Book Review: Cruel Devices – George Wright Padgett

Just finished up Cruel Devices, and I really enjoyed it. I meant to get into this one earlier, I received a copy through the publisher’s ARC program but December was so crazy that had to wait until now to get into this one. (See my post later on December’s readings) I only recently got into Horror through Stephen King’s The Shining, and you can see a lot of the same themes in this, the struggling author trying to identify himself and meeting scary and strange situations along the way made for a fast paced but engaging read.

Cruel Devices – George Wright Padgett  : 7/10

Available Direct from Grey Gecko: http://store.greygeckopress.com/products/cruel-devices

Weekly wrap up 11/23-11/29

Hey readers, hope you had a great thanksgiving. I went home to Pennsylvania for a few days to spend time with my family. It was really relaxing and I had a good time.

This weekend was my first experience working retail on black Friday and small business Saturday, which was a really crazy two days.

I had a pretty fruitful week as far as reading, and finished a few really good titles. On the radar are about three advanced reader copies that I was chosen for, so as soon as those come in the mail I’ll be tearing into them.

Here’s a rundown of the weeks selections:

Definitely Dead – Charline Harris (Southern Vampire Mysteries #6) Rating: 6.5/10

Sookie is back on my list, I moved last weekend and I needed something familiar to read.  In the 6th instalment, Sookie and her shifter boyfriend deal with a murder and the politics of vampire leadership, the series takes a turn to look at the bigger picture of the supernatural world, and seems to be ramping up for some important events.

Love Me – Garrison Keillor – Rating 9/10

I had the pleasure of meeting Garrison Keillor back in June, he was speaking at the national archives before recording a live episode of Prarie Home Companion at Wolf Trap. After telling us the story of how he got into writing (an amazing story, something I’m sure I’ll write about in the near future) he had a signing for his new collection of essays and excerpts. He was lively and friendly, and was a great sport. We took this selfie together.

Love Me is a much different pace from Keillor’s usual fair. No familiar tones of Lake Woebegone or Guy Noir, this novel strikes like a poignant, modern piece. Focusing on a failed author currently separated from his wife, Love Me tells a tale of loneliness, frustration, and advice columns.  Our hero, Larry, moves from Minnesota to New York to extend his literary career, but after some failed attempts to follow a successful novel, ends up writing an advice column called “Ask Mr. Blue.”  Love Me stands out as one of my favorite Garrison Keillor Novels.

White Noise – Don Delillo – Rating 8/10

White Noise serves as the inspiration for one of my favorite bands, The Airborne Toxic Event. This novel took me a few tries to get into, but it was certainly worth it. I read it over my  thanksgiving visit, which provided an interesting setting for a novel that explores the idea of cultural noise. The protagonist and antagonist of White Noise exist in the character Jack Gladney.  Gladney is a professor of Hitler studies, and is currently married to his 4th wife Babette.  The first half of the novel focuses on his daily life and the mundane things that take up such key portions. The mid point of the novel is a chemical incident, known as the airborne toxic event, that changes the lifestyle of everyone in the town. People begin to worry over radiation levels, future events of similar nature, and the meaning of their lives. The book takes a deep look at the meaning of the stranger elements of culture and does so with a great voice.

The Hellbound Heart – Clive Barker – 7/10

I’m not going to lie, I love cheap horror movies, especially slasher series, so when I saw a copy of the Hellbound Heart on my friend’s coffee table I knew I had to read it.  For those of you unfamiliar with the novela, it is the original story on which the Hellraiser series is based.  Barker had very little to do with the series after the first film, but had creative control over the first. While the characters become more important as the series goes on, Pinhead and the Cynobites play a very minor role in the book.  The main focus is on the family of the deceased Frank, an extreme hedonist who summons the Cynobites in his search for the ultimate pleasure. He is dragged to Hell by the monstrosities, discovering that to them, ultimate pleasure has blurred with ultimate pain. The rest of the book focuses on his family, and their strange experiences in his house after his disappearance. Frank eventually returns, flayed of flesh and looking for revenge. The Hellbound Heart is a great piece of horror and good for those times when you just want something fast.

All in all it was a good week of reading. Looking forward to sharing more good finds with you all.

Cheers

-Josh

Review: Ready Player One – Ernest Cline

As I mentioned a few days ago, I downloaded the audio book version of Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.  I finished it on Tuesday morning, which is pretty quick for a 16 hour book.  I spent a good chunk of my weekend playing Super Mario 64 and listening to the book, which was a great combo.

I like to think of Ready Player One as a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for quips nerd culture. I thought Ready Player One very enjoyable to listen to, Will Wheaton did a good job narrating the story and gave a good voice to the stories main character.

Ready Player One follows the exploits of Wade Watts, user name Parzival, in a near future where the world has used up most of its natural resources and now relies on a immersive gaming experience called the Oasis.  The creator of the Oasis, James Halliday, user name Anorak, created a challenge in the game near the end of his life by hiding an Easter egg in the video game in the form of a quest related to his interests, which were classic video games, science fiction and fantasy, and classic rock.  The prize for finding the egg? Halliday’s entire inheritance, the billions of dollars of revenue for the Oasis.

The book starts with Wade 5 years after the quest is announced, living in a trailer park known as the stacks, living in poverty and working his way through school.  Egg hunters, or Gunters, have devoted their lives to finding the egg, spending countless hours every day researching the interests of Halliday and searching the countless worlds stored in the Oasis.  Because of his lack of funding, Wade is not able to explore past the starting world of his virtual high school.

By a strange turn of luck, Wade is the first Gunter to find the first clue.  Wade eventually becomes famous through the process.  Wade makes friends with the other Gunters who are able to make it through the challenges, and they begin to face the challenge of competing with a technology corporation that is attempting to win the challenge to acquire control of the Oasis. The employees of this corporation are known as Sixers, due to their user names being 6 didget employee codes.

The competition intensifies through the hunt for the multiple keys and clues to find the egg, and eventually climaxes in an all out war between the Sixers and the Gunters at the location of the final gate.

I enjoyed the story very much, even though I don’t usually go in for young adult fiction.  There were a few issues I found with the story telling method, mainly, I found the voice used for the teenage characters a bit oversimplified, including lots of cliches and stereotypes.  The book also contained many extensive explanations about things like classic Atari and computer systems, descriptions of role playing game formats, and 80s pop culture. Which, if you didn’t have any previous knowledge, it would be very helpful, but as someone who has an extensive knowledge of the 1980s, it was a bit redundant and seemed unnecessary. One other note would be that there were a few references that were a good deal late for a 1980s focused story line, namely references to Firefly and Stargate.

As a whole, Ready Player One was a very solid book, which I would recommend to anyone interested in 1980s or nerd culture.

Ready player one: 7.5/10
Availbile on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0307887448/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&sr=&qid=