The Junky's Christmas

The Wild Boys

The Wild Boys - Duran Duran

new and current

I'm reading one of my x-mas presents now. I got a $50 gift card for B&N and cashed it in today. This is what I got.

• Wild Boys by William S. Burroughs. It's been awhile since I've read Burroughs. I don't always like what he writes but it's always interesting.
• Comfort Me With Apples by Ruth Reichl. I've read two of her other books and follow her tweets. I haven't read any food books lately so this was the first one I chose.
• Stranger Than Fiction by Chuck Palahniuk. I read Haunted and Snuff earlier this year. He's written lots of books so there was a lot to choose from. This one looked the most interesting to me.

Unless my reading rate suddenly skyrockets, this should be my last book of the year. That means I'll have read 27 books this year. Not as many as I'd like, but not too bad, considering how busy I've been, and how lazy I've been.

House

House of Stairs

by William Sleator

seasons readings

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

by Barbara Robinson

handful of paperbacks

I used to have these when I was in elementary school. Today I found them at the used bookstore and got them again. I love the cool sci-fi cover art. I also got:

• House of Stairs by William Sleator
• To the Land of the Electric Angel by William Rotsler
• Tik-Tok by John Sladek
• Roderick by John Sladek

stacks

photo courtesy of Boing Boing

Witch

The last few days, I've been working downtown at the Performing Arts Center. Wicked is in town. It's the second time it has come to town. I'd like to go see it this time, since I missed my chance last time. Hopefully I will.
I read the book a few years ago and liked it. I also read the sequel, Son of a Witch, but didn't like it as much. Maybe I'll read the third in the trilogy someday, if I can find a used copy or get it on sale. Someday.

Mechasm

Mechasm

by John Sladek

Jonathan Lethem

current read

As She Climbed Across the Table

by Jonathan Lethem

book bag

Made another trip to the used book store last week. Got three more to add to the stacks. These be they:

1. Steve Jackson's Sorcery! #4: The Crown of Kings - I bought a couple of these last time I visited Gardner's. They're not for serious readin', I just like having them around.
2. Interstellar Pig by William Sleator - Seems like I'm never gonna run out of books by this author. As soon as I start reading one by him, I go out and find another. This is the eighth book I've found this year by William Sleator, and I know there's a lot more out there.
3. Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss - I've often seen this book on the shelves at B&N and Borders because usually I go to the SF/Fantasy section and look for Rudy Rucker. (They haven't had any new Rucker in years) A former manager at the restaurant where I work was reading this book a few years ago and recently a fellow stagehand at my other job has been recommending that I read it. He says it's better than Lord of the Rings. There were 2 copies of this book on the shelf, so I grabbed one. A few minutes later, I heard a lady asking the sales girl for this author. Ther went the second one. It's a thick book. I'll probably start on it next year some time.

Bonus book: Million Little Mistakes by Heather McElhatton - There were a couple of books by this author at B&N. I got this one because it deals with one of my favorite fantasies: what would you do if you won $22 million? This book is like a choose your own adventure for adults. I've started reading it a little bit, but don't like the decisions it gives me: pay for all my family's bills or blow all the money on something big and crazy for myself? Plus it's written from a chick's perspective, so I'm not too into it when presented with the choice of breaking up with your boyfriend or staying with him. As I said before, not for serious readin', I just like having it around.

Book Dominoes

A cool commercial for Bookmans in Arizona. Thanks to Boing Boing.

Boston Area Book Report

spooky time

The Boy Who Couldn't Die

by William Sleator

early influences

I read these two books in high school. What does that say about me? I got them both off of my dad's bookshelf. They are both journalistic masterpieces, but my favorite is the gonzo exploits of Hunter S. Thompson in Las Vegas. It is one of the very few books that I've ever read more than once.
Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test was the true story of the development of LSD and it's connection to Ken Kesey and The Grateful Dead. I got lost in this book and it took me forever to read. I don't even really remember how it ended. I might have found it's lucid, coherent narration to be perhaps a bit dry and uncompelling. Whereas with Thompson, you can literally feel the madness, seeping off the page.
Both good reads, and perhaps a little bit influential to me at that age.

let's go

more books

I went by the used bookstore today. I found these three:

1. The Iron Dream by Norman Spinrad. I heard that this book was banned in Germany because it was written from the point of view of Adolph Hitler, if Hitler had been a sci-fi writer instead of a dictator.
2. As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathan Lethem. I liked Gun, With Occasional Music, but not quite as much as The Wall of the Sky, The Wall of the Eye. I like his stuff better than Michael Chabon's. I don't know why I compare the two. Perhaps because I've read 2 by each author and I've got another left to read by each.
3. Born to Rock by Gordon Korman. Another by my favorite YA writer. I couldn't resist the description on the back cover. A young republican falls from grace, finds out his dad is a punk rocker and becomes a roadie for his dad's band. On the front cover is a baby with a mohawk.

Vast Active Living Intelligence System

VALIS by Philip K. Dick

20 Minutes into the Future.

From Max Headroom

gun, with occasional music

gun, with occasional music

by Jonathan Lethem

books for beginners

Thanks for this pic, boing boing!

adult books

mein kampf

Strange Attractors

Strange Attractors by William Sleator

aspiring author

I started a new blog this week. It's called "scenes from nowhere", and it's all short stories, written by me. I have another writing blog that I've been working on for a while, called "Green Twilight". That one is a science fiction novel that I originally started for NaNoWriMo, but failed to complete it before the one month deadline. However, I continued to write on it, off and on, ever since. I realize that I am not the greatest writer in the world. I'm certainly good at procrastination, otherwise I'd have finished Green Twilight long ago and started on another novel. Also it's difficult to continue writing on the same work, constantly for weeks or months at a time. I started the new blog, specifically as a place to put the best little short stories I could muster in one place. Instead of having them lying around in old notebooks all over my house. I publish them now in the hopes that they will be read and enjoyed and perhaps, one day be published in true book form.

Bad Monkeys

Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff
This is not the same cover as the one I have.
I did a google image search for this book and liked this one better.
I have the yellow cover with what looks like 4 Darth Vader helmets,
from a distance.

at the library 7

currently reading

A Model World

and other stories

by Michael Chabon

chicks dig sci-fi

Ray Bradbury

10 future reads

I went shopping for used books today at my favorite bookstore. Seems like it's been months since the last time I went out there. I only bought nine books, but I was tempted to buy a lot more. Here's what I ended up with:

1. Victim Prime by Robert Sheckley. This has been up there for a while, but I didn't buy it because I wasn't sure it wasn't the same book as Hunter/Victim by the same author. Apparently this one is the sequel to the 10th Victim, which I've read and enjoyed.
2. Choose Your Own Adventure #21 Hyperspace by Edward Packard. I used to love these things when I was a kid. I don't remember this one, so I bought it. I was tempted to buy another one called You Are a Monster, but I resisted the urge.
3. Strange Attractors by William Sleator. I've got a lot of new ones by this author, stacking up for me to read. The description from the back cover sounds like an episode of Doctor Who. Speaking of the Doctor...
4. Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks by Terrance Dicks. The number of Doctor Who books has suddenly exploded at Gardner's. Last time I was up there, there were only a couple. Now there's a couple dozen. This one's one of my favorite episodes, so it's the only one I bought.
5. Bug Jack Barron by Norman Spinrad. Having finally finished Little Heroes after so many years, I decided to look into this author and found a surprising number on the shelf. I selected this one, having heard that it's his most famous novel.
6. A Model World and Other Stories by Michael Chabon. I really like short stories. I could have had the one he won the Pulitzer for, but they had 3 copies of that one and only one of this, so I grabbed it. The best book of the year that I've read so far was the collection of short stories by Jonathan Lethem.
7. Go Jump in the Pool! by Gordon Korman. Another Bruno and Boots book by one of my favorite young adult writers. I'm trying to re-assemble my collection of these books that I used to have when I was a kid.
8. The Shamutanti Hills by Steve Jackson.
9. Khare' - Cityport of Traps by Steve Jackson. This one and the one above are game books, similar to the Choose Your Own Adventure books. These actually require dice, pad of paper and a pencil. I know I used to have one of these in high school. I had forgotten all about it until I saw these on the shelf today.

Also I visited B&N acouple of days ago and I found a copy of Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff. I might read that one next, but if I don't I might read that collection of short stories by Chabon next...

Cassie Wright

Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk

Bargain priced $5.98 hardback from B&N.

and now for something completely different

benefits of membership

short space stories

Shards of Space

by Robert Sheckley

Finally, a new book. Don't know why it took so much time to read the last one, it wasn't very long. Probably the heat. Also my short attention span.

the same book

another one

This isn't the same cover as the one I've got. I'd just come out of the theatre after seeing Iron Man 2 a few weeks ago. I went over to the B&N next door to use their bathroom and to buy a frappuccino at Starbucks. Just on a whim I passed through the YA section and turned right. I immediately saw this book and bought it. Now I'm reading it.

America

I like that they mentioned sushi and books in this video.

who is Norman Spinrad?

continuation

Little Heroes by Norman Spinrad
I started reading this in high school. I have no idea why I stopped. I only got halfway through it. I might have found something else to read, that I liked better. Probably Software by Rudy Rucker. But I still remember most of what I read in this one before I quit. I decided today that I should go ahead and finish it before I get any older, and start to forget.

currently reading

Dreams of Sex and Stage Diving

by Martin Millar

I really enjoyed Ruby and the Stone Age Diet, so I went out and got this at Barnes and Noble.

One Reservation

I read this about nine or ten years ago, my dad got it for me for x-mas, I think. I've since gone on to read A Cook's Tour and The Nasty Bits. I even own the single season DVD of Kitchen Confidential TV series. I regularly watch No Reservations on the Travel Channel, so needless to say I'm a big fan. When I found out he was coming to Tulsa to speak at the PAC, I got all excited and made plans to go. That was a few months ago and I was disappointed when I saw on the internet that the cheapest advance tickets were over $200. Damn. I cancelled my plans to attend. Then today, while I was awaiting my daily venti frappuccino at Starbucks, I noticed Bourdain's face on the front page of the local entertainment section. I read it and it said that tix were $35-$45. No way. I came home and followed the link I saw in the paper and sure enough, affordable. I've been trying to be good and not use my credit card, but this is an unexpected opporunity that I just couldn't pass up.

I have been in the restaurant business for about 20 years, 7.5 years as a sushi chef. Kitchen Confidential is an essential read for anyone who thinks of themselves as a "foodie." Tony is a hardened kitchen veteran and it shows in his attitude, his writing and I assume, his cooking. As a chef and aspiring writer, I look up to Bourdain and look forward to seeing him live this saturday. My ticket is waiting at the PAC box office.

used books

Went shopping yesterday. Bought some books at Gardner's. Kind of inspired by the young adult stuff I've been reading lately, I ended up wth four YA titles and another Dr. Who book. It ended up being a Sleator bonanza. Here they are, with descriptions from the back covers:

1. Doctor Who and the Leisure Hive by David Fisher: The Leisure Hive on the planet Argolis is an entertainment centre for galactic travellers. At the heart of the hive is the Tachyon Recreation Generator, a machine with a most extraordinary performance capability and vital to the continued existence of the Argolin after their devastating war with the reptilian Foamasi... While visiting the Hive, the Doctor and Romana are sucked into a whirlpool of treachery and deceit, and are eventually arrested on suspicion of murder...
2. This Can't be Happening to Macdonald Hall! by Gordon Korman: Bruno and Boots are always in trouble. So the Headmaster, aka "The Fish," seperates them. Bruno must now room with the ghoulish Elmer Drimsdale. And Boots is stuck with nerdy, preppy, paranoid George Wexford-Smyth III. This means war. Because Bruno and Boots are determined to get their old room back, no matter what it takes. And the skunk was only the beginning. (I used to own this one. I can't believe he was only 12 when he wrote it.)
3. The Boy Who Reversed Himself by William Sleator: When Laura finds her homework in her locker with its writing reversed, she is totally baffled. Until she learns an unbelievable secret: her weird neighbor, Omar, has the ability to travel to the fourth dimension. Against his wishes, Laura forces him to take her there - and then, a novice in terrifying "four space," she goes there on her own, with her boyfriend Pete. There's only one problem. She doesn't know how to get them back...
4. Others See Us by William Sleator: It's summer vacation, and Jared's family is making their annual trip to his grandmother's beach house. He'll finally get to see Annelise, the gorgeous cousin he's been dreaming about all year. But almost as soon as they arrive, Jared wrecks his bike, falling into a swamp filled with toxic waste. Later, he begins to notice voices in his head. Strange voices- almost like other people's thoughts. He is horrified to discover what his family is really like. Soon Jared finds himself locked in a murderous battle of wills- because once someone else can enter your mind, there is no turning back.
5. The Boxes by William Sleator: When Uncle Marco goes on one of his mysterious trips, he leaves Annie in charge of two exotic, sealed boxes on one condition: she must not open either one while he is away. But of course she is tempted... and soon she has unleashed the unspeakable. The creatures inside the box are crablike and grotesque. And they possess a power Annie could never have imagined.

Swindle

TurnHereFilms — April 09, 2008 — After a mean collector named Swindle cons him out of his most valuable baseball card, Griffin Bing must put together a band of misfits to break into Swindle's compound and recapture the card. There are many things standing in their way -- a menacing guard dog, a high-tech security system, a very secret hiding place, and their general inability to drive -- but Griffin and his team are going to get back what's rightfully his . . . even if hijinks ensue. This is Gordon Korman at his crowd-pleasing best, perfect for readers who like to hoot, howl, and heist.

Gordon Korman

Losing Joe's Place by Gordon Korman
My favorite young adult author as a kid. I read all the Bruno and Boots stories, Bugs Potter (no relation to Harry), Son of Interflux, Don't Care High, Our Man Weston and probably a few more that I've forgotten. Thing I loved about Korman's books, there's always some sort of a riot at the end.

second favorite superhero

Machine Man
Don't remember when I discovered it. High school maybe. 1984? More like 6th grade.
It was a four part series, Machine Man 2020.
From Wikipedia: Machine Man was reactivated in the year 2020 by a group of outlaw scavengers called Midnight Wreckers (led by X-51's old friend Gears Garvin), and forced to battle his old enemy, the industrialist ice queen Sunset Bain, as well as mercenary Arno Stark, the amoral Iron Man of 2020.

After reading up a bit on this character, I realized that I know very little of it's history outside of the four issues I had read. At the time I was just getting into Heavy Metal magazine and Blade Runner. I wanted to be a Midnight Wrecker and live in an abandoned McDonalds.

To me Machine Man was a cross between the Terminator and Inspector Gadget. Not as cheesy as Gadget, but not as threatening as Arnold.

I've decided to create a comic book hero dream team here. First memeber was Longshot, second is Machine Man. Don't know how many more yet, to be continued...

the two walls

The Wall of the Sky,

The Wall of the Eye

by

Jonathan Lethem

at the library 6

sequel

Night of the Living Rat
Daniel M. Pinkwater's
Melvinge of the Megaverse Book 2
by Doyle and MacDonald
This is the book I would have read

if the Colts had won the last Super Bowl.

excerpt

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

young adult

Singularity by William Sleator

Bad Monkeys

I was hesitant at first, to put such a long video on here. But after watching it last week, I decided it was definitely relevant, and it was very interesting. Here's some info:

AtGoogleTalks — June 18, 2008 — Author Matt Ruff visits Google's headquarters in Mountain View, CA, to discuss his book "Bad Monkeys". This event took place on September 19, 2007, as a part of the Authors@Google series. For more information about Matt Ruff please visit http://www.bymattruff.com

Longshot

shopping spree

Yesterday was my day off and I bought a half dozen books at the used book store. Here they are:

1. Wonder Boys - Michael Chabon. Recently read Maps and Legends by this author. Tried to find the one that he won the Hugo and Nebula for, but they didn't have that one.
2. Ender in Exile - Orson Scott Card. I read Ender's Game and War of Gifts last year. Now I have Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon as well as this one. They're all thick-ass books.
3. Losing Joe's Place - Gordon Korman. This guy was one of my favorite YA authors growing up. I used to have a bunch of his books, now I'm trying to collect them all again. I'd never even heard of this one before.
4. Singularity - William Sleator. Another favorite from my youth. I still have 3 of his books sitting on my shelf: Fingers, Into the Dream and The Green Futures of Tycho.
5. Doctor Who & the Talons of Weng Chiang - Terrance Dicks. Did I mention that I love Dr. Who? Nerd Alert! This was a 6 part story starring Tom Baker (my favorite Doctor) and Leela (my favorite companion).
6. Doctor Who and the Android Invasion - Terrance Dicks. Another book based on a Tom Baker story, but one which I don't have on DVD yet. I vaguely remember seeing the episode on PBS back in the mid 70s. I seem to recall Sara Jane's face falling off to reveal fake eyes and computer circuits inside. Probably traumatized thousands of Brittish boys and girls for life.
7. Anthrax - Return of the Killer A's. Not a book. Gardner's also sells music, videos and toys. I was a little disappointed to learn that the version of I'm the Man on this CD was the censored version.

unfinished business

Sewer, Gas & Electric

by Matt Ruff

I first started reading this book in '01 or '02. I remember I was working at the cafeteria in the TU dormitories at the time. I actually had a locker at work and kept this book in there a couple of times. I think I stopped reading after about 200 pages because I started a second job at The Hardwood bar and grill across the street. I think I went about 3 or four months straight without a day off. Plus it's a pretty long book, 560 pages! I must have gotten tired of it and gave up. My bookmark tells me I left off at page 195. That leaves 365 pages to go.

Legend

Douglas Adams, author of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," plays with Pink Floyd in celebration of his 42nd birthday. The songs are "Brain Damage" and "Eclipse" and Douglas is playing rhythm guitar. No video was taken of this event, but there is a nice picture of Douglas on stage with David Gilmour that I've included. Hope you enjoy it! - mhspiper

And Another Thing...

6 of 3

And Another Thing... by Eoin Colfer

Found this hardcover on sale for $5 @ B&N!

Red Gem and the Ancient Food Plan

Ruby and the Stone Age Diet
by Martin Millar

my favorite super hero

Longshot
Mid eighties, I was in my mid teens, early summer. My dad was coordinator for a cross state bicycle tour called FreeWheel. I brought my bike, but mostly rode in the van ahead of the tour, to the next campground in the next rural town.

After setting up camp, I would often set out on my own to wander the streets of the small town we'd arrived in, checking out parks and arcades, convenience and book stores, pawn shops and groceries. I earlier blogged about discovering The Secret Life of Algernon Pendleton in one of these towns. I discovered Longshot the same way.
I probably got it in some nameless quick stop or piggly wiggly. By the end of FreeWheel I had found the first 2 issues and was addicted. Interesting note: Being a Brian Bosworth fan at the time, I thought Longshot's blonde mullet was cool. And check out the leg warmers on She-Hulk. Sexee.
So I got home to Tulsa and stalked the various comic book stores around town until I had the whole series. Still have them, encased in mylar bags, filed away inside a cardboard box, inside another cardboard box, on a shelf in my front hall closet. They're all there next to other comic books I'll eventually get around to blogging about here someday.

Maps and Legends

farewell february

It has been a slow month here at uym. I've been busy at both my jobs, which is good, but it has also provided enough distraction that I'm barely halfway through my current read, Rainbows End. Also not helping is my current addiction to collecting and watching old Dr. Who episodes on DVD. I've also been stocking up on books as well, visiting B&N and Gardner's Used Books frequently.
Here's some of the stuff I bought that I might be reading later on this year:
The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson
Ender's Shadow and Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card
Ruby and the Stone Age Diet by Martin Millar
M*A*S*H Goes to Maine by Richard Hooker
M*A*S*H Goes to Miami/ New Orleans/ Paris by Richard Hooker and William E. Butterworth
And Another Thing... Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy part 6 of 3 by Eoin Colfer
This list will continue to grow, providing a small glimpse into the future...

that book I was talking about

Cyberpunk Handbook by St. Jude, R.U. Sirius and Bart Nagel,

I mentioned this book previously.

don't have yet

This one's on the cyberpunk required reading list, but I haven't been able to find a copy at Gardners. The list is from the Cyberpunk Handbook by St. Jude, R.U. Sirius and Bart Nagel. Here it is:

Neuromancer by William Gibson (read it), Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling (have it), Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (read it), True Names by Vernor Vinge (don't have it), Software and Wetware by Rudy Rucker (read them both), Eclipse Trilogy by John Shirley (have them) and Shockwave Rider by John Brunner (have it).

options winner

Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge

Congratulations on your first Super Bowl Championship,

New Orleans Saints!

either/or

Option time again. This year's Super Bowl will be between the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints. Once again, the winner decides which book I'll be reading next. Here's the books: Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge and Night of the Living Rat by Doyle and Macdonald. I've never read Vernor Vinge before and the Saints have never won a Super Bowl. If they do, I'll read Rainbows End. Indy won a Super Bowl a few years ago and if they win this one it will be Manning's 2nd title and I'll read the second book in Daniel Pinkwater's Melvinge of the Megaverse series.

Voodoo Donuts

my 1st Palahniuk

Last year I did this options thing with the Super Bowl, letting the winner decide the next book I would read. I'll be doing that again this year. Haunted is the book represented by last year's NFC champion Cardinals, who lost this weekend.

Neat Stuff

I first got into Peter Bagge in high school, when I was hanging out with a friend who had a copy of Neat Stuff in his car. It was all about Buddy Bradley. I read the whole thing and was quickly hooked, went out and bought all the Neat Stuff comix I could find, and later, HATE.

I be all into readin' and shit

Stadium Pal

1st book of the decade

When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

annual faves

I love the annual list. I just enjoy looking back and thinking of all the stuff I read this year and last, and the ones before that. A new thing I'm going to do here, starting now, is select a favorite read and a runner up. This is going to be retro-active, meaning I'll pick the previous years' faves as well. Here we go:

2009

Favorite:

Ender's Game

by Orson Scott Card

Runner up:

Vurt

by Jeff Noon

2008

Favorite:

MASH

by Richard Hooker

Runner up:

Me Talk Pretty One Day

by David Sedaris

2007

Favorite:

The Hollow Earth

by Rudy Rucker

Runner up:

Immortality Inc.

by Robert Sheckley

2006

Favorite:

Master of Space and Time

by Rudy Rucker

Runner up:

Swords of Lankhmar

by Fritz Leiber

2005

Favorite:

Fuzzy Dice

by Paul DiFilippo

Runner up:

The Hacker and the Ants

by Rudy Rucker

big comic book of horror

Light reading returns with this collection of horror comics by DC.