Glitz by Elmore Leonard (Viking, 1985)

Glitz (1985) was Elmore Leonard's first major bestseller – "the book that put him over the top", as Leonard's researcher Gregg Sutter put it in an article in the spring 1986 issue of The Armchair Detective ("Advance Man: Researching Elmore Leonard's Novels Part 2"). Leonard had had successful novels before, and especially so as his career entered its fourth decade in the 1980s – John Williams, in his 1991 examination of crime fiction and America, Into the Badlands, notes that "Stick [1983]... was the first of his books to hit really big" – but the rapturous reception the writer's twenty-third novel received was of a different order altogether: the American first edition reprinted half a dozen times, no doubt helped along by a glowing review in the New York Times by Stephen King ("Glitz may be the best crime novel of the year").

Why Glitz should have been quite so successful I'm not really sure. It's a good Elmore Leonard novel – which is to say it's by definition a cut above much other crime fiction – but he'd written better ones before: LaBrava (1983), Split Images (1981), City Primeval (1980), Unknown Man No. 89 (1977), others besides. (I would include the brilliant Touch, which I read – and loved – last year, but though written in the 1970s, that one wasn't actually published until 1987.) Maybe it was the surface glamour of the thing, from its title to its choice of locales – sunny Puerto Rico and the bright shiny lights of Atlantic City's casinos, a far cry from the urban grit of Leonard's Detroit stories and his laconically sun-drenched but still low rent Florida tales.

Certainly the story is in keeping with previous novels, taking the form of a meandering but deadly game of cat-and-mouse between a typically deranged criminal, in this instance loathsome rapist and murderer Teddy Magyk, and a male lead, convalescing (after a shooting incident) Miami cop Vincent Mora, who's cut from the same cloth as prior Leonard protagonists like Bryan Hurd (Split Images) and Raymond Cruz (City Primeval). Except that Vincent can lay claim to a rather different heritage: he was originally written as a role for actor Sidney Poitier.

As Gregg Sutter explains in his article, Glitz actually began life as a script for a sequel to Poitier's 1967 film In the Heat of the Night. Leonard was hired to work on Shaft author Ernest Tidyman's initial treatment, which had been deemed "too much like the original book and movie", but as the screenplay developed, the notion of the film being a sequel was dropped and Poitier's character became first a Philadelphia cop "drawn into conflict with people in high places", then either an "Atlantic City cop" or "a homicide investigator for Atlantic County", and finally "Vincent Mora, a retired Detroit cop living in San Juan, Puerto Rico". At which point, Poitier realised "the movie was turning into a book", and told Leonard to "Go write a book". Which Leonard did.

None of which, I realise, explains why Glitz became such a huge bestseller, but it's an interesting bit of backstory at least.

The copy of Glitz pictured in this post is a 1985 British Viking first edition of the book – as opposed to the 1985 American Arbor House first edition – which I picked up in Colin Page Antiquarian Books in Brighton last year for a fiver. It was part of a big collection of crime fiction the bookshop had only just bought in and put on the shelves – as mentioned in this Patricia Highsmith post in September – and which also included a British first edition of Elmore Leonard's next novel, which I also bought for a fiver – a novel which like Glitz started life as an idea for a film: Bandits (1987).

NB: Proffered for this Friday's Forgotten Books roundup.

Darwyn Cooke's Parker: Slayground (IDW, 2013), Stephen King's Doctor Sleep (Hodder, 2013), and Some Notable Comments

I realise certain date-specific salutations are slightly ridiculous in the context of a blog post which might only be chanced upon weeks if not months or even years after after the event in question (if at all), and especially a blog post which itself arrives days after that event, but even so: happy new year.

I shan't be making any resolutions regarding Existential Ennui in 2014, nor any predictions, or forecasts, or – God forbid – formulating any kind of manifesto for the year ahead; any past such attempts have at best turned out to be only partially correct, and in any case, who (other than me... maybe) really cares what one insignificant books-related blog among so many thousands has planned for the next twelve months? (Not that there is much of a plan beyond the next week or so.) Instead I thought I'd ease myself into the new blogging year in (arguably untypically) unostentatious fashion by posting some thoughts on the two books I managed to polish off over the festive period (not bad going, considering the various demands of fatherhood and home life and travelling to see family over Christmas and whatnot), and drawing attention to a couple of comments which have appeared since I last posted, plus a few more from earlier in December and November.

Books first, beginning with this:

Richard Stark's Parker: Slayground by Darwyn Cooke. When The Violent World of Parker (where I'm co-blogger) supremo Trent and I interviewed Darwyn back in the summer of 2012 (Christ, was it really that long ago...?), Cooke's intention had been to adapt the eighth in Donald "Richard Stark" Westlake's series of Parker novels, The Handle, as his next full-length Parker graphic novel, and after that do "a 48-page real boiled down version of Slayground", the fourteenth Parker outing. Evidently those plans changed, because instead of The Handle – of which there's been nary a sign – Slayground arrived as a 96-page graphic novel in December.

Of those 96 pages, Slayground itself takes up roughly 80, many of them, as the opening spread above demonstrates, as stylish and formally inventive as we've come to expect; there's even a foldout map of Fun Island, the closed-for-the-winter amusement park in which Parker becomes trapped. That the story lacks substance is less a fault of the adaptation than of the source novel – for me one of the slighter Parkers – but it's still an effective manhunt thriller, and in adapting it Cooke makes some intriguing storytelling choices, especially as regards the structure – swapping parts two and three and lopping off the ending where Parker tells Claire he'll go back for the stashed loot some day – and the character of Caliato, the local mob second-in-command, who in Cooke's hands becomes instead Benito, the son of mob boss Lozini. Presumably that change was made in order to give Lozini more of a personal beef with Parker for Cooke's final adaptation, Butcher's Moon, although if so, given that Lozini already regarded Caliato almost as a son, I wonder whether that was really necessary. I guess we'll find out in 2015.
 
Also included is Cooke's short adaptation of the seventh Parker novel, The Seventh (alias The Split). As I've mentioned before, The Seventh is one of my favourite Parkers, and consequently I'd been wanting to read Cooke's version ever since I learned that it was an extra in Parker: The Martini Edition, which I was reluctant to buy as I already owned Cooke's adaptations of The Hunter and The Outfit (which The Martini Edition collected). In the event I'm glad I held out, because Cooke summarily dispenses with the meat of The Seventh across a single spread and concentrates instead on Parker's climactic pursuit of his nameless nemesis, which, the payoff aside – which in any case is diluted by the abbreviating of the glorious madness which precedes it – is probably the least interesting part of the story. Still, it all looks lovely.

Incidentally, I expect there'll be a review of Slayground over at The Violent World of Parker before long, but if Trent doesn't have one lined up, I might end up posting a version of the above over there.

Anyway, the other book I finished was this:

Doctor Sleep, Stephen King's belated sequel to The Shining, published September 2013 and seen here in its British WHSmith limited edition. The phrase 'return to form' must have been applied to every Stephen King novel of the last twenty years, but in this case it's apt: Doctor Sleep is the best King book I've read since Cell – not quite up there with The Dark Half or Needful Things (and certainly not The Stand), but not far off. I think the reason for that is that Dan – formerly Danny in The Shining – Torrance is one of King's more convincing leads, an alcoholic like his father – and indeed like King himself – whose efforts to carve out some kind of life after a drink-sodden decade or so are at least as, if not more, compelling than the paranormal plot in which he becomes embroiled.

As for those comments, a Tehanu left a comment on my interview with spy novelist Anthony Price drawing my attention to the third novel in Charles Stross's series of "Laundry" occult spy thrillers, The Fuller Memorandum, which I'd not come across before but which apparently is an homage to Price's work. And on a similarly supernatural tip, an anonymous commenter left a message on this post on Andrew MacKenzie, confirming that as well as novels, MacKenzie did indeed pen a good number of occult works. And while we're on the subject of comments and updates, earlier in December a Saz left an enlightening pair of comments on this post on James Mitchell's Callan spy series which are well worth reading; "Going on Ninety" expressed thanks for reminding him about John le Carré; and in November a former associate of Dr. Strangelove writer Peter George's, Madeline Weston, emailed me with her recollections of George's suicide, and granted me permission to update this post on George accordingly.

Thank you to all of those folks, and to everyone else who's commented and emailed; when – as is its occasional wont – the Black Dog pays a visit and I feel like abandoning Existential Ennui altogether, messages like these act as a useful reminder of why I persist in this foolish endeavour.

Lewes Book Bargain: Duma Key by Stephen King (Hodder, 2008, First Edition)

Let's have a look at one last Lewes Book Bargain before we head into the working week's more thematically linked posts (well, some of them will be, anyway), namely a novel I bought in the Cancer Research charity shop at the bottom of School Hill, Lewes:

A UK hardback first edition/first printing of Duma Key by Stephen King, published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2008, with a front cover image by Lisa Kimmell. Now, the thing about Stephen King is, I've read a lot of his books. Back in the 1980s and 1990s I devoured every Stephen King book I could get my hands on (usually borrowed from Beckenham Library, south London), from Carrie (1974) to Desperation and The Regulators (1996). Only James Herbert, Richard Laymon and Gregory Mcdonald approached King in terms of the number of books from their oeuvre I consumed.

And then, inspired by Labour coming to power in 1997, I pretty much stopped reading fiction and started reading non-fiction instead – mostly political biographies and the like. And when I wasn't reading those, I was reading comic books. And so I completely lost track of King, until last year, when I read 2006's Cell. And while Cell wasn't quite prime King – not up there with The Stand (1990 expanded edition) but certainly better than, say, The Tommyknockers (1987) – it was good enough and apocalyptic enough to get me interested in the author again. And though 2009's Under the Dome was something of a step down again in quality – enjoyable in places, but kind of heartless – I'm still keen enough on King to want to try some of his novels I missed during the wilderness years. And uppermost among them, I think, is Duma Key (and possibly 2001's Dreamcatcher), which is about a writer who loses his arm and his marriage and decamps to Duma Key, Florida, where, encouraged by his youngest daughter, he begins painting pictures which turn out to be dangerously predictive...

Y'know, it was only when I got to the end of that last paragraph and sat back and took a look at it as a whole that I realised that every sentence within it starts with an 'and'. What are the odds of that happening? But rather than go back and edit it, I think I'll leave it as is as a testament to, er, something or other, and tell you about next week's blogging instead, which will consist of a short series of posts on Richard Price plus a couple on Kingsley Amis. How very, um, equally something or other. See you then.

A Response to the Observer Article by Edward Docx, "Are Stieg Larsson and Dan Brown a Match for Literary Fiction?"

I had intended to start the week either with a Westlake Score or to begin my no doubt eagerly awaited Review of the Year. But yesterday there was an article on genre fiction in the Observer newspaper that, while it doesn't deserve a response as such – it was too wrong-headed to deserve anything other than perhaps a derisory snort – it does at least warrant one, even if it is from a little-read blog like this.

When I write posts like this one on Kingsley Amis' appreciation of the thriller, or this one on James Bond (or, um, this other one on Amis again), the point that I'm usually getting at – that genre fiction is often unfairly sneered at by critics – sometimes strikes me as... well... pointless. Outdated. After all, we have for a long time lived in a world where Raymond Chandler and Patricia Highsmith are feted, and for a shorter time in one where Stephen King is at last getting his due. Surely, then, the war is won. And then an article such as the one in Sunday's Observer New Review comes along and reminds me that not only do the old battles still need fighting, but a new generation of literary snobs have willingly donned the blinkers of their forebears and adopted even more intransigent positions.

Written by novelist Edward Docx (no, me either), the article is called "Are Stieg Larsson and Dan Brown a Match Literary Fiction?" Which, for a start, is a daft question. For one thing, it's a little unfair to pit Larsson and Brown alone against the massed legions of literary fiction – whichever spurious parameters Docx uses to define that elite gathering. For another, it leads to a fairly short answer: no, and don't be so bloody silly. Not even Larsson and Brown's most fervent fans would claim much for their idols beyond an ability to tell an exciting story (with perhaps some added political significance in Larsson's case). Neither are known as great stylists or mould-breaking originators; to hold them up as any kind of vanguard of genre fiction is just stupid.

And anyway, I'm not interested in defending Larsson or Brown – and I doubt either would care at this point, since the former's dead and the latter's so ridiculously rich he's probably moved to an alternate newspaperless reality – nor in extolling the virtues (or otherwise) of their books. What I take issue with is the tone of Docx's article, the blanket dismissal of all genre works, the sneery attitude towards genre, and the fundamental misunderstanding of not only what genre is, and more importantly, why it is, but, seemingly, of fiction in general.

The thrust of Docx's argument is essentially this:

"Even good genre (not Larsson or Brown) is by definition a constrained form of writing. There are conventions and these limit the material. That's the way writing works and lots of people who don't write novels don't seem to get this: if you need a detective, if you need your hero to shoot the badass CIA chief, if you need faux-feminist shopping jokes, then great; but the correlative of these decisions is a curtailment in other areas. If you are following conventions, then a significant percentage of the thinking and imagining has been taken out of the exercise. Lots of decisions are already made."

Now there's a man sure of his own brilliance. I think my favourite part of that statement is the bit where Docx claims people who don't write novels don't comprehend the constrained nature of genre fiction. Which would be an incredibly supercilious and self-regarding thing to suggest – how can we mere mortals comprehend the inner workings of the novel? – if it weren't that Docx himself doesn't seem to "get" that all fiction is constrained. Writing is about choices, and beyond that, it's about the road not taken. Every decision a writer makes about their story closes off a multitude of other possibilities. All fiction, genre or otherwise, entails curtailment.

But let's accept for the moment that there are genre tropes that dictate how, say, a crime novel will develop. Docx's ludicrously simplistic view of crime fiction aside – not every crime novel has "a body on the first page" – the inclusion of a detective as a main protagonist (not my favourite type of crime novel, but anyway) probably does move the narrative in a particular direction – but no more so than the inclusion of a poverty-stricken Russian in an otherwise achingly middle class situation moves the narrative there in a certain direction. In both cases there is curtailment; in both cases decisions are already made.

Docx goes on to grudgingly admit that "None of this is to say that writing good thrillers is easy. It is still incredibly difficult. But it is easier." Again, there may be some truth in this. An experienced thriller writer might well find it easier to write a thriller than, say, a novelist with two books under his belt and a name to make for himself might find writing 'literary' fiction. But an experienced literary novelist might find writing easier than a novice thriller writer. Writing is different for everyone: difficult, easy, hard work, a breeze, and sometimes all of those things in the course of a single page. It's a specious argument.

Skipping over Docx's facile comparison of genre writing to McDonald's (Really? Is that the best you can do? And this from a novelist), we reach a more familiar critique of genre: that genre writers are basically in it for the money. Docx doesn't so much claim this as sneakily insinuate it when he states, "They can take the money and the sales and all that goes with that. And we can sincerely admire them for doing so. But they should not be allowed to get away with suggesting that these things tell us anything about the intrinsic value or scope of their work." Quite right. "They" shouldn't. And the best never have, whether Docx "sincerely" admires them for their sales or not. As Kingsley Amis wrote in his 1968 essay "A New James Bond", "most people who have done much writing will probably agree on reflection that to write at length just for money... is a uniquely, odiously painful activity; not really worth the money, in fact."

Here we approach the crux of the matter. Docx's argument only stands if you accept his largely unspoken assumption – a supposition that all his ilk take for granted – that there is a truth to literary fiction that isn't there in genre fiction, and that therefore literary fiction is better than genre fiction. In support of this, Docx trots out the word "relativism". Now, relativism pisses me off in any shape or form, from politics to criticism. Relativism is a consequence of post-modernism, and any thinking person knows by now what a load of balls post-modernism was. The merits or otherwise of genre fiction is not a question of relativism. It's insulting to suggest it is. It's a question, as it is in non-genre fiction, of good writing – a critical judgement which is anathema to post-modernism and relativism.

The best genre writers – I mean the very best; the Stephen Kings, the Richard Starks, the John le Carres, the writers I take Docx to mean when he talks of "good genre (not Larsson or Brown)" – don't choose to be genre writers, as Docx appears to believe. They simply choose to write, as best they can. Genre is merely something they're labelled by other people. Patricia Highsmith is only a crime novelist to those who haven't read her books; to those who have, she's a meditator on the psychology of twentieth century urban America. It just so happens that occasionally entails the not-so-accidental death of a protagonist – much as it did in actual twentieth century urban America, and indeed still does in twenty-first century urban America.

The mistake Docx makes, I think, is to believe in literary fiction as something it's patently not: truth. Fundamentally, all fiction is dishonest. As wonderful as the best novels are, they're still a pack of lies. There may be some truth in the writing, some effort to understand the human condition, to comprehend universal truths; but the creating of characters, the placing of them in scenarios and situations, the moving of them around: this is make-believe. No matter how honestly conceived, no matter how much effort a writer puts into making a novel realistic, real life is always so much more unanticipated. And that's fine: that's the pact we make with fiction so that we can have stories that appeal, confound, befuddle, enrage, but that ultimately take us out of ourselves and carry us along and deposit us at the other end. But it's all a lie; a story; a fiction. I mean, the clue's kind of there in the name.

Good thrillers, good crime novels, good science fiction, are as unexpected and surprising as good non-genre novels. The only difference is, they involve a murder, or a robbery, or are set in the future. To return to Kingsley Amis and his 1968 essay, "It might well be agreed that the best of serious fiction, so to call it, is better than anything any genre can offer. But this best is horribly rare, and a clumsy dissection of the heart is so much worse than boring as to be painful, and most contemporary novels are like spy novels with no spies or crime novels with no crimes, and John D. MacDonald is by any standards a better writer than Saul Bellow, only MacDonald writes thrillers and Bellow is a human-heart chap, so guess who wears the top-grade laurels?"

Anyway, that's my two-penneth. Go and read the article yourself, make your own mind up, and maybe write your own post on the matter. It looks as though we still need all the help we can get...

Charing Cross Catch: The Dark Half by Stephen King

And so we continue with the books wot I bought during my recent books bonanza, moving on to the London segment of the splurge. I was going to blog about these ones in the order I bought them, but I want to save the Donald Westlake/Richard Stark ones – for lo, there were indeed Westlake/Stark purchases – for last, as I was rather chuffed with those, plus I've got some other things on a Westlake tip that have arrived since, so I'll have a torrent of Westlake scores to post one after the other. Our Westlake cup runneth over.

But before all that, here's a book I bought in Henry Pordes on Charing Cross Road (a solid, reasonably-priced bookshop, always worth a look) that, cunningly, still has a Westlake connection:













A UK hardback first edition of Stephen King's The Dark Half, published in 1989 by Hodder & Stoughton. I read this probably around the time it was published, as I did with all of King's books up until the mid-1990s, borrowed from Beckenham Library, and it's always been one of my favourites – not quite up there with The Stand and Salem's Lot, but not far off, certainly as good as the likes of Needful Things. It's about a literary author, Thad Beaumont, who's also written a series of violent crime novels (which are much more successful than his literary efforts) under the pseudonym George Stark. He decides to kill off his alter ego... but Stark won't stay dead, and becomes a physical entity.

There's more to it than that, but Westlake fans will have noted the surname of Thad's alter ego, and as Trent at Violent World of Parker has handily excerpted, there's a passage in the book where Beaumont explains his choice of the Stark surname and expounds on Westlake and the Parker novels. Not being aware of Westlake at the time I read The Dark Half, that's probably the first time I came across a reference to Richard Stark, although I can't say if it lodged in my brain at all. But in any case, that's why I decided to pick up this copy, as well as it being a damn fine book. I like that cover too, which is much stronger than the US one, and is by one Davies. Dunno if that's a first or last name.

Interestingly, Wikipedia reckons The Dark Half was the second best-selling book of 1989, behind Tom Clancy's Clear and Present Danger, which I've also read. And actually, glancing back at the best-sellers for the 1980s, it looks like I read the number one best-seller for the three years before that too, something I don't think has happened before or since. Curious.

Kingsley Amis and the Thrill of the Thriller

That post yesterday about William Boyd's Ordinary Thunderstorms got me thinking about literary authors who try their hands at genre fiction, and how the results are viewed. Thing is, there's no getting round the fact that, in literary circles, genre fiction is generally considered an inferior beast to 'proper' novels, that is yer Booker Prize shortlist-type affairs. So whenever a literary writer stoops to reside a while in the rambling, well-worn, many-roomed mansion that is genre fiction, it's big news.

Sebastian Faulks waggled a toe in the genre pool (hey, the mansion has a pool!) with his James Bond effort Devil May Care, and Boyd has done so with his book. Both generated headlines and commentary aplenty. I haven't read either yet (although I have both to read), but while the critical reception of Ordinary Thunderstorms was generally positive (if often qualified), the response to Devil May Care suggested that even Faulks himself felt rather above the whole thing. There's certainly precedent for that, if it is the case: as Book Glutton points out in his thoughtful response to that Boyd post, Grahame Greene for a long time divided his own novels into two camps – serious literary efforts, and 'entertainments'.

I don't think thrillers, crime fiction and so on really need defending, either from critics or from authors themselves: if a writer writes well, understands plot, character, structure, pacing, it shouldn't – doesn't – matter if a book happens to tumble into a genre. Anyone with half a brain can see the pared back brilliance of Richard Stark's prose (and the likes of John Banville have said as much). But there are still plenty of literary types who see these kinds of books as anathema: witness the furore prompted by Stephen King being awarded the 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award at the US National Book Awards (former CEO of Simon & Schuster Richard Snyder proclaimed King's work "non-literature").

All of which reminded me of an interview I read recently with Martin Amis, which dealt in part with a literary figure who practically wallowed in genre fiction: his father, Kingsley Amis. In that interview (which of course I can't bloody find now, but anyway), Amis mentioned that his father tended to read for pleasure. Which made me think, as opposed to what? Reading for displeasure? What Amis was getting at, I suppose, was the argument that fiction shouldn't be easy, that it should challenge, confront, perhaps change. And perhaps it should. But shouldn't it also, ultimately, be readable – that is, pleasurable?

Amis went on to say that Kingsley put more stock in the poetry he wrote (Amis Sr., that is), viewing the novel as an inferior form. Amis Jr. would be best placed to know that, I guess, but it strikes me as slightly disingenuous. For one, Amis Sr. wrote a lot of novels. If he thought so little of the form, isn't it odd that he spent so much time embracing it? For another, Amis took a great pleasure in the sort of fiction that Amis Jr. would sneer at: thrillers, spy fiction, science fiction. Kingsley loved Ian Fleming's Bond novels, the thrillers of Eric Ambler, Geoffrey Household and Gavin Lyall. He wrote reviews of and essays on SF and genre fiction; there's an entire book of his writings on SF – New Maps of Hell (1960) – and on the Bond novels – The James Bond Dossier (1965). He even wrote letters to the authors he admired; Peter O'Donnell's proudest moment of his career was a letter he received from Kingsley noting how much Amis liked O'Donnell's Modesty Blaise books. (You can read the letter here; note Amis admits this was the second time he'd read the books – all thirteen of them.)

Amis Sr. also wrote his own versions of these types of books: The Anti-Death League (1966), a military espionage novel (amongst other things); The Green Man (1969), a ghost story; The Riverside Villas Murder (1973), his take on an Agatha Christie whodunnit; The Alteration (1976) and Russian Hide and Seek (1980), both speculative fiction. And famously, or perhaps infamously from Martin's perspective, Kingsley wrote a Bond novel himself, 1968's Colonel Sun, under the nom de plume Robert Markham. All that novel-writing, all that reading, all those essays, all those fan letters: seems an awful lot of time, effort and energy expended on something that, according to Martin, Kingsley viewed as somehow inferior.

By saying Amis thought less of the novel than he did poetry, what I think Martin is actually doing is making excuses for his pater's predilection for 'low' fiction, for the genre novels that Kingsley enjoyed and occasionally tried his own hand at. You get the sense that Kingsley's appreciation of thrillers, SF and the like, offends Martin. I don't know if that's true or not, but Kingsley's passion for genre fiction and belief in its worth is plain to see in his own writings on the subject. Conversely, it is notable that, by the sounds of it, Kingsley tended to steer away from the sorts of novels his son writes. (Amis Jr. mentions in the interview that when Kingsley got to the part in Money where Martin himself appears as a character in the novel, he chucked the book across the room.)

In the end, I guess it all comes down to personal preference: whether you read to challenge or better yourself, or whether you read for enjoyment. Of course, there's no reason not to do both. But equally, the one shouldn't preclude the other. I've read Martin Amis and I've read Kingsley Amis. And I know which I prefer. *

(* Kingsley, obv.)

(For further thoughts on Kingsley Amis and genre works, head here for an essay by me and here for a guest post by critic Michael Barber.)

New Arrival: The Passage by Justin Cronin

Muchos gracias to Book Glutton for the heads-up on this one, my copy of which turned up over the weekend:














It's the UK hardback first edition of Justin Cronin's The Passage, published by Orion, ooh, just over a week ago. This is the first printing as well as the first edition (it's already up to a second printing), signed by the author:














I'm already over 130 pages into it, and it's utterly absorbing. I guess it's closest in content to Stephen King's The Stand (possibly my favourite book of all time): it's a near-future end-of-the-world, good-versus-evil tale, with added vampires. I'm only in the opening stages at the moment, which focus on a young girl, Amy, who seems destined to save the world somehow, as well as on military experiments on death row inmates aimed at extending life and eradicating disease, which is where the vampire angle comes in. Cronin writes in a really pleasing, uncomplicated style, reminiscent of King but without King's occasional folksiness. He does use King's trick of foreshadowing events, which helps drive the narrative, and he's got King's knack (or rather prime King's knack; less so these days) for brilliantly drawn characters.

Aside from The Stand, something else it's reminding me of is Matt Wagner's epic Grendel comics, which also weaved vampires into an end-of-the-world scenario. I don't know if Cronin has read the Grendel cycle, but he does know his comic books by the looks of it: at one point in The Passage a death row inmate being transported by the military to be experimented on notices one of the soldiers reading comics, and asks if one of the characters is Aquaman. He's then given a few comics to read: X-Men, and League of Vengeance. That second title isn't a real one: The Passage is set around ten years hence, in an America where there have been further terrorist attacks and where, globally, the war on terror has engulfed Pakistan, Iran and others. In which context, Cronin's re-naming of Justice League of America (the actual comic where Aquaman appears today) as League of Vengeance makes sense. A little inside joke for comics fans there...?

New Arrival: One Rainy Night by Richard Laymon

Off on a slight tangent for this next new arrival:














It's a UK first edition hardback of Richard Laymon's One Rainy Night, published by Headline in 1991. This one falls under the header 'research'; I picked it up cheap online for a book I'm editing. Of course, the fact that it happens to be a really nice first edition, which I'll be 'storing' at home now that I've scanned the cover, is neither here nor there...

Back in the late '80s/early'90s I went through a big Richard Laymon phase, hiring his books from the local library when I was back dahn sarf from university in Manchester, and again after I'd finished my degree and was whiling away my time on the dole (thank you, Beckenham Library). Laymon, for those who don't know, was like a leaner, nastier Stephen King. His books often feature unfortunate young people getting trapped in old houses or lost in forests or cast away on deserted islands and being stalked and tortured and mostly murdered by backwoods loons and malevolent supernatural forces. They're brilliant, twisted reads – the ostensible hero or heroine in each book rarely escapes intact, frequently losing bits of their body by the end of the novel.

Laymon was a lot more popular in the UK and Europe than he was in the States, despite hailing from America; I think a lot of his books were only published in paperback in the US, whereas here in the UK they usually appeared in hardback first. (As an illustration of his European success, the main Richard Laymon website appears to be German in origin, although it hasn't been updated in a while.) He died of a heart attack in 2001 (something I hadn't realised until recently); I'm not sure how well remembered he is now, but for my money you'd struggle to find a better horror writer, yer Stephen Kings aside (King was a big fan). Purely by chance (ahem... there might have been other books mentioned in the text of the book I'm editing that I could've picked to show...) One Rainy Night is the Laymon book I recall most fondly: it's about a weird rain that falls on a small town, turning the majority of its inhabitants into homicidal maniacs. It's a cracker, and it's nice to have this rather spiffing copy in my hands.

Shelf Porn!

It's a new day
It's a new dawn
It's the same old Tories
So let's have some shelf porn!

Yes, we may be lumbered with a Conservative (and Liberal Democrat, although that's essentially the same thing these days) government, but we'll always have Paris. I mean we'll always have books. Not Paris. Paris is lovely, but it's irrelevant. I mean irrelevant to this post. Not irrelevant in a wider sense. Although it is to the Tories. But anyway.

Thus far, we've had Richard Stark/Donald Westlake Shelf Porn and Patricia Highsmith Shelf Porn. Now I'd like to take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of Lon-- no, hang on, I'd like to take you by the hand and guide you around the rest of my bookshelves. Let's take a look, shall we?









This is the shelf underneath my Highsmith and Stark (and Kingsley Amis) books. From left to right we have two big Love & Rockets hardbacks (Palomar and Locas, the first of which I bought in the famed Lambiek comic shop in Amsterdam I think); then some Joe Sacco graphic novels (Safe Area Gorazde among them); a couple of Michael Rabagliati Paul graphic novels; epic alt-comix anthology Kramers Ergot volumes 4 to 6; some DC Comics crossover Crisis collections (including the classic Crisis on Infinite Earths, a comic I absolutely loved when I was younger); a few Daniel Clowes books; and various Marvel hardcovers, including X-Men: Messiah Complex, which is probably the best post-Morrison X-Men story. And then at the back a few hardback novels (including Stephen King's The Stand) and some political tomes, Alan Clark's brilliant Diaries among them (there are more political memoirs and the like behind the books on the top shelf).

Three views of the shelf above my record collection. Various things here, including, from left to right, J. G. Ballard's Running Wild (illustrated by Janet Woolley); first editions of Gregory Mcdonald's first three Fletch novels; assorted crime and SF novels, including a first edition of Poul Anderson's Brain Wave; my Gavin Lyall collection; a first of Peter O'Donnell's debut Modesty Blaise novel; the Kinglsey Amis-written James Bond Dossier and Book of Bond; Book Club editions of Ian Fleming's From Russia, with Love and Dr. No; Pan paperback editions of Bond novels (lots of first paperback editions there); and Richard Stark paperback editions.

Phew. To be continued...

It was just me.

The pictures are back now. In fact they never went anywhere, it was just my internets being half-arsed. Mystery solved, move along now, nothing to see here... except...

...except...

...except The List! Which, frankly, is nothing to see either this week. Here's what it looks like:

Rasl #7

Er, that's it. That. Is. Fucking. It. One comic. One comic out of a list of maybe 200. What's that? You don't believe there's 200 comics out this week? There can't possibly be 200 comics out this week, or indeed next week, or the week after that, or the week after that, or indeed every week following that you care to name? Oh, how little you know. Gaze upon the full list of comics for this week:

AARDWOLF PUBLISHING
Whorehouse Madrigals SC, $14.99

ANTARCTIC PRESS
Gold Digger Peebo Tales TP, $15.95
Governator #1, $3.99
Littlest Zombie #1, $3.50

APE ENTERTAINMENT
Hairy Things #1 (of 3), $3.95

ARCHIE COMICS
Betty #185, $2.50
Pals N Gals Double Digest #140, $3.99
Sonic The Hedgehog #211, $2.50

ATHENEUM
Amelia Rules Volume 4 When The Past Is A Present TP (Simon & Schuster Edition), $10.99

ATTA BOY
Hi Fructose Magazine Quarterly #15, $6.95

BLUEWATER PRODUCTIONS
Blackbeard Legacy Vs Pistolfist (One Shot)(release not confirmed by Diamond Distribution), $3.99
Female Force #13 Ellen Degeneres, $3.99
Logans Run #2, $3.99
Political Power #9 Bill Clinton, $3.99
Roger Corman Presents Battle Amongst Stars #1, $3.99
Vincent Price Presents #16, $3.99

BOOM! STUDIOS
Disneys Hero Squad Ultraheroes #3 (Cover A), $2.99
Disneys Hero Squad Ultraheroes #3 (Cover B), $2.99
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep #10 (of 24)(Cover A), $3.99
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep #10 (of 24)(Cover B), $3.99
Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep Volume 2 HC (of 6), $24.99
Farscape Volume 1 HC (Limited SDCC Special Edition), $74.99
Incorruptible #4 (Cover A), $3.99
Incorruptible #4 (Cover B), $3.99
Incorruptible #4 (Variant Incentive Cover), AR
Incredibles Family Matters Special Edition Holofoil Set, $99.99
Wizards Of Mickey #3 (Cover A), $2.99
Wizards Of Mickey #3 (Cover B), $2.99

BROADSWORD COMICS
Tarot Witch Of The Black Rose #61 (Regular Cover), $2.95

BUSTA TOONS PRODUCTIONS
Cereal Geek Magazine #4, $15.00

CARTOON BOOKS
Rasl #7, $3.50

CHRONICLE BOOKS
Streetfighter The Complete History SC, $19.95

CINEFEX
Cinefex #121 (Apr 2010)(release not confirmed by Diamond Distribution), $12.50

COMIC SHOP NEWS
Comic Shop News #1189, AR

DARK HORSE
Dark Horse Capsule Assortment Marvel Heroes Wrist Bands Series #1, AR
Domo 2 Inch Mystery Qee Figures Series 2 Individual Figure, $8.99
Domo 2 Inch Mystery Qee Figures Series 2 Display Case, $134.85
Domo 2 Inch Qee Flocked Classic Brown Figure, $8.99
Domo 2 Inch Qee Flocked Pink Figure, $8.99
Domo 2 Inch Qee Metallic Orange Figure, $8.99
Domo 2 Inch Qee Metallic Rusty Figure, $8.99
Domo 2 Inch Qee Skeleton Figure, $8.99
Star Wars Legacy #46 (Monster part 4 of 4), $2.99
Terminator 2029 #1 (of 3), $3.50
Usagi Yojimbo #127 (The Sword Of Narukami Part 1 Of 1), $3.50

DC COMICS
Adventure Comics #9 (Francis Manapul Regular Cover), $3.99
Adventure Comics #9 (Rafael Albuquerque 'Adventure Comics 512' Variant Cover), AR
Astro City The Dark Age Book Four #3 (of 4), $3.99
Billy Batson And The Magic Of SHAZAM #14, $2.50
Blackest Night Poster #1, $8.99
Blackest Night Poster #1 Prepack, AR
Blackest Night Poster #2, $8.99
Blackest Night Poster #2 Prepack, AR
Blackest Night #8 (of 8)(Ivan Reis Regular Cover), $3.99
Blackest Night #8 (of 8)(Rodolfo Migliari Variant Cover), AR
Blackest Night #8 (of 8)(Ivan Reis Sketch Variant Cover), AR
Blackest Night Black Lantern Promotional Rings (Blackest Night issue 8 reorder), AR
Blackest Night Blue Lantern Promotional Rings (Blackest Night issue 8 reorder), AR
Blackest Night Green Lantern Promotional Rings (Blackest Night issue 8 reorder), AR
Blackest Night Indigo Lantern Promotional Rings (Blackest Night issue 8 reorder), AR
Blackest Night Orange Lantern Promotional Rings (Blackest Night issue 8 reorder), AR
Blackest Night Red Lantern Promotional Rings (Blackest Night issue 8 reorder), AR
Blackest Night Violet Lantern Promotional Rings (Blackest Night issue 8 reorder), AR
Blackest Night Yellow Lantern Promotional Rings (Blackest Night issue 8 reorder), AR
Brave And The Bold Volume 3 Demons And Dragons TP, $17.99
Creeper By Steve Ditko HC, $39.99
DC Dynamics Aquaman Statue, $195.00
Detective Comics #863, $3.99
God Of War #1 (of 6)(resolicited), $3.99
Gotham City Sirens #10, $2.99
Gotham City Stories Part 1 Batman Statue, $99.99
Jack Of Fables #44, $2.99
Justice League Of America #43 (Mark Bagley & Rob Hunter Regular Cover), $3.99
Justice League Of America #43 (Mike Mayhew Variant Cover), AR
Justice Society Of America #37, $2.99
King Of Cards Volume 9 TP, $9.99
Madame Xanadu #21, $2.99
Oh My Brother Volume 2 TP, $9.99
Oracle The Cure TP, $17.99
Outsiders #28, $2.99
Robin Archives Volume 2 HC, $59.99
Strange Adventures TP, $19.99
Teen Titans #81, $3.99
Unknown Soldier #18, $2.99
Web #7, $3.99
Wonder Woman #42, $2.99
Wonder Woman The Ends Of The Earth TP, $17.99

DEL REY COMICS
Talisman Road Of Trials #5, $3.99

DESPERADO PUBLISHING
Obergeist Essential Edition HC, $29.99

DEVILS DUE PUBLISHING
Hack Slash #30 (Cover A Tim Seeley), $3.50
Hack Slash #30 (Cover B Dan Leister), $3.50

DIAMOND PUBLICATIONS
Previews #259 (April 2010), AR

DIGITAL MANGA PUBLISHING
How To Seduce A Vampire GN, $12.95
Selfish Demon King Novel, $10.95

DRAWN AND QUARTERLY
John Stanley Library Melvin Monster Volume 2 HC, $24.95

DYNAMIC FORCES
Green Hornet #1 (Dynamic Forces)(Alex Ross Negative Art Cover), $14.99
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 (Dynamic Forces)(Stan Lee Signed), $149.99

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT
Army Of Darkness Omnibus Volume 1 TP, $29.99
Green Hornet #2 (Alex Ross Regular Cover), $3.99
Green Hornet #2 (John Cassady Regular Cover), $3.99
Green Hornet #2 (Joe Benitez Regular Cover), $3.99
Green Hornet #2 (Stephen Segovia Regular Cover), $3.99
Green Hornet #2 (Alex Ross Black/White/Green Variant Cover), AR
Green Hornet #2 (Joe Benitez Black/White/Green Variant Cover), AR
Green Hornet #2 (John Cassaday Black/White/Green Variant Cover), AR
Green Hornet #2 (Shared Retailer Exclusive Variant Cover), AR
Legendary Talespinners #2 (of 3)(Grant Bond Cover), $3.99
Legendary Talespinners #2 (of 3)(Nick Bradshaw Cover), $3.99

EAGLEMOSS PUBLICATIONS LTD
Buffy & Angel Figure Collection Magazine #4 (Master), $20.00

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS
Classic Pinup Art Of Jack Cole SC, $18.99
High Soft Lisp GN, $16.99
It Was War Of The Trenches HC, $24.99
Penny Century TP, $18.99

GAMES WORKSHOP
White Dwarf #362, AR

HARPER COLLINS
Alice In Wonderland A Visual Companion HC, $50.00
Emily The Strange Book 2 Stranger And Stranger HC (resolicited), $16.99

HEAVY METAL MAGAZINE
Heavy Metal May 2010, $6.95
Requiem Le Chevalier Vampire Collection Volume 2 Vampire Knight TP (release not confirmed by Diamond Distribution), $19.95

IDW PUBLISHING
A-Team War Stories BA #1 (Michael Gaydos Regular Cover), $3.99
A-Team War Stories BA #1 (Photo Variant Cover), AR
Bible Eden GN (New Printing), $17.99
Dragon Age #1 (Humberto Ramos Regular Cover), $3.99
Eternal Descent #1 (Jason Metcalf Regular Cover), $3.99
Eternal Descent #1 (Szymon Kudranski Variant Cover), AR
EZ Street GN, $21.99
G.I. Joe Cobra II #3 (Antonio Fuso Regular Cover), $3.99
G.I. Joe Cobra II #3 (Howard Chaykin Regular Cover), $3.99
G.I. Joe Cobra II #3 (Howard Chaykin Variant Cover), AR
Star Trek The Next Generation Ghosts #5 (Joe Corroney Regular Cover), $3.99
Star Trek The Next Generation Ghosts #5 (Joe Corroney Virgin Cover), AR
Transformers #5 (Ongoing)(Don Figueroa Regular Cover), $3.99
Transformers #5 (Ongoing)(Andrew Wildman Regular Cover), $3.99
Transformers #5 (Ongoing)(Don Figueroa Sketch Variant Cover), AR

IMAGE COMICS
Godland #31, $2.99
Image Firsts Walking Dead #1, $1.00
Image Firsts Youngblood #1, $1.00
Impaler #5 (combined with issue 6), $4.99
PvP #45, $3.50
Sword #23, $2.99

MARVEL COMICS
Amazing Spider-Man #627, $2.99
Amazing Spider-Man By JMS Ultimate Collection Book 3 TP, $34.99
Captain America Winter Soldier Ultimate Collection TP, $24.99
Cloak And Dagger (One Shot), $3.99
Dark Wolverine #84 (Siege Tie-In), $2.99
Doomwar #1 (of 6)(John Romita Jr. 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $3.99
Essential Rampaging Hulk Volume 2 TP, $19.99
Fantastic Four #577, $2.99
Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 3 War Of Kings Book 2 TP, $19.99
Incredible Hulk #607 (Paul Pelletier 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $3.99
Iron Man Extremis HC (Book Market Cover), $24.99
Iron Man Extremis HC (Adi Granov Direct Market Variant Cover), $24.99
Iron Man I Am Iron Man TP, $16.99
Marvel Previews #80 (April 2010 For Products On-Sale June 2010), AR
New Mutants #11 (Siege Tie-In), $2.99
Nomad Girl Without A World TP, $14.99
Prelude To Deadpool Corps #5 (of 5), $2.99
Punisher #15, $2.99
Punisher MAX #1 (Marvel's Greatest Comics), $1.00
Realm Of Kings Inhumans #5 (of 5), $3.99
She-Hulk Sensational #1, $4.99
Spider-Man The Complete Clone Saga Epic Book 1 TP, $34.99
Spin Angels HC (Premiere Edition), $24.99
Thunderbolts #141 (2nd Printing Variant Cover)(Siege Tie-In), $2.99
Wolverine Origins #46, $2.99
Wolverine Origins Romulus TP, $14.99
Women Of Marvel Poster, $8.99
X-Force #25 (Clayton Crain Regular Cover)(X Necrosha Finale), $2.99
X-Force #25 (Clayton Crain Variant Cover)(X Necrosha Finale), AR
X-Men Forever #20, $3.99
X-Men Second Coming #1 (Adi Granov Regular Cover)(Second Coming Tie-In), $3.99
X-Men Second Coming #1 (David Finch Variant Cover)(Second Coming Tie-In), AR

MC FARLAND & COMPANY
Illuminating Torchwood SC, $35.00

NBM
Home For Mr Easter GN, $13.99

NICOTEXT
99 Classic Movies For People In A Hurry, $9.95

PANTHEON
Rough Justice The DC Comics Sketches of Alex Ross, $30.00
Stone Rabbit Book 4 Superhero Stampede GN (release not confirmed by Diamond Distribution), $5.99

PAPERCUTZ
Geronimo Stilton Volume 4 Following The Trail Of Marco Polo HC, $9.99
Hardy Boys Volume 19 Chaos At 30000 Feet GN, $7.95

RADICAL PUBLISHING
Aladdin Legacy Of The Lost #2 (of 3)(Cover A Arthur Suydam), $4.99
Aladdin Legacy Of The Lost #2 (of 3)(Cover B Lucio Parrillo), $4.99
Aladdin Legacy Of The Lost #2 (of 3)(Clayton Crain Variant Cover), AR

REBELLION
2000 AD Pack Feb 2010 (issues 1670 to 1673), $18.00

SCHOLASTIC PAPERBACKS
Pokemon Collectors Sticker Book Johto Edition, $6.99
Pokemon Deluxe Activity Book Region TK Edition, $5.99

SEVEN SEAS ENTERTAINMENT
Hayate X Blade Volume 6 GN (release not confirmed by Diamond Distribution), $10.99

SLG PUBLISHING
Johnny The Homicidal Maniac HC (New Printing), $44.95

TITAN PUBLISHING
Solomon Kane Official Movie Magazine, $14.99
Star Trek Magazine #25 (Newsstand Edition), $6.99
Star Trek Magazine #25 (Previews Exclusive Edition), $6.99
Supernatural Magazine #16 (Newsstand Edition), $6.99
Supernatural Magazine #16 (Previews Exclusive Edition), $6.99

TOKYOPOP
Chibi Vampire Novel Volume 6 (of 9), $10.99
Fate Stay Night Volume 7 GN (of 7), $10.99
.hack//4koma GN, $12.99
Happy Cafe Volume 2 GN (of 14), $10.99
Maid Sama Volume 4 GN (of 8), $10.99
Mikansei No 1 Volume 2 GN, $10.99
Mugen Spiral Complete 2 Volume Series GN, $14.99
Red Hot Chili Samuarai Volume 1 GN, $10.99
Samurai Harem Asu no Yoichi Volume 4 GN (of 10), $12.99
Trinity Blood Volume 12 GN, $10.99

TOMART PUBLICATIONS
Tomarts Action Figure Digest #187, $5.95

UDON ENTERTAINMENT
Silent Mobius Complete Edition Volume 3 GN, $14.99

UNIVERSITY PRESS OF MISSISSIPPI
My Life With Charlie Brown by Charles M Schultz HC, $25.00

VERTICAL
Tezukas Black Jack Volume 10 TP, $16.95
Ode To Kirihito Part 1 SC (by Osamu Tezuka), $14.95
Ode To Kirihito Part 2 SC (by Osamu Tezuka), $14.95

VIZ MEDIA
Butterflies Flowers Volume 2 GN, $9.99
Haruka Beyond The Stream Of Time Volume 7 GN, $9.99
Pluto Urasawa X Tezuka Volume 8 GN (of 8), $12.99
Vagabond Volume 31 TP, $9.95

ZENESCOPE ENTERTAINMENT
Escape From Wonderland #6 (of 6)(Cover A Rich Bonk), $2.99
Escape From Wonderland #6 (of 6)(Cover B Daniel Leister), $2.99
Waking #2 (of 4)(Cover A J. Scott Campbell), $3.99
Waking #2 (of 4)(Cover B Eric J), $3.99
Waking #2 (of 4)(J. Scott Campbell Sketch Variant Cover), $15.00
Wonderland Pint Glass Set, $24.95
Zenescope Shooter Set, $15.99




And you know the worst thing? That's not even including all the other comic-related shit that's out this week. Shit like this:

WIZARD ENTERTAINMENT
Wizard Magazine #224 (Iron Man 2 Cover), $5.99
Wizard Magazine #224 (Marvel Ultimate Universe Cover), $5.99

Cards - DYNAMIC FORCES
Dawn 20th Anniversary Trading Card Binder (Dynamic Forces), $29.99

Cards - TOPPS
Topps 2010 Finest MLB Trading Card Box, AR

Cards - UPPER DECK ENTERTAINMENT
Upper Deck 2009 10 Champs NHL Trading Card Box, AR
Upper Deck 2009 Prominent Cuts Trading Card Box, AR

Games - ALLIANCE GAMES DISTRIBUTORS
Ablaze Board Game, $20.00
Eco Fluxx 2009 Ed Card Game, AR
Goblins Card Game, $26.00
Nuns On The Run Board Game, $35.00
Zombie Ninja Pirates Card Game, $17.95

Games - CRYSTAL CASTE
Crystal Translucent D6 10 Pc Set Aqua, $9.80
Crystal Translucent D6 10 Pc Set Blue, $9.80
Crystal Translucent D6 10 Pc Set Clear, $9.80
Crystal Translucent D6 10 Pc Set Green, $9.80
Crystal Translucent D6 10 Pc Set Purple, $9.80
Crystal Translucent D6 10 Pc Set Red, $9.80

Games - FANTASY FLIGHT PUBLISHING
Warhammer 40K Dark Heresy RPG Ascension, $49.95

Games - KONAMI DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT
Yu Gi Oh TCG 5ds Absolute Powerforce Se Box Dis, AR

Games - MONGOOSE PUBLISHING
Lone Wolf Multiplayer Gamebook, $19.99
Paranoia RPG None Of This Is My Fault, $12.99

Games - PSI
Homesteaders Board Game, $39.95
Mage Awakening RPG Night Horrors Unbidden (resolicited), $27.99
Terra Prime Board Game, $39.95

Games - WIZARDS OF THE COAST
Axis & Allies Naval CMG War At Sea Starter Set, $24.99
D&D Hammerfast, $14.95
Gold Dragon Codex, $9.95

T-Shirts
Brightest Day Symbol T-Shirt LG, $17.95
Brightest Day Symbol T-Shirt MED, $17.95
Brightest Day Symbol T-Shirt XL, $17.95
Brightest Day Symbol T-Shirt XXL, $20.95
Doctor Who Martha Jones Jacket MED, $249.00
Doctor Who Martha Jones Jacket SM, $249.00
Doctor Who Tenth Doctors Coat LG, $299.00
Doctor Who Tenth Doctors Coat MED, $299.00
Doctor Who Tenth Doctors Coat SM, $299.00
Doctor Who Tenth Doctors Coat XL, $299.00
Halo ODST Logo Zip-up Hoodie LG, $49.99
Halo ODST Logo Zip-up Hoodie MED, $49.99
Halo ODST Logo Zip-up Hoodie XXL, $49.99
Tokidoki X Marvel Capt America Juniors T-Shirt LG, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Capt America Juniors T-Shirt MED, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Capt America Juniors T-Shirt SM, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Capt America Juniors T-Shirt XL, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Hulk Juniors T-Shirt LG, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Hulk Juniors T-Shirt MED, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Hulk Juniors T-Shirt SM, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Hulk Juniors T-Shirt XL, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Human Torch Gray T-Shirt LG, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Human Torch Gray T-Shirt MED, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Human Torch Gray T-Shirt SM, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Human Torch Gray T-Shirt XL, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Spider-Man White Juniors T-Shirt LG, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Spider-Man White Juniors T-Shirt MED, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Spider-Man White Juniors T-Shirt SM, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Spider-Man White Juniors T-Shirt XL, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Thor Black T-Shirt LG, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Thor Blk T-Shirt MED, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Thor Black T-Shirt SM, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Thor Black T-Shirt XL, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Wolverine Yellow T-Shirt LG, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Wolverine Yellow T-Shirt MED, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Wolverine Yellow T-Shirt SM, $28.00
Tokidoki X Marvel Wolverine Yellow T-Shirt XL, $28.00

Videos
Bakugan DVD Chapter 1, AR
Lord Of The Rings Animated Deluxe Edition Blu-Ray, AR
Lord Of The Rings Animated Deluxe Edition DVD, AR
Neo Angelique Abyss DVD Season 2, AR
Ray Harryhausen Wrath Of The Titans Motion Comic DVD, $14.99
Tayutama Kiss On My Deity Complete Collection DVD, AR
Twilight New Moon Blu-Ray, AR
Yozakura Quartet Complete Collection DVD, AR

Merchandise
Alice In Wonderland Mad Hatter & Cheshire Cat Kubrick/Bearbrick, $19.99
Alice In Wonderland Mad Hatter Rah, $199.99
Amazing Spider-Man Big Face Messenger Bag, $29.99
Battlestar Galactica Cylon Evolution Of The Cylon Poster, $14.99
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Tooned Up Faith Maquette, $99.99
Bob Marley Buffalo Soldier Funko Force Action Figure, $12.99
Classic Gort Bobble Head, $12.99
Classic Robby Robot Bobble Head, $12.99
Classic Saucerman Bobble Head, $12.99
Darkstalkers Felicia 1/4 Scale Statue, $300.00
DC Heroes Wave 12 Green Arrow Action Figure, $19.99
DC Heroes Wave 12 Power Girl Action Figure, $19.99
Donald Duck & Goofy Kubrick 2-pk, $19.99
Donald Duck & Goofy Kubrick 2-pk, $19.99
Final Fantasy XI Tarutaru Trading Arts Set Volume 1, $24.99
Fraulein Revoltech - Queens Blade Elina Action Figure, AR
Hellboy Fan Toffee Doll, $100.00
Ikkitousen Gg Kanu PVC Figure Pink Ribbon Lingerie, $109.99
Ikkitousen Gg Ryofu PVC Figure School Swimsuit, $109.99
Iron Man 2 Mark VI Nodnik, $7.99
Iron Man 2 War Machine Nodnik, $7.99
Iron Man 2 Whiplash Bobble Head, $11.99
Kingdom Hearts Mascot Strap Axel, $9.99
Kingdom Hearts Mascot Strap Halloween Sora, $9.99
Kingdom Hearts Mascot Strap Sephiroth, $9.99
Kingdom Hearts Mascot Strap Squall, $9.99
Kingdom Hearts Mascot Strap Vivi, $9.99
Jim Morrison Lizard King Funko Force Action Figure, $12.99
Lord Of The Rings 1/1 Scale Lothlorien Bow Legolas, $299.95
Marvel Minimates Series 34 Assortment, AR
Mickey Mouse & Minnie Mouse Bearbrick 2-pk, $19.99
Mickey Mouse & Minnie Mouse Kubrick 2-pk, $19.99
Mynus Little Ugly 7in Plush, $10.00
Mynus Uglydoll 12in Plush, $20.00
Mynus Uglydoll Clip On, $6.00
Nendoroid Petite Death Note #2 12pc Bmb Disp, $107.88
Phantom Ein Figma Action Figure, AR
Robotech Zentraedi Tactical Battlepod Vinyl Figure, $24.99
Rosario + Vampire Kurumu 1:8 Scale PVC Figure, $94.99
Rosario + Vampire Moka 1:8 Scale PVC Figure, $94.99
Rulilura Ex Model Core PVC Fig Another Color Version, $109.99
Runaway Brain Mickey & Julius Kubrick 2-pk, $19.99
Serenity Blue Sun Travel Poster Set Series 2, $34.95
Shadow Statue, $199.99
Spider-Man Hero & Villain Action Figure Assortment 201003, AR
Stargate SG-1 Goauld Death Glider Replica, $99.95
Strawberry Shortcake Magic Braid Action Figure Assortment, AR
Street Fighter Zangief 1/4 Scale Statue, $375.00
Star Wars Yoda Bronze Statue (resolicited), AR
Tokidoki X Marvel Skateboard Deck, $65.00
Toy Story Lunch Box 12 Pc Assortment, AR
Transformers Mighty Muggs Action Figure Assortment 200903, AR
Transformers Movie Deluxe Action Figure Assortment 201003, AR
Uglydoll Clip on 72pc Assortment, $432.00
War Of The Worlds 1:48 Scale War Machine Special Edition Model Kit, $39.99
War Of The Worlds War Machines Attack Special Edition Model Kit, $25.99
Winnie The Pooh & Piglet Bearbrick 2 Pc Set, $19.99
Wolfman Mez-It, $14.99
World Of Warcraft Murloc Plush, $39.99
WoW Great Dragonflights Stein, AR
X-1 1:18 Scale Model Kit, $39.99


Look at it all. Look at all the fucking crap that comes out every week. Look at what I have to wade through to determine that yes, there is one single solitary comic I would like to buy this week. Just look.

So no, since you ask, I won't be going to the comic shop this week. It's not bloody worth it.

Boss! Boss! The List!

I didn't think there'd be much out for me this week comics-wise, but there are a few things. Namely:

American Vampire #1. This is Vertigo's new ongoing vampire series. I guess the main selling point with this one is the presence of Stephen King writing the back-up story, the first time he's actually written a comic, as opposed to having one of his novels adapted as a comic. The lead story is written by Scott Snyder, about whom I know nowt, but the artwork's by Rafael Albuquerque, an artist I first noticed when I was looking for potential artists for a Tank Girl comic I was editing. I think I'd seen his art in Savage Brothers and was impressed. He went on to draw Blue Beetle for DC. Talented guy.

Dark Avengers #15. Another Siege tie-in, and possibly some more revelations about the Sentry. Only problem is, I couldn't give a rat's twat about the Sentry. He was a potentially intriguing idea when Paul Jenkins first retconned him into Marvel continuity – a 'forgotten' Superman-like character with a very literal dark side – but nobody's found anything interesting to do with him since. And now Bendis seems to have turned him into Jesus. Or God. Or something. I can't tell anymore. Or care anymore. Which begs the question, why will I be buying this comic? Basically, because there's only a few issues of it left before the big Avengers relaunch and I might as well have the complete series. We're a bit weird like that, us comics nerds. And speaking of comics I'll probably buy even though I'm not terribly interested in them...

Siege #3. Well, it's only four issues long, and I've got the first two, so might as well finish it up. Perhaps something really terribly fascinating will happen this issue. Probably not though. Probably just get something like this










again. Yes, that is a character – Ares – being torn asunder by the aforementioned Sentry. Ain't comics neat?!

Aaaaand this week's contender for Comic I Probably Shouldn't Buy Because It'll Be Crap But I Will More Than Likely Buy Anyway Because I'm Fucking Hopeless is Superman 80 Page Giant #1. Cuz it's like eighty pages of Superman. And eighty pages means there's gotta be something in there half decent, something better than the regular Superman titles, which were turning into such an epic snooze that even I, a Superman fan who's been following the regular Supes titles for well over ten years (and on and off for another ten-plus years before that even), stopped buying them, mid-storyline. Right? Right?

...Right?

New Arrivals

Two treats waiting for me when I got home today:













A 1965 first UK edition of Patricia Highsmith's A Suspension of Mercy, and a first UK paperback edition of her debut novel, Strangers on a Train. Both nabbed on eBay for a very reasonable price. And in other Patricia Highsmith news, I should soon have a full set of Ripley first editions (with the exception of Talented, which I have a nice 1960 Pan edition of), with both The Boy Who Followed Ripley and Ripley Under Water hopefully winging their way towards me soon.

And at this point I should probably stop buying books for a while. I've got quite enough to be getting on with, and really the only book I'm currently keen to get is Kingsley Amis's The James Bond Dossier. I've got my eye on a copy of that on eBay, twinned with his Book of Bond. But then that's it. Really.

Well...

For a while anyway.

Maybe.

Ahem.

Oh sod it. I'm an inveterate collector. If it's not books it's comics; if it's not comics it's records; and if it's not records it's DVDs. At least with books I'm bettering myself slightly, expanding my horizons through fiction. Yes, I do actually read the books I buy, not just stick 'em on a shelf. Although they do look good on the shelf...

But yes. There are no local book fairs until next year, so it's time to regroup, take stock, and try and make headway with the books I do have. I'm nearly done on Stephen King's Under the Dome, and am also partway through Live and Let Die (James Bond has just had his first encounter with Mr. Big). Under the Dome has been great, although a strange thing: as with Cell, King hasn't really imparted a description of the ostensible hero, Dale Barbara. I've got a mental image of him as a black man, even though I'm almost positive he's not. It just feels right to me that he is, and King hasn't described him at all, so far as I can recall. Which is odd, as I'm pretty sure King's at least sketched the appearances of all the other characters in the book.

And after these two, I think I'll try Kingsley Amis's The Green Man and Highsmith's afore-mentioned Strangers on a Train next. And dip back into the Highsmith biography I started. Ah, sweet anticipation.

The Haywards Heath

book fair was another charming provincial affair. A decent-sized hall with maybe twenty dealers there. I got there early and stood in the short queue, and I recognised the two guys in front of me: they had a table at the Rye book fair the weekend before, selling rare children's books. One of them must have slightly recognised me too, because he turned around and asked if I had a ticket. I said no, and he gave me a spare one! Very nice of him. Once inside I did a few circuits, picked up something for Rachel for Christmas, and also bought a hardback first edition of the 1990 revised version of Stephen King's The Stand, which may well be my favourite ever book. I recall borrowing this version from the local library years ago, and reading it twice through. Flicking through it on the train on the way home I still remembered so much of it vividly, even King's introduction, where he explains why he decided to publish this extended edition (basically because lots of fans asked for it, and the original was only cut back in length because the accounts people wanted to keep the price down). So, another lovely book for the shelves.

Ze List

Here's wot I done got this week:

Batman and Robin #6
Chronicles of Wormwood Last Battle #2
Punishermax #1 (Steve Dillon Variant Cover)
Supergod #1 (of 5)
Unwritten #7
Walking Dead #67

I also flicked through these:

Batman Doc Savage Special #1
Strange #1 (of 4)

but decided against them. And y'know, even the comics I did get I'm finding it hard to get excited about. The weekly trip to the comics shop is feeling more like a chore these days, like a habit. Just something to get me out of the office. I'm still feeling the books more than the comics at present. Just started on Stephen King's Under the Dome, and it's pretty gripping thus far, certainly more so than any comics I've bought. Should I stop going to the comic shop? Has it really come to that?