Rex Riders by J.P. Carlson

Rex Riders by J.P. Carlson

Rex Riders is a "weird western", a combination of weird tale or science fiction and western story. The story is an adventure story for teenagers, but it can be read by most anybody. It is an attempt to bring back the old fashioned pulp style story with better writing and more historical accuracy. There is plenty of action and a strong sense of old fashioned frontier values in this story.

The descriptions of riding include both horses and dinosaurs. Two of the dinosaurs featured are the tyrannosaurus rex and the triceratops. We move between the setting of the old west in the town of Dos Locos and a dinosaur planet. The setting of the west is described in beautiful detail; ranching, square dancing, country doctors, and small town life.

The story has themes about greed, bravery, loyalty, and taking advantage of peoples weaknesses. The villain D'Alessandro has his ranch destroyed because of his greed and his violent henchman, Cooper comes to a bad end.

J. Califiore is the artist who illustrates the book. He is a comic book artist for both DC and Marvel. Bob Eggleton has a small illustration on the back cover. The illustrations by J. Califiore are very precisely rendered, with lots of action, and clean lines. I like the picture of Zeke Calhoun, the main teenage character riding a t-rex, as well as a picture of a stage coach being rammed by a triceratops.

The one flaw I found was the occassional tendency of the author, J.P. Carlson to tell not show. For example, in one instance, he describes the way a pike is used in logging in the old west. This broke the flow of the story. It might have been better if there was a captioned illustration at this point. On the other hand, there is a lot of very fine detail written into the story like exact descriptions of cowboy instruments, tyrannosaurus rexes eating beef jerky, and a stampede of triceratops.

At the time I read this book on June 8, 2010, there was no website for this book. There also was no availability on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. It was released on May 3, 2010. I picked up an advanced reading copy at Book Expo America. The ISBN for the book is 9780982579633 . It is priced at $19.99 . This is the first book by a new press, Monstrosities, Inc.

Daily Thoughts 6/8/2010

Joseph Conrad, 1916

Daily Thoughts 6/8/2010

Today has been a quiet day. I worked a little bit on the Bookletters page, we are almost ready to post the first example to our website which should be interesting. I also worked with a colleague on writing a bookmark for books in Spanish in our collection. I have a couple of periodicals to read, Booklist and Library Journal. I also did a search for books to be sent out on the book mobile. The book mobile stops at the armory which is mainly older folks. I usually get requests for history, biography of actors and politicians, World War II, art, mysteries, and bestselling fiction. There is an occassional request for family sagas.

Last night, I finished reading Rex Riders which was a lot of fun to read. I'll write a review of it later this week. Right now, I am reading Drive The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Daniel H. Pink writes a lot about intrinsic motivation; autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Things which don't fit easily into a top down command structure based on managers and workers. He is making an argument that many new jobs that are being created have artistry built into them and don't follow the reward and motivational structure of modern corporations. He also tells us that 18 million Americans are self employed as well as 11 million Americans work from home at least occassionally. This makes the top down command structure not work very well in many jobs. So far, the book is quite interesting.

Daily Thoughts 6/7/2010

Central building, cartoons : Outside of that cowboy book I showed you there ain't a decent book in the whole darn place.

Daily Thoughts 6/7/2010

It is Internet Week here in New York. It should be interesting following it. http://www.internetweekny.com/#/?day=7&event=315

Today has been quiet. We had a meeting today focusing on things which need to be done. We are working on the Bookletters page, shifting books in the storage area, making sure the items from Book Expo America are processed as well as some items that were pulled from the book sale to be added to the collection, and working on creating bookmarks for Spanish and Portuguese language books.

I am also thinking about creating a suggested material forms for the web site so patrons can request us to buy books and other items, as well as getting ready for my graphic novels program and poetry program next week. The suggest a materials form is fairly common on library websites. It is a matter of creating an email form in html that is not too complicated.

I read a little bit more of Rex Riders on the train. It is quite entertaining; an alien dinosaur planet, triceratops tearing up the town store, square dances, and cattle ranches. It makes for a good story with plenty of adventure which will appeal to young men of all ages.

Daily Thoughst 6/6/2010

"This library open every other Monday from 9:58 A.M. to 10 A.M." Printed on border: "From 'Life,' January 7, 1892." Mid-Manhattan Picture Collection / New York City -- New York Public Library "Jan. 9, 1854, Astor Library opened."

Daily Thoughts 6/6/2010

I am looking at the American Library Association Advocacy University. It is kind of interesting to look at. A lot of it is about how to put your best foot forward, be nice to patrons, and ask them to support the library. http://bit.ly/cLUvi3

Started reading a book called Rex Riders by J.P. Carlson, it is a weird western which is not that common to find written for young adults. It is the first title by a new press called Monstrosities Books. I picked up an advanced reading copy of it at Book Expo America. I rather like the interior illustrations by J. Calafiore who draws for Marvel comics.