Monster A Novel by A. Lee Martinez

Monster A Novel by A. Lee Martinez

Monster, the main character in the novel, is a cryptobiological hunter. He is one of the few humans who can see and interact with magic. Most people in the book block it out; when they see a yeti for example, they think big bear or monkey, then they remember seeing a big bear or monkey.

Monster gets entangled with a human, Judy, after she calls in animal control to deal with yetis in her freezer. As the novel progresses, we learn Judy is the key to saving the universe.

Thus ensues a metaphysical, humorous, sometimes ridiculous story about saving the universe. There are numerous encounters with odd critters; trolls, a pegasus, gnomes, a firebreathing cat, a sphinx, a walrus dog, and other things.

Monster's personal life is a bit messy. His girlfriend is a demon who leaves around devil dolls. She is wicked, but not as wicked as I would have liked. Judy, the other central character, also is not going anywhere with her life.

My favorite character was the villainness. I found her much more sympathetic than the main characters. She is polite, ladylike, keeps a garden, has lots of cats, and is almost unstoppable.

This is a light romp. It is set in the modern day. I have read most of the authors works. He writes humorous fantasy. I can recommend Gil's All Fright Diner which is his best book so far. I have been following the author closely. He has a website at http://www.aleemartinez.com

I got this book from the New York Comic Con on February 6. The book is due out in May of 2009. The copy I am reading is an Advanced Reading Copy.

Daily Thoughts

Still Life with French Novels and a Rose Vincent Van Gogh 1887

Daily Thoughts

Tomorrow I am going to the O'Reilly Tools of Change Publishing Conference. On Friday, I went to the New York Comic Con. I am going to be going on Monday for the whole day, and Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday, we have a professor from Pratt coming to visit us to talk about collection development and I have to be there to listen to the professors talk as well as have them evaluate the collection. Librarians from a variety of different libraries are coming to visit my library that day.

There are still a lot of things which I need to do to improve the collection.

This afternoon, I read some of an Advanced Reading Copy of Monster A Novel, by A. Lee Martinez. The writing reminds me a bit of a modernized version of Robert Asprin. The fantasy novel is coming out in May of 2009.

Good Morning

A good place to find crap, old books, old comic books, and kitsch.

Good Morning

This morning, I entered a contest to win a Neil Gaiman poster. There is going to be a new book out about Neil Gaiman, Prince of Stories The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman by
Hank Wagner, Christopher Golden, and Stephen R. Bissette published by St. Martin's. This is a link to the contest. http://us.macmillan.com/BookCustomPage.aspx?isbn=9780312387655&m_type=4&m_contentid=8573

For a little more science fiction, I put Eric Flint and Dave Freer's Slow Train to Arcturus on hold. One of the nice things about Baen, is that they put up the first eight or so chapters of a new book for free on the web to see if you like it for most of their new books. Not the whole book, but enough to make you interested. http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1416555854/1416555854.htm?blurb

I read Cory Doctorow's Futuristic Tales of the Here and Now, the graphic novel. I had read most all of the short stories turned into graphic novels previously so there was really only one surprise.

I really loved the story Craphound with art by Paul Pope. It has an absolutely wonderful quality to it. An alien visits earth to collect junk. The alien understands flea markets, but wants to understand the essence of human nostalgia. He travels around with his human companion and collects junk, cowboy and indian outfits, ten gallon hats, old magazines and nostalgia. The aliens even trade technology for junk. I like Cory Doctorow's one page summary about why he wrote the story, it is almost as good as the story. The idea of Cory Doctorow being nostalgic over glow in the dark disney cards and victorian watches is neat.

This is a link to the free online version of the story:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17026/17026.txt

I think I am going to read Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution- and How It Can Renew America by Thomas L. Friedman. This book is currently #1 on the Business New York Times list, and #3 on the general New York Times list. This has been one of the themes for my blogs for a long time. Take the time and learn about clean technology if you can.

This afternoon, I spent some time watching the new version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Tim Burton. I don't think it is as good as the old version starring Gene Wilder. I think it was still very entertaining and Johnny Depp did a good job. My favorite part of the movie is the Squirrel Room. I rather like the idea of trained squirrels able to separate the good nuts from the bad. This one part was better than the old movie. The rest was not as good. The childrens book by Roald Dahl of course is far better.

Sometimes when you read enough of an authors novels, you begin to recognize a pattern in their work. I found A Nameless Witch to be essentially a plot variation on Too Many Curses. Both are quest novels where the main character must ultimately defeat a great wizard. They have a number of quests to fill to reach that goal. I enjoyed the novel, but it was not different enough from A. Lee Martinez's other novels to say it was better or worse than The Automatic Detective or Gil's All Fright Diner. They are all enjoyable, entertaining and funny. It was another novel which I just sort of passed through on to my next read.

The only really good thing I can say about A Nameless Witch was the unique set of characters, a white knight, a demon duck, a beautiful undead witch, a troll, an animated broom, a villainous sorcerer, and a mystical fox.

Too Many Curses-- A. Lee Martinez-- Review

Too Many Curses-- A. Lee Martinez-- Review

Too Many Curses is a fantasy puzzle novel. This means, Nessy, the main character must defeat the obstacles in the book using the help of her friends and her brain. There are not too many of this type of novel written. Another very good example of this kind of novel is Mary Brown The Unlikely Ones. This style emphasizes brains over brawn.

Nessy is a kobold servant of the evil, malicious wizard, Margle the Horrendous. One day, Margle gets accidentally eaten by the Nargle, a rather ridiculous monster who takes a liking to Nessy. Note the pun (Margle versus Nargle.) There is a lot of this kind of silliness in the novel along with rhyming.

With Margle gone, Nessy still feels the necessity to take care of the accursed denizens of the wizards castle. Feeding the monsters, sweeping the floors, and making sure everything is in its proper place. This is not easy, with Margle gone things start to unravel. Beasties and terrible things start to happen.

She seeks the help of the various denizens of the castle to help her out, Dangerous Dan the skeleton (I think this is a reference to Dangerous Dan McGraw), the sword in the cabbage, the hanged man in the library (I think this may be a reference to the board game Clue.), a hero turned into a fruit bat, a wizards parts in a jar, and others. If you pay careful attention there are many references to literature and popular culture.

Because she is short, furry, and practical she cannot defeat the problems with brute force. Often what happens is a series of pratfalls and Rube Goldberg like actions to defeat her foes. For example as part of defeating a hellhound she traps it in a living carpet. It is not a your typical fantasy novel. She also goes under the tutelage of the brain in the jar to learn spells.

Ultimately, like all good heros she saves the day, but not before she has many adventures. All of the creatures of the castle go back to their proper place and she can read her novel given to her by the monster under the bed.

I enjoyed this novel. It was hard to follow and a bit silly at times. I think the novel will be panned by reviewers because of its unusual style. It is written for a general audience, but the puns will hit right on with teenagers.

I think A. Lee Martinez could very well be the next Robert Asprin of fantasy writing. He is a very good author who deserves a solid following. I also enjoyed reading Gil's All Fright Diner, and I reviewed The Automatic Detective earlier. He has a website at: http://www.aleemartinez.com/

Long Day

A crowded day in Manhattan. Everything moves slow as molasses.

Long Day

Today has started out as a very long day. I went into Manhattan in a cab this morning and it was United Nations week, this made me very late to where I was going. Police were lining the streets directing traffic so it would not interfere with the diplomats. I could not stand it. It basically shot most of my morning. Cabs are for comfort in Manhattan. The subway is usually faster.

I read a little bit more of Too Many Curses. It is turning out to be quite entertaining. Many of the characters are based on different jokes, cliches, or literary allusions. There is a skeleton named Dan who is probably modeled after Dangerous Dan McGrew, there is the monster under the bed, the vampire king, and the hanged man in the library (think the boardgame Clue). The writing is light and full of puns and rhyming. It is fun but not very literary in nature. I rather like it. I am not sure it is something for the critics, however.

On the way in to work, I stopped at Posman books in Grand Central Terminal and took a few minutes to look at the computer books. I like Posman books because it is well lit, orderly, and easy to find books there. I noted some titles to order, but I only had a few minutes before my train came. Such is life.

Work has been typical, but boring. I did all of my daily tasks, weeding, ordering, sitting on the desk, ordering annual reports, and filing some looseleafs for the law. It is steady and monotonous. I am thinking of ordering books based on the major employees in the town I am working in; nursing, hvac, refrigeration, construction, social work, welding, and manufacturing.

Today seems like it is not going anywhere yet. I have to see. I had some soup and a buttered roll for dinner. Right now, I am sitting down and typing for a minute. Life goes on.

Good Afternoon

An old clipping from the New York Times.

Good Afternoon

Good afternoon. I was reading the New York Times Book Review this morning and I came across a very interesting title; James Galbraith The Predator State How Conservatives Abandoned The Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too. It seems to have very strong mixed reactions. We need to read something different than what is happening now. James Galbraith is John Kenneth Galbraith's son. Maybe we will get a little wind too blow away the smoke and mirrors. I put the book on hold.

Also, Too Many Curses by A. Lee Martinez came in for me to read. I cracked the book today.

A. Lee Martinez has a website for his books. http://www.aleemartinez.com/ . I am definitely a fan of his work having read Gil's All Fright Dinner, and The Automatic Detective. I find him to be a humorous but versatile writer. I would compare him to Terry Pratchett or Robert Asprin.

Life keeps on going doing the usual things. I weeded a bunch of books in social sciences again this morning. I cleared off the 9/11 display and put up a display of current computer books that are coming in right now. I am trying to include books on devices as well as computers, cell phones, ipods, blackberries, game machines, digital cameras, and all the peripherals (or tethered devices) that go with computers.

I hope I get a chance to do more of the law looseleafs as well as ordering annual reports. None of this is easy.

I did a brief time putting looseleafs in the law books. I always pace myself when I do this. I try to do a little bit every day for an hour a day so it does not overwhelm me. It is impossible to finish most of the tasks I am doing in one sitting. On that note, I also ordered more annual reports. It is a long task once it starts. I ordered one book oriented annual report today, The New York Times Company.

I also placed a short list of social science books to order.

I am going to order more computer books tomorrow. They are literally flying out the door. There is a tremendous demand for computer books. The most popular computer books are photoshop and digital photography books. After this, we get requests for web design and blogging. We could probably never order quite enough computer titles.

On a less solemn note, I did some more writing exercises from Writing Begins With the Breath by Laraine Herring. This is a short poem from one of them.

Writing

Pen moves rolls and dips

Releasing black ink on the page

Nouns verbs form stories

I like to think of writing as a metaphor of a ship sailing on a sea trying to reach a distant land. The oars write on the sea moving the ship forward towards its destination. I am not sure where this came from, but it is a recurring theme which I experience when writing short poems.

Good Morning, Good Afternoon

Brain in a vat. I don't know why I chose this image. Maybe, I feel a bit dreamy today.

Good Morning

I read Black and White on the train in to work today. I reserved By Schism Rent Asunder, a new David Weber in his series Armageddon Reef. This series reads very differently than his books published under the Baen label. This book is published under the Tor label so the editing should be considerably different.

I also found a review for The Automotic Detective on http://www.sfsite.com/ This is the exact link to the review http://www.sfsite.com/07b/ad276.htm . I liked the review enough to recommend it. It is accurate.

Good Afternoon

During lunch, I noted down the outline for the review of Don't Make Me Think A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. I am not going to write it out today. One review in a day is enough. I think more than one review would be rushed and a little sloppy.

I am feeling a little better than this morning with two cups of coffee fortifying my thinking.

One of the reasons I am doing this blog is for self motivation to get myself to do a little bit every day of different library and literature related things...

I weeded some of the graphic novels in the adult section. I did not get rid of a lot of the classics. People still read Milton Caniff, Rube Goldberg, Jules Feiffer, Al Capp, Gary Trudeau, and Berke Breathed. I know these are often quite old, but people are still checking them out. As soon as the new graphic novels I order are here, they go out very quickly.

Often the people who sit at the computers have a waiting time of half hour or longer. Many of them read graphic novels while they are waiting for their turn on the internet computers. Graphic novels are quick and easy to read.

I checked out a few graphic novels for me to read this weekend. I always check out the books which I am going to use. It is the right thing to do for librarians. Check out your books. It increases the amount of circulation for your library. Libraries are partially funded by circulation.

I have the following graphic novels, The Facts In The Case of the Departure of Miss Finch by Neil Gaiman, Michael Zulli, and Todd Klein, Usagi Yojimbo The Mother of Mountains Volume 21 by Stan Sakai, and The Savage Sword of Conan Volumes 1, 2, and 3 written by Roy Thomas. These are Dark Horse comics compilations. They should remind me of when I was younger and liked to read Conan. It is a bit nostalgic to look at these three volumes.

Also, I have The Future of the Internet and How To Stop It by Jonathan Zittrain. This should be interesting. Finally, I am looking at Fueling Our Future An Introduction To Sustainable Energy by Robert L. Evans.

Afternoon Thoughts

Unknown Master Artist, Vanitas With Sun Dial

Afternoon Thoughts

This morning, I spent three hours answering peoples reference questions. It was rather interesting and busy.

Anyways, I am reading Steve Krup, Don't Make Me Think, A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, Second Edition, New Rikers, c2006. Usability is how to make it easy to use and navigate websites. This book makes many suggestions on how to do this. It is a quick read. I am already half way through the book.

I will work on writing a review of The Automatic Detective tomorrow. Sometimes, I have to let a book sit in my head for a little bit before I start writing a review about it. I don't even seem to think about it in my conscious mind.

The room is set up for my poetry open microphone this afternoon, I have to pick out some poetry books to bring down for the audience to look at. A bit later the refreshments will be set up.

Morning Thoughts

19th Century Phrenology Chart. Nothing like a little pseudoscience.

Morning Thoughts

I have been looking at Baker & Taylor online for a little bit. They have a section of selection lists for libraries. I have been looking at their starred reviews lists of books as well as some of their specialized e-lists on different subjects. Some of them are useful for selecting items. Baker & Taylor is a very large book distributor. We buy most of our books through Baker & Taylor. So do a lot of the public libraries in the United States. We do our own technical processing.

I spent some time looking through the Strand Books website http://www.strandbooks.com/ . They are arranged very differently than Amazon or Barnes and Nobles. The Strand has a number of categories for books which are interesting like substance abuse and social work which are worth looking at. We have a fairly high demand for items in these categories.

I also took a few minutes and looked at the different categories at Powell's bookstores. Powell's is another megabookstore like the Strand. I find Powell's categories to be much more refined than Barnes and Nobles or Amazon. http://www.powells.com/psection/psection.html

The Automatic Detective by A. Lee Martinez has come in for me to read. I didn't realize until I picked up the book that the author also wrote Gil's All Fright Diner, a humourous horror novel about preventing the end of the world.

I am also thinking about what I am going to do for my Open Microphone Poetry Reading on Thursday. We moved the time down to 5:00-6:00 p.m., it really should be later, but there is no one who can fill in for the time slot.