening in a hostage situation in a Maine town isn’t terribly holiday related except for the snow. And the fact that the narration seems to be done by an elf hiding around the edges of the panels. That doesn’t have any bearing on the story, though. It’s okay, I guess, although the little snippets of characters unconnected to the story are more interesting than the story itself, and the villain seems awfully annoying. Generation X Holiday Special (1998) Joseph Harris, Adam Pollina, et.al. The same super-lame villains strike again, this time trying to kidnap a kid on Christmas Eve who’s only wish for Santa is to not be a mutant. The art is stronger in this one, and there’s some interesting snippets of character st...

The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas Madeline L’Engle, 1984 Crossposted for Mainlining Christmas Premise: Vicky Austin is always excited in December, but there’s a lot more to be excited about this year, since she’s been cast as an angel in the Christmas Pageant, although her Mother is very pregnant, and who knows whether she’ll be home for Christmas! This little short story was.... fine. Cute, even. It’s all from little Vicky’s perspective, so the drama is very small and the solutions are very black-and-white. Oh, no! Mommy might be in the hospital over Christmas! Oh, now she’s being sensibly reassured. Oh no! Vicky is too clumsy to be an angel! Oh, Mom just taught her how to walk with a book on her head, so she’ll be fine. Well, good thing there wasn’t any tension. The title alludes to the Austin family’s habit of doing something “special” every day leading up to Christmas. However, since some of those “special” things are as simple as opening Christmas cards and there isn’t ev...

Deck the Halls Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark, 2000 Crossposted for Mainlining Christmas I found this book on a list of books tagged “Christmas” on goodreads. Apparently the Clarks, mother and daughter, have written a list of novels together all set at Christmas. Premise: Two successful novelists decide to cram all their popular characters together in the space of 200 pages. For Christmas. This book was an absolute mess. As I said above, it appears to be that both women took the protagonists of their successful suspense series and put them in a book together. This book is so short that you don’t get a sense of any of the characters, just told “this is person X and they are a Y” and the fact that you should care about them is assumed. The villains are petty and boring, the heroines sort of useless and bland. There are really useless, dull red herrings, and none of the sundry investigators do anything productive that actually leads to the resolution. On a certa...

I’m going through my collection of holiday-themed back issues, looking at two issues every week until Christmas! Crossposted for Mainlining Christmas The Tick’s Big Yule Log Special 1999 Concept: Ben Edlund, Writer: Marc Silvia, Penciller: Gabe Crate, Inker: Tak Toyoshima In this holiday story, The Tick and Arthur head to New York for a Christmas party at the Superheroes-only Comet Club. Meanwhile, Barry (the wannabe Tick) hires a villain to crash the party so he can ‘save’ everyone and show up the Tick. This is a funny story, although I could have used maybe a couple more pages; it felt quite short. It was a great read though, with a downright heartwarming-ish speech from Tick, and ninjas hiding in the party decorations. The Tick’s Big Yule Log Special 2000 Concept: Ben Edlund, Story: Clay and Susan Griffith, Pencils: Gabe Crate, Inks: Tak Toyoshima The story in this one is called It Came From Outer Space to Ruin Yet Another Christmas. Tick brings Tunn-La (not of this Earth) home fo...

The Battle for Christmas Stephen Nissenbaum, 1996 Crossposted for Mainlining Christmas Premise: Non-Fiction book tracing the origins of American Christmas traditions, with emphasis on the shift from a more public-focused carnival Christmas to a more child-focused domestic holiday. I found this book really interesting, if a bit long. Nissenbaum is a little too enamored of his own narrative, and sometimes doesn’t completely back up his proposals with evidence That said, all of the stuff that is corroborated is really interesting. I most enjoyed the accounts of how Puritans fought the celebration of Christmas and then later, in the early 1800’s, how gift-buying became fully central to the expectations of the season. It was fascinating reading about the creation of “Gift Books”, which became popular very quickly in the mid 1820’s. They may be one of the first products produced specifically to be purchased as a gift, and one of the first items sold to specific demographics created by ma...

The Christmas Basket Debbie Macomber, 2002 Crossposted for Mainlining Christmas Premise: Girl met boy, lost boy, left hometown in a terrible snit, returns years later successful but lonely career woman to face boy, their feuding moms, and Christmas. Wow. Romance is silly. I mean, anyone who says otherwise is just deluding themselves. It's not necessarily bad, but it is darn silly. Particularly this light bit of fluff from noted romance author Debbie Macomber. Apparently Ms. Macomber writes a Christmas book every single year, so a friend suggested she'd be a good choice to spotlight for Mainlining. Why did I read this one? It was available at my local library and it won an award. Simple as that. I flew through this book in a single evening, and most of the details have left my brain already, but for romantic fluff, it wasn't bad. Sure, every single character was a sitcom-level moron and they all deserved the stupid pits they’d dug themselves into, but it was ...

Hear ye, Hear ye! The holiday season is upon us once more, which means that all the lovely books and comics and galleys languishing in my queue to be posted are going to have to wait for a while. Because it’s time for Mainlining Christmas once again! (If you're just joining us now, Mainlining Christmas is the yearly event wherein my husband and I consume potentially lethal amounts of Christmas themed movies, specials and music, and blog about it.) While I’ll be spending the majority of my blogging energy there, never fear! Holiday books and comics will be cross-posted here on the regular schedule. I’ve got a weird bunch of books lined up this year, but if you’re eager, here are some links to holiday-themed reviews of Christmases past: The Atheist's Guide to Christmas A Christmas Carol A Clockwork Christmas Hogfather Holiday Comics Special!

  52 Volumes 1-4 Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucks, Mark Waid, Keith Giffen, et. al., 2007 Collects 52: Issues 1-52 Premise: After the Infinite Crisis, the world is saved, but not without cost. A year passes in the DCU, a year that sees new and old heroes rise to the challenges of a more complex world. 52 was a bit of a grand experiment for DC. It was a weekly book that came out consistently for an entire year, written by a team of their top writers. At the same time that this was coming out, most other books were labeled “One Year Later”, and took place a year after the Infinite Crisis crossover event. 52 aspired to tell the story of the “missing year”, a year in which the big three (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman) went a bit walkabout to find themselves, and meanwhile other heroes rose to prominence. 52 is a complicated book. Main plotlines include Steel struggling with Luthor’s project to turn teenagers into controllable superheroes, the JSA dealing with same,...

The Element of Fire Martha Wells, 1993, gently revised 2006 Premise: Set in the same world as The Wizard Hunters   and its sequels, but takes place centuries prior. In the kingdom of Ile-Rien, the Captain of the Queen’s Guard goes to rescue an academic sorcerer from a dangerous foreign wizard. It seems simple enough, but with power-hungry sycophants circling the young king, who himself seems disinclined to care about the kingdom, everything is part of someone’s plot and everyone will be drawn into the battle for the future of the country. I really enjoyed this book. Wells seems to have a knack for characters who I find likable because of their abrasive ways. In this book, it’s Kade Carrion, half-fay bastard sister to the king. She’s all sorts of awesome. She could be powerful, but chooses to mostly skate by on her luck and trickery. She’s snarky and sad and simply delightful. The Dowager Queen Ravenna is pretty spectacular as well. Just because her weak-willed son has re...

Master and Commander (Aubrey-Maturin, Book One) Patrick O’Brian, 1969 Premise: In 1800, two men meet at a concert by being terribly rude to each other. Jack Aubrey is a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, currently without a post. Stephen Maturin is a physician, currently without a patient. Their friendship will change both their lives, as well as the lives of everyone around them. This is a re-read for me, because I recently bought the whole series for my Kindle. Huzzah! Now I can dip into the adventures of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin any time I want! I had forgotten how utterly delightful I find these books. I love the style, the way it’s grounded in the time the story is set while still being accessible. I love the characters. I love Jack’s bluster and good humor, and Stephen’s wit and wisdom. I love them together, Jack stumbling upon the doctor’s curious blind spots or Stephen wincing at Jack’s overbearing humor. There’s a good deal of humor in the writing, much of it su...

Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance (Vorkosigan Saga) Lois McMaster Bujold, 2012 BRAND NEW BOOK! WOO! Premise: Ivan Vorpatril’s settled into his life. He likes his job, he’s found a certain peace with most of his relations, his old girlfriends are all married, and he’s okay with that too. That is, until assignment on Komarr brings him into contact with one sly ImpSec informer, one angry blue-skinned dancer, and one lovely woman in danger. It’s Ivan to the rescue, although he has no idea how far his gallant impulses will bring them all! Yay! A new Vorkosigan Saga book! (This is either book 16, 15, or 14, depending on how you count them.) I loved this; it was completely adorable. Getting to spend an entire book with Ivan is downright restful in some ways, and you can really get into his subtle strengths as a character. Tej is delightful as well, although in the middle of the book I sometimes had moments where it was harder to relate to her. That’s just the kind of person she is, thou...

Peter Panzerfaust Volume 1: The Great Escape Story by Kurtis J Wiebe, Art by Tyler Jenkins, 2012 New Release! I received an electronic copy of this book from Netgalley for the purposes of review. Premise: It’s a reimagining of Peter Pan set in France during WWII. Many years later, a man who had been an orphan stranded in Calais during the German invasion tells the story of how he and a group of other stranded boys were rescued by a strange American named Peter. I expected to enjoy this book, but I had no idea how fascinating it was going to be. The blend of history and literary allusions is gripping, the art is dynamic and amazing. It’s grounded and bloody and definitely set in France, but still completely recognizable as Peter Pan. There are moments when the art slips; it gets a little too stylized and some unnatural anatomy throws me out of the moment. But the moments when the writing and the art come together and just sing are breathtaking. There’s some mystery yet to ...

Maggie For Hire Kate Danley, 2011 Copy received from BookRooster for review. Premise: Maggie is a tracker, but now someone’s tracking her. Her life of tracking undead and other nonhuman bail jumpers is upset when she’s caught between a group of strangely powerful vampires, an elf who wants her services on behalf of the elven queen, and a mysterious figure who wants Maggie’s power to walk between worlds. This was a fun read that started really strong, but there’s not much supporting the fun. The style of the writing is the most striking thing about this novel. Maggie’s voice is conversational and funny, with a decent turn on humorous phrases. The supporting cast is interesting and sometimes silly. The plot is pretty thin, though. It doesn’t end up amounting to much, and while the climax works, it wasn’t as strong as it could have been. The friendship between Maggie and Killian works right up until it feels forced, and while the style starts adorable, it eventually got a sm...

Books new (in stores and/or online) on 10/31/12. Happy Halloween, everyone! American Vampire #32 Writer: Scott Snyder, Artist: Rafael Albuquerque Despite the beginning being a bit of flashback for those who missed the early plotlines, this issue fits in a lot of action, twists and plot developments. Hattie reveals her plan and her allies (little bit of monologuing there), and Pearl struggles to counter her. A strong installment, and I’m eager for the resolution of this arc. Batman: Li’l Gotham #1 Written by Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs, Art by Dustin Nguyen Hey, look, a digital comic. Fancy. And AWWWWWW. It’s so CUTE! It’s half-size, like most digital-only books, but it’s a super-cute little story about Bruce teaching Damian the meaning of Halloween. Really. And the art is awesome. You’ve got 99 cents burning a hole in your pocket? Give it a shot! Captain Marvel #5 Writer: Kelly Sue DeConnick, Artist: Emma Rios, Colorist: Jordie Bellaire Closing out the fi...

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Robert A. Heinlein, 1966 Hugo Winner – 1967 Premise: Manuel “Manny” O'Kelly lives on the moon. A lot of people do, in fact. However, the moon is still being run like the prison colony it started out as, and there is talk, especially among people who were born there, about governing themselves. Manny doesn't intend to get involved in politics, but it turns out that he has the lynchpin necessary to make an idea of revolution a reality. I have mixed feelings about this book. I mean, on the plot level, it was an interesting little piece about a moon-based revolution and a computer with a sense of humor. It heavily explores the idea that we'll re-play all our previous frontier problems in space. The lunar civilization bears more than a passing resemblance to early Australian colonies crossed with stories of the Wild West. The 'loonies' look after themselves and sometimes each other and have no problems enforcing brutal frontier ju...

Dog Wizard (The Windrose Chronicles, Volume Three) Barbara Hambly, 1993 Premise: Sequel to The Silent Tower and Silicon Mage . Joanna again returns to Antryg’s home dimension, but not willingly this time. Antryg follows in search of her, but he finds his former colleagues are less concerned with the fact that he’d escaped his death sentence than with who or what is causing severe disturbances in the Void. Disturbances that threaten to unhinge the world of magic, and trap both Antryg and Joanna between dimensions. This is a tremendously misleading cover, just FYI. This book is set about 6 months after Silicon Mage , but the publication dates are five years apart. As such, Dog Wizard is less “Part Three” and more “the continuing adventures of.” Some characters recur, but the tone and the emphasis is a bit different, and the plot is relatively unconnected to the previous books. It was a pretty fun book, though. This book spent much more time with Antryg, getting into his ...

Been super busy the past few weeks and I’m re-evaluating the sustainability of my budget for comic issues, but I do have several weeks worth of new comics to talk about: To sum up: The Best: Sword of Sorcery The Good: Captain Marvel, Batman Inc. The In-between: Wolverine and the X-Men The Bad: Star Trek/Doctor Who, Uncanny Avengers Batman Incorporated #4 Writer: Grant Morrison, Artist: Chris Burnham I don’t really understand the last few pages, but other than that this was a strong action-oriented issue in which the (male, un-rebooted) members of Batman Inc. go up against the League of Assassins. Pretty fun stuff, although the characters I actually like were under-used in favor of the D-listers. Captain Marvel #5 Writer: Kelly Sue Deconnick, Artist: Emma Rios, Colorist: Jordie Bellaire A lot of great moments in this issue. I might not be completely on board with the “jumping through time” plotline yet, but there’s a lot of good stuff to be had. Carol trying to int...

JLA: The Greatest Stories Ever Told Various, 2006 Premise: A collection of iconic Justice League stories from throughout the history of comics. I picked this up at the library on a whim, because I like the Justice League, and I like zany classic comics. Some of these were a little corny and boring even for me, though. Some, on the other hand, were pretty great. The first story is “The Super Exiles of Earth”, in which the Justice League has to reveal their secret identities to each other to defeat a bunch of evil duplicates. It’s a little zany, with stilted dialogue and a really silly, forced resolution. The second story is the one where Snapper Carr betrays the League in the name of “normal” people. It has some nice Batman stuff, but a really silly ending as well. There’s another one based on secret identities, where each Leaguer thinks he’s actually one of the others. This is a neat idea, but the plot involves Doctor Light setting traps for them based on their mixed-up m...

Mockingjay Suzanne Collins, 2010 Premise: Final book of The Hunger Games. ( Book One , Book Two ) The revolution is finally at hand, as the Districts try to bring down the government of Panem. Can Katniss become the symbol that the rebel leaders want her to be? If she does, what will happen to her friends still in captivity? I've had a surprisingly hard time sitting down to write this review. It's not that I'm unsure how I feel about the book: I loved it. It's rather that it was such an experience to read that I'm not sure I'm up to articulating my response. Mockingjay had some of the same world-building weaknesses that have characterized this series. However, since this one was more limited in scope (focused mostly on District Thirteen and very specific sequences in other areas) and concentrated on what the characters didn't know, the world didn't bother me as much. I liked the expanded/combined cast of characters building off of the second...

This Immortal Roger Zelazny, 1966 Hugo Co-Winner – 1966 Premise: Conrad Nomikos is a rather secretive fellow, when you get down to it. How he became Commissioner of Arts, Monuments and Archives for Earth is just one of many things he doesn't discuss. Neither does he discuss his feelings about the Vegans, an alien race who is “helping” the shattered remains of humanity, maybe. When he is called upon to escort a Vegan representative on a tour of historical sites, he grumbles about it, but he doesn't realize that the mission could change the fate of the entire planet. Wow! This was easily one of my favorite Hugo-winners to date. I really enjoyed the style, the story, the characters, the mystery and more. This Immortal is set in a future when the Earth is at a particularly low point. After some sort of catastrophic incident, several space colonies were cut off from Earth and by now the planet itself is mostly inhabited by mutants, gangs, clusters of survivors, and an ad...