My friend who's into really weird comics loaned me the graphic novel The Wrenchies, by Farel Dalrymple. This one is pretty bizarre, but pretty great as well, and is probably one of the best loans I've gotten from my buddy. It's tough to describe succinctly what's going on in this one, but I'll give it a shot.
The Wrenchies are a youth gang (they seem to be between eight and twelve years old) on a future Earth where some combination of demons and radiation has turned cities to uninhabitable wreckage and depraved monsters roam the landscape. The five members of the Wrenchies are close-knit, and have a friendly rivalry with other gangs as well, with whom they sometimes team up for drug-fueled parties or to fight monster invasions. At some point when a kid enters his teenage years, unstoppable demons known as Shadowsmen turn up to carry him off, no one knows where to, so there's no reason for the gangs not to live it up all the time and treat life cheaply.
But the Wrenchies are also a comic book read by Hollis, a nine-year old boy in the real world who dresses up like superheroes and is ostracized by his schoolmates. He dreams of being tough and resourceful like the characters in his favorite comic.
The comic book is the creation of Sherwood, an alcoholic comic artist whose friends and co-workers all seem awfully like adult versions of the characters in the comic. His psychiatrist is convinced that the story he tells of entering a cave with his brother when he was a kid and encountering a demon that attacked them and released demonic spores into the air is perhaps a metaphor his subconscious has produced for something else terrible that happened when he was young. As for his tales of fighting demons after work and working undercover as a spy, these must surely be delusions that can be treated with medication, right?
There are a lot of cool characters and fun plot elements here, and Dalrymple layers them together thickly, with frequent cuts among the places and time-periods, as well as shifts in tone. The overall effect is of a world where the decaying present-day and the dystopian future bleed together, where time boundaries dissolve and people can encounter their future selves or re-arrange their pasts. One character, a robotic giant known as the Scientist, spews philosophical nuggets as he travels with the Wrenchies, lending a sort of profound atmosphere to parts of the book and providing possible explanations for some of the stranger goings-on.
I would recommend this to people who like dark and weird and don't mind a fair amount of ambiguity in plot structure. I guess that narrows the list of potential readers down quite a bit. Well, it won't be everybody's style, but for those who dare it, The Wrenchies will prove a fascinating read with meaning on several levels.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Thursday, March 12, 2015
What I'm Reading: The Screwtape Letters
The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis, is an epistolary novel containing the letters of a demon, Screwtape, to his nephew Wormwood. Wormwood is a tempter, assigned to lead a human being astray so Satan can take his soul, and he's having some trouble with his charge. Screwtape offers his nephew advice, mostly in the form of explanations of the human mindset and human behavior, and which strategies for leading a human astray might prove effective.
It's quite a clever book, and although we never learn the human's name we come to feel for him and his family. We learn a lot about the demons too, and the whole Infernal bureaucracy set up for capturing human souls. Although Screwtape's letters are exceedingly courteous, and he always signs them "Your affectionate uncle," we do get hints that there is not really love among demons and the relationship between Screwtape and Wormwood is really based on nothing more than self-interest. I also found it striking that the demons don't really understand God and his love for humans, and consider his offering them salvation as a pretext or elaborate deception, though to what purpose they can't comprehend.
We're not meant to take this literally, of course, but Lewis is making a larger point: how easily humans fall into sinful ways, and that evil forces have a part in doing this. But by depending on God, we are able to minimize our sin and receive forgiveness for when we do inevitably err. It's a great book for Christians during Lent, but really it's so well-written that I think even non-Christians would find it interesting, and there's no reason it wouldn't be suitable any time of year.
It's quite a clever book, and although we never learn the human's name we come to feel for him and his family. We learn a lot about the demons too, and the whole Infernal bureaucracy set up for capturing human souls. Although Screwtape's letters are exceedingly courteous, and he always signs them "Your affectionate uncle," we do get hints that there is not really love among demons and the relationship between Screwtape and Wormwood is really based on nothing more than self-interest. I also found it striking that the demons don't really understand God and his love for humans, and consider his offering them salvation as a pretext or elaborate deception, though to what purpose they can't comprehend.
We're not meant to take this literally, of course, but Lewis is making a larger point: how easily humans fall into sinful ways, and that evil forces have a part in doing this. But by depending on God, we are able to minimize our sin and receive forgiveness for when we do inevitably err. It's a great book for Christians during Lent, but really it's so well-written that I think even non-Christians would find it interesting, and there's no reason it wouldn't be suitable any time of year.
Monday, February 2, 2015
What I'm Reading: The Walking Dead: Safety Behind Bars
The Walking Dead: Safety Behind Bars is the third collection of the Walking Dead, collecting issues #13-18. Of course, now the Walking Dead is a huge phenomenon with the TV show and action figures and lunch boxes (?), but it started off back in 2003 as an independent comic series by unknown author Robert Kirkman.
I started reading with issue #69 in early 2010, although other comics nerds had been telling me for a long time it was a series I had to get into. I resisted because zombies were so trendy at the time and I was pretty much burned out on zombie stories. But when I did give TWD a chance, picking up an issue on a whim, I was hooked right away. The characters are so well-written, so flawed and recognizably people you could actually meet, that it becomes harrowing to see them put into the impossible and scary situations they encounter. At some point, I went back and got a couple of the early collections to see how they ended up where they were later.
At the beginning of this volume, Rick, the leader of a small band of survivors after the zombie apocalypse, has come across a prison. This appears to be perfect, because once the zombies inside are cleared out, there'll be a double row of fences to keep others out, plus the prison must be well-stocked with canned goods and blankets and things. A complicating factor turns out to be that not all the prisoners have turned, and so there are four hardened criminals who have been living there for months, shut away in a part of a cell block that the zombies couldn't make it into. At first they're relieved to make contact with people from the outside world--but after awhile, they decide they don't want to share the premises with Rick and his friends. At one point, one of the criminals, a convicted murderer, tells the others that their visitors are too damaged by the horrible things they've seen to live in a civilized way.
I have one friend who says his girlfriend has been known to scream out loud when reading Walking Dead comics. I've never done that, but I can see how it happens. Kirkman's pacing is perfect, and he's not afraid to kill off major characters at any time. Sometimes the dread at turning the page wrests with a desire to see how an issue turns out, and I find myself wondering if I really dare see what terrible thing happens next. And yet, I can't stop myself and have to find out how it ends up. If you can handle that kind of tension, Walking Dead might be a series you want to follow. Start with Volume 1: Days Gone By. I bet you'll be hooked.
Saturday, January 31, 2015
What I'm Reading: The Race Underground
The Race Underground by Doug Most is an account of the race at the end of the 19th century between Boston and New York to build America's first subway. Actually, the title is somewhat of an exaggeration--it wasn't much of a race, as Boston won it by 7 years (1897 vs. 1904). The real rivalry was between two brothers from Massachusetts who ended becoming the "transit kings" of Boston and New York in the 1870s and 80s and both had visions of building an underground railway. The Boston brother was named Henry Whitney and the New York brother was William Whitney. The NY Whitney is a little better-remembered today, as he gave the money to found New York's Whitney Museum and served as secretary of the navy under President Cleveland.
I am something of a city buff and especially enjoy learning about their histories and their mass transit, so this book really hit a sweet spot with me. (See here for the last city book I reviewed, City of Scoundrels, about Chicago in the 1919.) However, I think most other readers might not get the same enjoyment out of it, unless they have a special interest in the topic area. The main flaw of the book is that there are simply too many people, and they are too hard to tell apart. Both cities had numerous subway boosters, engineers, and financiers who played a critical role in getting their cities' first subway lines built, and Most doesn't want to leave anyone out. He is admirably thorough, but by halfway through the book the sheer number of people to keep track of is quite large. It might have benefited by cutting out a couple of the less important figures.
A second flaw is a lack of maps. I felt this lack again and again, as various figures in the book discussed routing options for subways, or where the surface streets were most crowded, or where the soil was conducive for underground tunneling. Now I have a pretty good mental map of New York, much less so for Boston, and more than once during reading this I took to the internet to figure out just where these people were talking about. The simple addition of a historical map for each city would have made reading far easier--something for Most to consider if there is ever a second edition!
Having said that, I must repeat that I personally really liked the book, and for those who like to learn about subways or urban history this book will likely be up your alley as well. In fact, Most points out that there is a paucity of good sources concerning the early days of the Boston subway, so if you are interested in that, this book is pretty much your only option for a popular history on the subject.
I am something of a city buff and especially enjoy learning about their histories and their mass transit, so this book really hit a sweet spot with me. (See here for the last city book I reviewed, City of Scoundrels, about Chicago in the 1919.) However, I think most other readers might not get the same enjoyment out of it, unless they have a special interest in the topic area. The main flaw of the book is that there are simply too many people, and they are too hard to tell apart. Both cities had numerous subway boosters, engineers, and financiers who played a critical role in getting their cities' first subway lines built, and Most doesn't want to leave anyone out. He is admirably thorough, but by halfway through the book the sheer number of people to keep track of is quite large. It might have benefited by cutting out a couple of the less important figures.
A second flaw is a lack of maps. I felt this lack again and again, as various figures in the book discussed routing options for subways, or where the surface streets were most crowded, or where the soil was conducive for underground tunneling. Now I have a pretty good mental map of New York, much less so for Boston, and more than once during reading this I took to the internet to figure out just where these people were talking about. The simple addition of a historical map for each city would have made reading far easier--something for Most to consider if there is ever a second edition!
Having said that, I must repeat that I personally really liked the book, and for those who like to learn about subways or urban history this book will likely be up your alley as well. In fact, Most points out that there is a paucity of good sources concerning the early days of the Boston subway, so if you are interested in that, this book is pretty much your only option for a popular history on the subject.
Monday, January 19, 2015
What I'm Reading: Roundup
Haunted Horror I haven't written about any comics series I've been reading for a while (I think the last series I mentioned was The Wake, here). Haunted Horror comes out bi-monthly and is one of my favorites. It reprints stories from old fifties comics with titles like Weird Mysteries and Chamber of Chills. These are stories from pre-code comics, meaning before the imposition of the Comics Code in 1954, when far more violence, gore, and sexuality was allowed in comics. There are four to five stories per issue, and usually at least one or two are really good and creepy. Often, though, the stories feel pretty hack-like. Since I imagine the editors are culling the best stories from the old issues, I hate to think what was left on the cutting-room table. That thought brings me to my next entry--
Tales From the Crypt, Vol. 3 This is a hardcover collecting EC's Tales From the Crypt issues 13-18, from 1952-53. EC was the premiere publisher of horror, war, and crime comics during this era. They had the best artists and writers in the industry--legends like Jack Davis, Joe Orlando, Wally Wood, Joe Kubert, and on and on--no hackwork here! The Comics Code in 1954 cut out the heart of what EC was doing, and by 1955 they had cancelled practically their whole line. Editor William B. Gaines decided to keep publishing one comic, however, switching over to magazine format to avoid the dictates of the Code, a little humor magazine you may have heard of called Mad.
There are a number of great stories in this volume of Tales of the Crypt, but one sticks out in my mind as especially bizarre and sick (that's good in this case!). Titled "Lower Berth," it tells about a traveling carnival in the old days, one with an especially good sideshow. The stars of this sideshow are Myrna, a real mummified teen-age girl from ancient Egypt, and Enoch, a two-headed inbred hillbilly from the Ozarks who died at sixteen and is kept in a vat of formaldehyde. At each new stop the carnival makes, the owners of these two attractions are in constant competition for better placement and billing. What they don't realize is that their freaky exhibits can see each other from across the midway and are falling in love with each other! I don't want to give away the ending but it's unexpected but appropriate for the nature of the material.
Tales From the Crypt, Vol. 3 This is a hardcover collecting EC's Tales From the Crypt issues 13-18, from 1952-53. EC was the premiere publisher of horror, war, and crime comics during this era. They had the best artists and writers in the industry--legends like Jack Davis, Joe Orlando, Wally Wood, Joe Kubert, and on and on--no hackwork here! The Comics Code in 1954 cut out the heart of what EC was doing, and by 1955 they had cancelled practically their whole line. Editor William B. Gaines decided to keep publishing one comic, however, switching over to magazine format to avoid the dictates of the Code, a little humor magazine you may have heard of called Mad.
There are a number of great stories in this volume of Tales of the Crypt, but one sticks out in my mind as especially bizarre and sick (that's good in this case!). Titled "Lower Berth," it tells about a traveling carnival in the old days, one with an especially good sideshow. The stars of this sideshow are Myrna, a real mummified teen-age girl from ancient Egypt, and Enoch, a two-headed inbred hillbilly from the Ozarks who died at sixteen and is kept in a vat of formaldehyde. At each new stop the carnival makes, the owners of these two attractions are in constant competition for better placement and billing. What they don't realize is that their freaky exhibits can see each other from across the midway and are falling in love with each other! I don't want to give away the ending but it's unexpected but appropriate for the nature of the material.
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Reading Goals for 2015
OK, we've done the writing goals in 2015, let's do the reading goals as well.
I've discussed before that in any given year, I have some general reading goals:
1) a baseball book, during baseball season (in 2014, this was a memoir by Reggie Jackson)
2) a Biblical or religious reading, during Lent (NO! I didn't get to this goal in 2014)
3) at least one historical book (in 2014, this was a biography of Goya)
4) at least one work of "real" literature (in 2014 this was Moby Dick and the Epic of Gilgamesh)
5) at least 2-3 YA novels (yes, various)
This year, I already know that for my Lenten reading, I would like to read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis.
For a historical book, I am currently reading The Race Underground, an account of the competition that developed between Boston and New York to build America's first subway at the end of the 19th century.
For my "real" literature book, I'm not sure if this counts, but for many years I've wanted to read T.E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Again, I'm not sure if this is quite literature, but this might be what I put in the category in 2015.
Not sure of the baseball book, and for the YA novels, I'll pick some up as I spot them, or as my wife recommends one to me.
I've discussed before that in any given year, I have some general reading goals:
1) a baseball book, during baseball season (in 2014, this was a memoir by Reggie Jackson)
2) a Biblical or religious reading, during Lent (NO! I didn't get to this goal in 2014)
3) at least one historical book (in 2014, this was a biography of Goya)
4) at least one work of "real" literature (in 2014 this was Moby Dick and the Epic of Gilgamesh)
5) at least 2-3 YA novels (yes, various)
This year, I already know that for my Lenten reading, I would like to read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis.
For a historical book, I am currently reading The Race Underground, an account of the competition that developed between Boston and New York to build America's first subway at the end of the 19th century.
For my "real" literature book, I'm not sure if this counts, but for many years I've wanted to read T.E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Again, I'm not sure if this is quite literature, but this might be what I put in the category in 2015.
Not sure of the baseball book, and for the YA novels, I'll pick some up as I spot them, or as my wife recommends one to me.
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Writing Goals for 2015
Here are my writing goals for 2015:
1. Work on super-secret project (more details to come in 2015, I hope!)
1a. Polish short story for super-secret project. Already written, but for some reason I just cannot get this thing edited! I really need to work on it.
2. Finish edit of novel manuscript. This is my third novel (current working title: Out of Place), which is in draft form but needs some editing and polishing. I don't think it actually requires that much work--but I do need to sit down with it for a couple months and get it into shape.
2a. Send third novel out to agents.
3. Edit Writers of Chantilly anthology in a more timely fashion than I did with last year's!
EITHER 4a. Edit second novel, and try sending it out to agents again;
OR 4b. Research, begin writing fourth novel. I'm fairly certain what I'm going to write about, just need to get some stuff figured out before I can start.
1. Work on super-secret project (more details to come in 2015, I hope!)
1a. Polish short story for super-secret project. Already written, but for some reason I just cannot get this thing edited! I really need to work on it.
2. Finish edit of novel manuscript. This is my third novel (current working title: Out of Place), which is in draft form but needs some editing and polishing. I don't think it actually requires that much work--but I do need to sit down with it for a couple months and get it into shape.
2a. Send third novel out to agents.
3. Edit Writers of Chantilly anthology in a more timely fashion than I did with last year's!
EITHER 4a. Edit second novel, and try sending it out to agents again;
OR 4b. Research, begin writing fourth novel. I'm fairly certain what I'm going to write about, just need to get some stuff figured out before I can start.
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