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starbryte
Starbryte's Labyrinth - Welcome to My Mind, Enjoy the Meander....
 
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Books, Books and More Books
This is what I've been reading in the last 6 months or so, it was meant to go up with mini reviews but I'll keep editing this post with them so check back often!


Ignition City #1 and 2   Warren Ellis

The Darkness Within    Jason Nahrung

Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader Part 1 and 2   Neil Gaiman

Out of the House of Life   Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

The Opposite of Life   Narelle Harris

Feast in Exile  
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Astonishing X-Men Vol. 1   Joss Whedon and John Cassaday

Extraordinary Engines

White as Snow   Tanith Lee

Realms of Fantasy Feb 2009

Astonishing X-Men Vol. 2   Joss Whedon and John Cassaday

World Shaker   Richard Harland


The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Sixteen Original Works by Speculative Fiction's Finest Voices
  Ellen Datlow

Song of Kali   Dan Simmons


Realms of Fantasy Dec 2008

The Time Traveler's Wife   Audrey Niffenegger

Hellboy Volume 1 Library Edition  Mike Mignola

The Domino Men by Jonathan Barnes

Kitty and the Silver Bullet     Carrie Vaughn

Death: The High Cost of Living   Neil Gaiman

Death: The Time of Your Life 
Neil Gaiman

Let The Right One In   
John Ajvide Lindqvist
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A Big Box
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I don't care how old you are, even if you know exactly what's inside, huge boxes are exciting.

This is the one I picked up Thursday morning, after waiting just over a month,which kicked off what I declared to be 4 days of birthday goodness!  My birthday not being til Saturday I didn't know just how fitting that declaration would be.

The box rocks!


Smiley
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Book #5
Once upon a time fairy tales were not for children. 

Over the years they, like many other things, have been watered down and put in the nursery when the adults have grown bored of them.  But once upon a time they were full of horrific violence, rape, gruesome villians who do not just want the pretty princess dead but to gain power from eating her heart.

I have been waiting a while to get my hands on Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan.  I first read Black Juice when Margo was a guest at Continuum 4.  It was one of those books you feel changed by after reading.  I've never been able to put my finger on just why but you can never be the same after Black Juice.  She is the most amazing short story writer and if you have not yet got a hold of Black Juice go do so right this instant!

Margo has taken back fairy tales.  Even though it is classified as a Young Adult novel, it is a true fairy tale full of the dark and the bitter and of lost girls finding their way in the world.  From the first page her language takes you to a place that is other, it's an inate ability often showcased in her short stories where there isn't the luxury of pages to establish setting, and still works wonderfully here.  Ultimately for me Tender Morsels shows however much we run away from things, life in the real world is where we are meant to be and how much is missed when we try to protect ourselves or those we love from other people's cruelty.  Because by hiding from that, we hide also from kindness. 

And as in life, not every heroine gets their happily ever after.
If you're a fairy tale devotee it's not to be missed.

Smiley





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The Unexpected Wisdom of Google
I was doing a search in the little google box in the toolbar of my browser when it threw up something so surprising and thought provoking I just had to share.
The word I'd typed in was disposable and the helpful thing that google is it suggested a list of what the next word I was looking for might be.  It had the one I wanted near the bottom but as I clicked on it the last phrase caught my eye.

It may not be original but it caught my imagination:

Disposable Heroes

Need I say more?


 
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Miserable Men
Yesterday I finished watching disc 2 of the first season of Mad Men.  I'd been hearing about it for a while, it was meant to be great, people were talking about it.  The Simpsons even spoofed the opening titles.  I didn't get why people were raving.  A bunch of selfish, condescending, miserable men who drink constantly,  women locked as mindless girls to be used.  No one is happy with their lives.  How is that good television?  Yes it's reflecting attitudes of the 60s, but the only time it was anywhere near interesting was episode 8 when the main character Draper flashedback to a mysterious childhood he's running away from.

I had the same problem with Watchmen.   Considered one of the greatest books of all time, it was groundbreaking and showed comics were more than just flippant kids stories, it showed comics as a medium where deep, complex stories could be told.
  I had trouble getting through it a few months ago.  It was oppressive, like I was surrounded by a dark, heavy cloud that I couldn't get out from under.  It's not because I don't like comics, the graphic novel section of my library has expanded a lot in the last 12 months, just ask TFAW where there's been an order nearly monthly for a bit!   Fables and Transmetropolitan being favourites.

It must be a boy thing because I just don't get it.


Smiley
 
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