I am So Angry

So, I've been slowly rereading the Sandman series.  I have all ten trade paperback collections of Neil Gaiman's series.  And I started rereading when the first season dropped.

I was so impressed with the adaptation, and I wanted to recapture my feelings of the series and when I first read Sandman.

Last night, I finished book IX - The Kindly Ones.

This arc is about the revenge of a woman who thinks she was wronged by Dream, and she engages the Erinyes for her revenge.  For a while they go through the Dreaming killing various residents. And [spoiler alert], Dream dies at the end of the arc.

I remember the first time I read this and how sad it was.  I cried over the deaths of the residents.  And I cried over the death of Dream.

Last night, while I shed a few tears, I just got more and more angry.

Because since Gaiman is accused of some horrible things, Netflix has cancelled their Sandman series after the second season.

I don't know how far the second season will get into the series.  Maybe on through the arc of finding Destruction, if we're lucky.

But what made angry was that the amazing arc of emotion I felt will never be adapted.

And his whole legacy is forever tainted.

I am more angry about this than I was Bill Cosby.  I haven't been able to listen to any of Cosby's stand-up since the allegations against him were made public, and getting out on a technicality only makes it worse.

But the impact Gaiman's writing has had on me...

We've all imagined that Dream is an avatar of Gaiman's with hsi look and style.  So now when I look back at the series and remember Dream's treatment of his lovers both during and after their relations, it makes me wonder if the series were a bit of confession.  And for Dream to be finally brought down by a woman and the Erinyes as well feels like he's telling everyone what happened and that he wants to be punished.

Now sure, I could be making all of this up in my head, but the parallels are disturbing.

And my last though last night when I closed the book was, "Terry [Pratchett] would have been disgusted by Neil's behavior."

Two years ago

Two years ago Leonard Nimoy passed away.

"I am now, and always shall be, your friend."

Still the best thing to say to anyone you care about.

It also brings this quote from Neil Gaiman to mind:

“To absent friends, lost loves, old gods, and the season of mists; and may each and every one of us always give the devil his due.”

That's the Way You Do It

A new BBC announcement: Good Omens television series!

We'll be able to compare apocalypses between Terry and Neil's vision against the real thing.

The Sign

In in my Terry Pratchett tribute/re-read, I have been through Good Omens and the Johnny Maxwell trilogy.

Good Omens is a favorite for the collaboration with Neil Gaiman, for being another book with good memories of when I read it, and also great fun at author signings.  I read the book from the library, and bought the large trade paperback.  Then when I found the first printing at Dark Carnival in Berkeley, I bought it.  Then when Terry and Neil came to Berkeley for signing at the old Cody's Book Store, I brought it in to be signed.  Terry was first (and was happy to have released his book a month before Neil so that it would be on the bestseller list before being knocked off by Neil), and he asked if I knew that Neil would be coming in for a signing soon, and was I going to be there.  I said yes, and he said, "Tell him I said, 'Rabbit."'  When I saw Neil, I said, "Terry says, 'Rabbit.'"  Neil look at me, and said, "What kind?"  Unfortunately I never got to see Terry again, and was not able t o continue the game of long term telephone.

The Johnny Maxwell trilogy is a series of books that may be classified as juvenile, but sometimes those are the best books. They're a thoroughly fun series about an English boy who has very strange things happen to him, and his friends get caught up with it all.  Only You Can Save Mankind was popular enough to be have been made into a radio show, and Johnny and the Dead and Johnny and the Bomb were both made into BBC productions.

Good Omens has also recently been made into a BBC radio show, and a movie is supposedly in development.

All of these books have the characteristic of being engaging books in that I can almost completely lose myself in them on BART to the point that I have sometimes had to rush to be ready for my stop.

Tribute Reading

When Robin Williams died, I listened to his old works.  It felt good to hear his voice again, and chuckle, laugh, and giggle at all the bits that marked me as a kid.

Last week, I decided it was time to re-read Terry Pratchett.  I'm going to save the Discworld for last.  I'm going to read his other work first starting with the best collaboration I've ever read: Good Omens.

Neil hasn't been able to write anything about his friend of thirty years, but apparently he had an appearance last week that turned into a remembrance of Sir Terry.



And there's been an article out about Neil's daughter Rhianna as well.

Adn then there's this from the Daily Telegraph:

My Book Report

So let's see where we are.

I have recently read the latest Kate Daniels book, Magic Breaks, from Ilona Andrews.  In keeping with the theme, may I just say the the manure carts never stop hitting the windmill.  I was happy for the forward which states that while the book may seem like a last book, they are under contract for three more.  It is another wonderful continuation of the series, and I highly recommend it.

Then I tried to read a new series beginning with Ex-Heroes by Peter Clines.  I had scanned a recommendation from iO9, and it soon disappointed.  I had picked it up because it was described as a good story with super powers.  Since i had recently read Steelheart, I thought another in that vein might be good.  Then the zombies appeared.

I have to figure there is a geek somewhere in Japan that doesn't like anime.  On another island in the Land of the Rising Sun is another geek who is tired of Kaiju.  And sometimes I feel I'm the only geek in the US that doesn't like zombies.  I've read one zombie book (Death Troopers), and was kind of "meh..." about it.  I've only watched two full zombie movies, and those was "Sean of the Dead" and "Zombieland", and that's only because they were comedies.  Now it's not like I'm disparaging Doctor Who, but zombies are a big wedge of the geek pie chart.

(Oh wait, I also saw "28 Days Later", and then maybe 20 minutes of "28 Weeks Later".)

In Ex-Heroes (not really spoiling anything, this is revealed pretty quickly), a meteor falls to earth and seems to be the catalyst for some people getting super powers.  Then somehow (I stopped reading before this reveal) that also starts creating zombies.  I think I could have made it through, but then Clines started in on the graphic descriptions of the zombies.

Look, I get it.  There are dead-ish bodies walking around.  They're rotting and missing limbs, appendages, or digits.  And they're the full cross-section of the population.  We all have seen it.

So I moved on.

I read a few of the short stories in George R.R. Martin's Rogues.  The Neil Gaiman story was great as was Patrick Rothfuss'.  But they were each about supporting characters in a great book and a great series.  It just made me want more.

So this morning, I had a little time, so I started going through my library of e-books, for something else.

I moved over the Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry Correia, and the Huger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.  But then I saw the Kage Baker folder.

I remember reading the Company series, having started it early on, and reading each book as it came out.  I quickly wondered how it would be to read it straight through.  And so that's what I'm doing now.

Party Like It's My Birthday

This evening I discovered a new blog. But first the back story (oooh, channeling Paul Harvey).



I got a new grill about two weeks ago. Jennifer and I decided it would be my birthday present

It's a side-by-side combination of propane and charcoal, plus it has a side burner. I did a lot of research beforehand with Home Depot and Lowe's comment section. The one I had wanted turned out to to be very stainless in its steel, so I started looking elsewhere.

This one was one of the highest rated on Lowes' web page, and was very affordable. So we have retired the grill that was my Dad's first gas grill and had been given to us when he got his new one. I don't even want to think how old it is. it was wonderful to have for the time we had it, but I love my new one.



What I really like about it was the cover. Jennifer said that if it was going to be as big as it is that we needed to cover it to protect it. And the cover even has extensions for the smokestacks



Now I can grill quickly on the propane side, or use charcoal on the other side. Or even smoke on the other side if I want. Or a variety of other combinations.

But on to the new blog.

Today being my birthday, I was going to grill. Jennifer and I had visions of a seared ahi tuna on a bed of lettuce and then a filet and mashed potatoes.

But then I started re-reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Not too far into the book the main character, Shadow, is eating his first meal after being in prison. It is pitched to him as the best chili in the state. As he's eating it, he knows it's not the best because his wife, Laura, makes the best chili around. Neil then goes on to give hints of the ingredients in the chili.

So I suddenly had a craving for chili. But not just any chili, Laura Moon's chili.

So I went to my trusty Internets, and entered the search terms "American Gods chili" and what I came up with was The Geeky Chef.

Now for me when I am scrolling down for a Neil Gaiman recipe and on the way cross a Star Trek soup recipe, and then an Earthling's attempt at a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster. I figure I'm in good hands.

Unfortunately I was hungry, and started cooking without checking all of the ingredients. So what I have made is not Laura Moon's chili, but it is very inspired by it.

And now I'm following a new blog. YAY! And all this without a plug for True Value... oops. Damn!

Reading is... Freaking Awesome

Wednesday night, I finished Counting Up, Counting Down by Harry Turtledove. It's a fun read, but there were stories I didn't care for from some of his series I don't read.

I had a working lunch yesterday, so I didn't start my next book until last night.

And then I finished it last night. Okay, technically this morning, but 12:30 AM hardly seems like morning.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman is awesome. I didn't want to pout it down, and was a little short with Jennifer when she came home because it had interrupted my reading. The story is compelling, and reads fast as it's another "juvenile" book. Gaiman admits in the notes it's a little inspired by Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book" (which I caught on to about halfway through), but I also saw some Johnny and the Dead by Terry Pratchett in there as well.

It's another one of Gaiman's I'm going to have to buy.

Well, that's over with...

The Holidays are over.

My time game-mastering is over for a while.

I'll likely have no field work until February.

This is a real lull.

I do have a lot of books set to read, because of course books come from the library in swarms.

The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman

Living with the Dead - Kelley Armstrong

Empress - Karen Miller

The first is an easy choice, Neil is always good. The second is a continuation of Armstrong's "Women of the Otherworld" series. The third was a referral I got from some webpage or another. It's an alternate world where the land masses are the same, but the names and events are different. We'll see.

Reading

I've now read my onslaught of Neil Gaiman books. The two graphic novels were good. Fragile Things was really fun. I liked some of the poems, but found them difficult to read. I've never done well with poetry anyway.

The stories were really fun. I truly enjoyed the American Gods novella at the end. Had the book sucked, it would have made the book worthwhile, but with a good book, it was like surprise icing inside a good piece of cake.

Now, I'm back to Larry Niven and N-Space, a collection of short stories and musings by the author.

Then I've still got a pile of comics to read. And miniatures to paint. So much available to distract me; it's a good thing I have nothing else to do...