Books: I Don't Want to Kill You by Dan Wells (2011)

John Wayne Cleaver is back in this third (and final?) novel by Dan Wells. Like I Am Not A Serial Killer and Mr. Monster, this serial-killer obsessed sixteen year-old, the sociopathic, emotionless, yet some how extremely lovable kid who works and lives in a mortuary, continues his battles with the supernatural elements that seem to be on par with the Hellmouth of Sunnydale.

It’s been a few months since the events of Mr. Monster, a time of quite reflection on the events of the previous six months were two killers, demons, have been haunting Clayton County. John’s ever increasing anxiety over who will come to his town in search of revenge for his acts of destroying the two previous monsters, feeds his increasing desire to kill, hurt and otherwise do harm. All he knows is the demon is called Nobody, and because these creatures can take on various shapes of humans, John is never sure if anyone he interacts with is Nobody.

Meanwhile, Brooke, the neighbor girl he’ll never admit he has feelings for, has barley spoke to him since the events of the second book. But when another girl, the daughter of a cop, takes an interest in him, John sees an opportunity to keep track of what’s happening in Clayton County.

Two things begin to happen; a killer is stalking town leaders, cutting their hands and tongue off, and driving spikes through their backs; and there is a sudden rash of suicides by girls. At first, John believes these new killings are connected to the demons, but they also match the profile of a real serial killer.

But John, who has sort of let his own inner monster out knows there is no way he can, or for that matter, really wants to put it back. As he struggles to maintain his list, they begin to buckle under the pressure of his family, a new (and a first for him) girlfriend and the impeding battle he knows is coming.

Unlike the two previous books, most of Johns inner battles take a backseat to the murder mystery plot. John still struggles, but in this volume he becomes more of a detective, searching for clues like Colombo in hopes of encountering Nobody.

Still, like the two previous books, they are unapologetically dark and gory, and author Wells has an extreme, well honed grasp that is the voice of John Cleaver. Yet, as John became to think and act more like Buffy (granted, one without super-powers), his obsessions, his thoughts about killing his girlfriend and classmates take a back-seat, and thus this does not flow so naturally with the events of the last book. It’s distracting, somewhat. In the end, Wells tries to redeem John a bit by making him realize that he does have feelings, and I’m unsure why. After all, redemption cannot be handed out so easily like Halloween candy.

In the end, I still think this is a worthy series of books, this mash-up of Dexter and Stephen King. I’m unsure if this really is the end, if only because there has to be more demons out in the world, and John has become interested, perhaps, in finding his dad -I sensed the phone call John made in the latter half the book was more a set-up for a continuation.

Wells is a talented writer, and look forward to see where he goes next.

Elisabeth Sladen, former Doctor Who companion and Sarah Jane Adventure star dies

When I heard of the passing of Elisabeth Sladen today, my day was all but ruined. Since 1979, when I first saw Doctor Who on Chicago’s PBS station WTTW, I became a huge fan of her portrayal of intrepid reporter Sarah Jane Smith. Of course, by the time the US public broadcasting stations had acquired the BBC series, she was gone from the show over three years and the program itself was in season 17.

But it was Tom Baker’s fourth Doctor, and Sladen’s Sarah (though she had joined the show a year earlier, when Jon Pertwee was heading into his last season as the Doctor) that cemented the series here in the US, and during his reign, the show became, arguably, what many thought to be the "golden years" of Doctor Who. When she left the show after three and half seasons, Sarah Jane had become the most popular companion the series had.

As she often said, that while she left Sarah Jane behind, "Sarah Jane never left me," because she continued to be associated with the show. She was even asked back in 1981 to help TV viewers with the regeneration of Tom Baker’s Doctor into Peter Davidson’s Doctor, but declined. However, she did agree to do a pilot for a potential spin-off called K9 and Company. While the show was never picked up, she did return in 1983 for the series 20^th anniversary movie, The Five Doctors.

All through the rest of the 80's and 90's, Sladen would do conventions, all while doing other acting and raising her daughter Sadie, who was born in 1985. But when Doctor Who was revived in 2005 after a 16 year absence from the TV screens, a chance meeting between her and showrunner Russell T Davies (and huge fan of Sladen to boot) lead her to guest star on the second season episode School Reunion. And by bridging the 20^th century series with the 21^st, Sladen and her Sarah Jane character somehow did something the Doctor’s most popular villains, the Daleks, could not do: she made the show even huger with old and new fans.

So, a year later, she would be starring in her own spin-off, this time called The Sarah Jane Adventures. She produced 4 seasons worth of the show, with 3 unaired episodes yet to go.

What made her one of the most popular companions the show has produced in its 47 year history? I’m sure a lot had to do with her performance, as she was really the first “modern” companion the series had. She was tough, smart, “cheeky” (as RTD called her today) could never be taken for granted. She asked the right questions, and could defend herself. And a lot had to do with the writers, who were trying their hardest to create a companion that was not afraid.

But for me, I guess, Sarah Jane (along with Lis Sladen) was a great role model for women and even gay men. She was a totally modern character, who gave as good as she got, and stood up to the men and monsters she encountered, when before her there was (somewhat) the “victim” companions.

Her passing today at the young age of 63 seems tragic for not only her husband Brian and daughter, but all fans of Doctor Who. While it seems she was suffering from cancer for some time, she apparently had everyone fooled. That is a strong woman, and one all of us can learn a lesson from. And like the passing of each actor who has played the Time Lord, the death of Elisabeth Sladen can be, and probably will be, felt just like one of those.

Her impact was that great.

Memo

The Republicans have an agenda, one that returns America back to the days of the rich and the poor. And the best way to do it, is to attack working Americans in their pocket books, wallets and homes.

They want to steal Social Security for the guys on Wall Street, who bought their elections. Steal medicare and give it to private insurance companies who can charge even higher fees, thus ensuing only the rich can afford any kind of quality of health care. They're also attacking women and child's health care, by taking away programs such as school lunches and Planned Parenthood.

Unions are strong, sometimes have too much power, but they want to eliminate over a centuries worth regulations that protect workers from employers who's greed of money outweighs the safety of workers. Hey, they also want to eliminate minimum wage.

Hey, the Republicans also want to expand free trade so even more companies will leave the United States.

So, if your a working American, just know the Republicans and the Tea Party are out to screw you over.

Books: Shadowrise: Volume 3 of Shadowmarch by Tad Williams (2010)

Tad Williams original idea was a trilogy, but as it happened before, trying to tie all his loose ends together, and realizing that there was much more to the story than he first anticipated, this current series would need to be told in four volumes. True, when his first series was published, the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, it was in three volumes, but book three was so large (over a 1,000 pages in hardcover), that when it was released in paperback, it had to be divided into two. Williams admits in a note at the beginning of the hardcover version of this volume that his distrust of planning meant it became inevitable that he could not wrap up all of the threads in just three books.

So, in many ways, Shadowrise is part one of the two-part finale. And at well over 550 pages, one could see why Williams thought he needed to split the series this way. And, from my point of view, there was little I could see he could’ve cut.

Like all fantasy novels, this third volume continues to follow Briony, Barrick and their father King Olin and others in various stages of separation from each other: Barrick is lost behind the Shadowline with only the talking raven Skurn for company, and who seems to finally be leaving all that self-pity behind and embracing his destiny, I guess. Briony is facing courtly intrigue as she continues to find allies to relieve her besieged home. Then there is Ferras Vansen, delivered back to the Funderling town below Southmarch Castle, who, along with Chertz and the other Funderlings, must counter the subterranean incursions of the Qar. The enigmatic boy Flint, whose behavior grows ever-stranger; the increasingly erratic Autarch of Xis, who is coming ever closer to Southmarch on a mission only he understands; his unwilling wife Qinnitan, on the run, and many other characters besides.

While all this is going on, we learn much more about the Gods, and see how everything is beginning to fit together. And Williams spends just enough time with each character before changing perspective and easily moves the story forward. His tales are always complex, yet never boring. His World Building technics are always logical and his characters move with a reality little seen in this genre anymore.

Quote of the Day

"Remember when teachers, public employees, Planned Parenthood, NPR and PBS crashed the stock market, wiped out half of our 401Ks, took trillions in TARP money, spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico, started several resource wars, gave themselves billions in bonuses, paid no taxes and demanded that all social services be cut so that they would still get paid?

Yeah, me neither."

Man, this country is screwed unless we get our heads out of are collectives asses.

Arizona Examiner reviewer Joseph Airdo gives Judas Kiss a glowing review

"Judas Kiss," the surprise hit at this year's Phoenix Film Festival, is certain to make most audiences feel a bit uncomfortable.

The feeling will not necessarily come as a result of the film's LBGTQ themes (although it is advisable that one knows that before seeing "Judas Kiss"). Rather, the uncomfortable feeling will be directly associated with the movie's strange sci-fi twists. Revealing anything more specific would unfairly spoil surprises.

However, regardless of some events that may or may not be a bit too bizarre, "Judas Kiss" is an incredibly original independent feature film; an extraordinarily well-made one that completely transcends all genres and features some fairly solid performances from a few really charismatic actors.

Charlie David plays Zachary Wells, a failed filmmaker who is convinced by his hotshot director friend to replace him as a judge in Keystone Summit University's annual film festival. Upon arriving, Zach hooks up with a student at a bar only to discover the next morning that said student is one of the festival's entrants.

Moreover, the student calls himself Danny Reyes (Richard Harmon) - a name Zach knows very well. And Danny's film "Judas Kiss" is also familiar. Zach made a film with the same title that won the festival years before. Then Zach, having received the mysterious advice of "Change the kid's past, change your future," sees Danny making his same mistakes.

It all leads up to Zach, still trying to determine his connection to the student, making a decision resulting in "Judas Kiss's" disqualification and a confrontation between Danny and his father about their family's dark past. Needless to say, there is much more to this story in the way of science-fiction.

The final 30 minutes of “Judas Kiss,” when the puzzle pieces start to come together, are undoubtedly the most emotionally powerful parts of the movie. Writer/director J.T. Tepnapa and his co-writer Carlos Pedraza summon the delicate revelations in a way that is both beautiful and slightly haunting, yet satisfying through and through.

Still, just as “Judas Kiss” is not a film for intolerant persons, it is also not one for viewers who cannot handle a little awkward mind-bending much less those who prefer that their entertainment fits perfectly into a set genre. However, those who can handle feeling a bit uncomfortable will have found something spectacularly unique.

Slouching Towards...

I was passing through CNN the other day and saw an article about the four ways we’re still fighting the Civil War. There was one striking part about the article, where writer David Goldfield (whose new book is called America Aflame) talks about how the rise of evangelical Christianity before the Civil War, where “thousands of Americans repented of their sins at frontier campfire meetings and readied themselves examines evangelical for the Second Coming. They got war instead. Their moral certitude helped make it happen.”

Goldfield adds that evangelical Christianity "poisoned the political process" because the American system of government depends on compromise and moderation, and evangelical religion abhors both because "how do you compromise with sin.”

"The erosion of the center in contemporary American politics is the most striking parallel between today and the time just before the Civil War," Goldfield says.

Today, I think we are seeing history repeat itself. The Tea Party is filled with people who basically see everything in black and white terms, and have no desire to compromise to anything.

As Steve Gilliard once said, anyone who is not an evangelical needs to “stop looking for an accommodation with the right. They want none from us.”

The question remains as we progress towards the 2012 elections, how much more the evangelical Christians will tilt, divide and send us over the proverbial cliff because they cannot, will not compromise?

Judas Kiss begins its circuit

Last week at this time, I was in Phoenix. I had gone with my friends J.T. Tepnapa, Jody Wheeler and Charlie Brewer for the world premiere of J.T.'s first film, JUDAS KISS (both Jody and Charlie were investors in this indie drama). It was playing at the Phoenix Film Festival, on Friday April 1st and it was great to see this film play there first, if only because while it is a gay film, it seems more appropriate that it should play at a mainstream film festival.

JUDAS KISS stars Charlie David (Mulligans) as failed filmmaker Zachary Wells, who is convinced by his friend, hotshot director Topher Shadoe, to replace him as a judge in Keystone Summit University's annual film festival. His first night, Zach hooks up with a student at a bar. He's shocked the next morning when the same student walks into an interview calling himself Danny Reyes (rising superstar Richard Harmon, co-star of AMC's new series The Killing), a name Zach knows very well. And Danny's film, "Judas Kiss", is a finalist in the competition Zach is judging. Zach's film with the same title won the festival years before. As Zach scrambles for answers, a mysterious, chain-smoking campus tour guide counsels him: "Change the kid's past, change your future." Zach sees Danny on the verge of making his same mistakes. Zach decides he can mend his life by getting Danny's film disqualified, prompting a confrontation between Danny and his father about their family's dark past.

The film also stars adult actor Brent Corrigan as C.W. (being credited in his real name) and another rising star, European actor/singer Timo Descamps as Shane Lyons.

On Friday last week, the film got bumped out its first theater due to selling out. It was moved to a larger theater, where it was filled to about 75%. It eventually rated a 4.7 out if 5 stars!

Its next festival appearance will be April 22nd at 13th Annual Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. The Boston LGBT Film Festival is next and has programmed the feature on its closing night, Saturday, May 14.

Look at Me

This n' That

1 2 3

Books: Beyonders: A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull (2011)

I had not read Brandon Mull’s Fablehaven series of fantasy books for young readers, but like much that has come out since the rise of Harry Potter, you knew it fell somewhere between that series and the more adult fantasy of say J.R.R. Tolkien. As a reader of this genre, I’ve become pretty critical of writers attempts at World Building this genre demands. Rowling was able to create a universe that was interesting, fun for all ages, tinged with a bit of darkness. She was very smart to let the series, as it progressed, to become more adult.

As I read Beyonders (and the only reason, let’s be honest I read it was because I got an ARC at the store), it has all the usual fantasy tropes, and it does have a bit of darkness to it, especially if this is designed for readers 10 and up. While the violence is spread out over its 446 pages, it does contain passages that you don’t usually see in the age group, such as characters torn to bits by dogs, or the torture of Jason, main character, with a venomous snake and a sensory deprivation chamber (and clad in only a slim sort of loin cloth).

Jason Walker, our hero, is earnest, brave to the point (at times I felt) of stupidity, but charming none the less. The story revolves around him stumbling into a parallel universe of Lyrian, where he encounters a land devoid of no heroes, as the evil Maldor rules the world. As he tries to find his way home, he becomes involved with Galloran, the last man who attempted to destroy Maldor with the Word (an ancient phrase that will undo the evil). Seeing potential in Jason, Galloran convinces the earnest teen to journey through the lands in search of all the syllables that make up the Word. He also encounters Rachel, a girl who is also from his world. Together, they head out on a perilous journey to find a way home and defeat Maldor.

So, while Mull hits all the fantasy buttons, why does it not work? First, perhaps, he borrows so much from other works like The Lord of the Rings series, Homer’s The Odyssey, Harry Potter and even Percy Jackson (I was reminded so much of how Jason and Rachel’s repartee where like Percy and Annabelle’s) that the story falls flat. Rachel, a much more interesting character, gets left behind in the action for some reason that is not fully explained (though you get the sense that women in this universe are second-class citizens as much as they are in our world) and I never believed that Jason, at age 13, spoke or acted like a 13 year-old. His actions, his thoughts, his speech pattern clearly dictate that he is more adult than a teen.

As the beginning of a trilogy, the story is not resolved, and characters like Jason and Rachel are left with cliffhanger situations until the next book. The series will work for the tweens, as long as they expect nothing new from the genre, because it is not the next step in the evolutionary process of young-adult fantasy that Harry Potter was or, even, Percy Jackson.

Former SNL star is an idiot

When she was on SNL, Victoria Jackson always seemed to play characters that were a few tacos short of a combination platter. Who knew that some 25 years, she would prove that it was no shtick. She really is dumb and oblivious to reality. Well, it’s nothing new, per se. It was obvious while she had comedy timing, she obviously was never going to read a book above, say the James Patterson level.

They say that the folks who run Religion go after the young, the old and the weak minded. Young, because if you lie to them long enough, they’re hooked like a junkie is to crack. Old, well, they are old. People who are near the end of their lives are again easily caught up in a web of lies by these people. They become the dealer again who is supplies the crack; death is at the door, do you want to leave without paying for your sins (as in cash donations to Religion, Inc ). And the weak minded because learning things, understanding logical, critical thought is seen as ways to the DEVIL.

So, Victoria Jackson, upset that Kurt and Blaine kissed on GLEE last week, wrote an article in something called the World Net Daily, which sounds like one of those tabloids that claim Jesus works at Mel’s Diner.

What?

Really?

It does claim that?

Okee Dokee

So she wrote that “Everyone knows that two men on a wedding cake is comedy skit, not an ‘alternate lifestyle.’” She also added that it was “sickening” to see the boys kissing. “And besides shoving the gay thing down our throats, they made a mockery of Christians - again.” What she was referring to was comedian Kathy Griffin playing a Sarah Palin type character. She goes on to add: “I wonder what their agenda is? Hey producers of GLEE - what’s your agenda? One-way tolerance?”

She was on CNN’s Showbiz Today after this article came out, and she sat there with her Bible and claimed “I just wanna know why the liberals are pro-Muslim and pro-gay. Muslims kill gays. That’s what’s confusing to me. The only thing I can think of is that the Muslims hate God and the gays hate His word.”


Wow.

Who the hell is she? I mean, for the last decade or more, the conservatives have gone out of their way to attack “celebrities” like Alec Baldwin, Janeane Garofalo and others who come on political talk shows, or round-table discussion panel programs like Bill Maher. They’ve claimed at times how an actor or a singer can know anything about politics, or religion or the price of tea in China. Now, its okay for some former SNL “skit” writer to the same. And while she was on Showbiz Today with this latest rant, she has appeared a few times on Fox News. So you know they think she’s super cool.

The thing is, Religion, Inc after centuries of brutal, jugular, iron fisted control of the human race, is finding itself increasingly boring, pedantic and not necessarily needed that much anymore. Still, because it has been around so long, I don’t see it ever really going away. And even I believe it can be helpful to those who need comfort, and even if the Bible is one the greatest single fiction books on the planet, it does offer a reasonable way of living: do no harm, and love everyone.

Secularism, for all its randomness, its oddity and yes, depravity (see Rush Limbaugh), is what we should really strive for to balance out the horrible schism Religion, Inc created when a group of white, old men got together a hundred centuries ago to figure out a way to control a mass group of people. I’m sure it was suppose to be a bloodless take-over, but then the pesky Crusades happened and its been downhill ever since.

As a nation, and as a world, we need to realize that life is moving on, and that the phrase “evolve or die” is very real thing. Religion has suppressed people for so long, has kept ideas, new thoughts hidden away because they feared that if someone learned that Christianity is built on a house of cards, people would realize they’ve been culled, like sheep. And besides, evolving is not in a word in Christianity’s vocabulary.

The way I see it, her version of Conservatism and religion -much like Glenn Beck and others of that ilk - plays on fear and thrives on lies and dishonesty.

Anyways, for Victoria Jackson, and those who follow such a dark, and inhuman agenda, have forgotten we gay people have been around since the dawn of time. We’ll always be around. And we are tired of being made the scapegoat for your “beliefs.”

So I ask: is the religion of these conservatives like Jackson so fragile that they need the state to prop it up, to tell us how to pray and think? Is that what they stand for? Is that their America?

And as for her comments about Muslims -despite reality that only a small percentage of said Muslims might be “terrorist” - let me remind her of American history, via Steve Gilliard:

“It was the liberals who opposed the Nazis while the conservatives were plotting to get their brown shirts or fund Hitler. It was the liberals who warned about Spain and fought there, who joined the RAF to fight the Germans, who brought democracy to Germany and Japan. Let us not forget it was the conservatives who opposed defending America until the Germans sank our ships. They would have done nothing as Britain came under Nazi control. It was they who supported Joe McCarthy and his baseless, drink fueled claims. Without liberals, there would be no modern America, just a Nazi satellite state. Liberals weak on defense? Liberals created America’s defense.”

Victoria Jackson is just the latest long-forgotten celebrity to attack what she does not understand, and claim Jesus and the Bible are where her words come from, so you can’t call her a bigot.

But I can, and I will. You know nothing about any gay person’s struggles, you know nothing about what it takes to live in a world where your treated like dirt, a second-class citizen. You hide behind some dusty old words that had little meaning then, and even less now. You praise the asshats of the Conservative Right because your afraid to live and think for yourself.

Victoria Jackson, you are a pathetic old woman, trying to relive some glory, some halcyon day you never had when you were nothing but a stereotypical blond twit on SNL. You hide behind a tome of questionable reality, and you pass judgment as if you think some how, anyone, would care what the hell you think.

You vanished from the world when you left SNL.

We didn’t miss you.

Relaxing

Yellow Chairs

Books: Spooner by Pete Dexter (2010)

For Pete Dexter, Spooner is more a memorish novel than anything else. He spins a tale of one Warren Spooner, who sort of haplessly blunders through life, firing through life almost unwittingly.

Dexter admits that the novel is loosely based on characters and events from his life, so sometimes you have to wonder where real life and fiction begins, intertwines and then ends as page through the book -such as the case of young Warren breaking and entering and then peeing in his neighbors shoes.

The author, known for thrillers such as the award winning Paris Trout, paints Spooner in a colorful, often funny way. And while there are a number of disturbing disasters in Spooner’s life, just when you think the book was going to get dark, Dexter slips in a pratfall or something even more odd to lighten the mood.

At first, I kinda of saw Spooner more like Forest Gump, sort of slow and maybe a bit unstable. He seemed to stumble through life, starting a career in baseball that is, predictably, ruined by injuries. He has failed marriages, and then almost by accident (as it sometimes happens), he stumbles head over heels into a writing career (newspapers and then novels). But as the novel progressed, you begin to see an interesting, very human man who lives a calm, almost serene life -borne, no doubt, by a caring stepfather.

If there was one fault, it would be the novel is a bit overlong -even if it’s a pseudo-memoir. According to the author, he had to cut 250 out of the book to make it work better. At 459 pages (for the paperback), it could have used a bit more trimming, especially in the middle when the story begins to sag.

Its well written, humorous and, at times, heartbreaking. Still, it took me forever to read it. Glad I did, because it is worth the time, I just wished the pace was more smoother.

Mud

Sanderson delays final Wheel of Time book

In the tradition of late Robert Jordan, who would promise a release date for the latest entry of the endless Wheel of Time series, and then pull the rug out, Brandon Sanderson -who is finishing the series - has announced a delay of the last book in the his 3 part finale.

A Memory of Light, originally scheduled for November 2011, will be delayed until late February or early March 2012. Sanderson's only reason seems to be he would not "feel right about" getting it out in November -even though he says he can have it finished by then.

Artists.

Anyways, with George R. R. Martin finally releasing the next novel in his Song of Fire and Ice series this July, at least the fans have something to look forward in 2011.