Titus Crow, The Clock of Dreams & Spawn of the Winds

I just finished reading Brian Lumley's second Titus Crow novel entitled Titus Crow: The Clock of Dreams and Spawn of the Winds. 

The first half of the book, the story entitled "The Clock of Dreams" continues the trend off this series to become completely fantastical, this time reminding me more of Tolkien than Lovecraft, although it does take place in "Dreamland" a real world dreamed  up by men in Lovecraft's fiction and peopled with fantastical denizens from peaceful villagers to crazy devil people with horns and cloven hooves.  The story follows Crow's sidekick Henri de-Marigny as he attempts to save Crow and his crazy-hot alien girlfriend Tiania from the aforementioned devil people.  Of course this turns into an epic adventure complete with floating cities, giant nightmare machines, and even a vampire blob.  The story really takes of from Lovecrafts' style establishing Lumley's own take on Lovecrafts' creation. 

If the first story reminded me of JRR Tolkien then the second story in the book, "The Spawn of the Winds"  was channeling Robert E. Howard.  Where the Clock of Dreams was as close to high fantasy as you can get, "Spawn" was a swashbuckling romp complete with duels, people getting harpooned, bear cavalry, wolf riders and snow ships.

The story itself brings us back to a character briefly intoduced in "Burrowers" named Hank Siberhutte a big beefy Texan psychic with a score to settle with the "Cthonian Cycle Deities" and one in particular Ithaqua A.K.A. The Thing that Walks on the Winds.  In this story Hank is the main character while Crow and de Marigny are completely absent.  While searching out the Wind-Walker in the arctic Hank is transported along with 4 others including his sister to the frozen world of Borea where he becomes embroiled in a civil war between prime evil Ithaqua and his followers and his wayward half human (and super-fine) daughter and her own tribe. Of course cheesy romance follows along with crazy battles involving polar bears, wolves, spears, magic power etc.

Again Lumleys style is all over the place but he somehow figures out a way to keep it together and create a narrative that is compelling at times, though I do have to complain that the romantic plot between Armandra and Hank is pretty much exactly the same as Tiania and Crow's romantic subplot, and it stuck in my craw a little bit.     

In all I enjoyed the read and those who don't mind their fiction a little pulpy will probably be pretty satisfied with this. 

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

I recently had the pleasure of being loaned "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" by a friend of mine and I must say that this book really struck a chord with me.

I loved this book because the story was so completely crazy, and yet somehow believable.  If I told you that a  story could include a Golem, a showdown in the antarctic, an escape from nazi Prague, and Salvador Dali suffocating in a diving suit in a living room; you would probably say it sounds schizophrenic.  You might not be wrong in some respects as the characters in Kavalier and Clay sometimes seem to do exactly the opposite of what you want them to do, somehow they manage to manufacture their own misery with the best intentions. 

 Somehow Chabon combines the Holocaust and WW2 with the mystery of magicians and escape artists, and then drops the story into the Golden Age of comic books; a time of prosperity for comic books and aspiring artists that has never been rivaled.  Into this entire pot he stews themes of loss, revenge, redemption, and self acceptance. 

This book is great and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to embark on an emotional rollercoaster; however I will caution some of my more conservative readership; if you in fact exist, there are some pretty adult themes in the book including graphic depictions of sexuality and homosexuality.  Hopefully this does not deter anyone from a great read that should not be missed, because this book really is something extraordinary.

 in the end I give it 9 out of 10 melted golems.

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

 Over the last couple days I took the time to read Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane, My interest was immediately piqued by the description on the back, a psychotic child murderer loose on an Alcatraz-esqe island. Of course the fact that it was going to be put on film by Scorsese starring Leonardo Dicaprio also got me interested.  This book was a great read, however if you read the description you may be expecting something a little along the lines of "Silence of the Lambs." This is not the case however in fact the book comes of a little more along the lines of "Memento." The story reads great however despite being a little slow at times this only helps to accelerate the story straight into the mindbender of an ending.  Although I am not a big fan of thrillers, this book is obviously what makes the genre so popular; and I would strongly recommend picking it up.

The Wolfman By Nicholas Pekearo

Last night I picked up a book titled "The Wolfman" by Nicholas Pekearo at Albertsons and read it at work.  I have to say that it was a pretty exciting read. There is also a sad story behind the book Pekearo wrote this particular story and was then shot shortly afterwards working as a volunteer police officer in New York.  He had originally intended this book to be the first in a series which sadly will never see the light of day.  The book still stands on its own rather well despite the tragic story behind its authors' death.  While I was skeptical for the first forty pages or so after that the author really seemed to get into a groove and some of his lines really shine.  I found myself laughing at the sardonic main character and his witty comments and horribly foul mouth.  One thing that struck me however is that the writers youthfulness rubbed off on his character making him seem more like a twenty something than a forty year old vet. This and a few unclear or slightly rediculous passages (like the first sentance) take a little bit of wind out of the sails but not much, I found myself to be riveted at certain points and dying to find out what happens next.  Unfortunately we will never know what happens the the Marlow Higgins after he leaves town at the end of the book beacause some sick bastard took it upon himself to open fire on the young author before his book even hit shelves, cutting short what could have been an illustrious career in horror fiction given just a little more experience and practice under Pekearo's belt.  As an added bonus at the end of the book is an essay written by Pekearo about why he became a volunteer cop and why it is important to him, which I found to be soul-crushingly sad, but in a beautiful kind of way.  Definitely run out to the local bookshelf and fork out the 8 bucks for this book ASAP.