#SummerofSandman — Because #EndlessSummer is Taken Already

Posted on 05/18/2015 by Gene'O

Just in case you missed this last week.

Sandman covers by Dave McKean. Collage discovered at The Book Wars

Diana, David, Holly and I started discussing a run of Sandman posts for Comparative Geeks back in February, and those are coming soon. Since we’re publishing so many Sandman posts this summer, here’s an introduction to the series for those of you who haven’t read it yet.

The Sandman is a comics series by Neil Gaiman with various artists published by DC Vertigo between 1987 and 1996. It defies categorization. Fantasy-Horror-Supernatural epic is the best I can do for a descriptive label. The original run was 75 issues. It spawned various spinoffs, derivative works, etc.

Dream of the Endless, known to the Romans as Morpheus, is the central character. He is one of seven anthropomorphic personifications. He has two older siblings – Destiny and Death – and four younger ones – Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium. The Endless are…

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The Friday 56: Summer of Sandman #2

Posted on 05/15/2015 by Gene'O

The Friday 56 is a weekly booking meme courtesy of Freda’s Voice. And there is a linkup!

The rules are simple: Grab a book, any book. Turn to page 56. Find a sentence, any sentence, and post it. (Or post a few — just don’t spoil it!) Add the post url (not your homepage) to the linky and do some visits.

Since Diana and I are blogging about Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series this summer at Comparative Geeks, I’m working my way through the 10-volume trade paperback version of the series. From The Doll’s House (vol. 2):

Rose Walker: “I don’t know what I was expecting. Not her. She looked lost, and fragile, like a little china doll. And weirdly familiar, and I didn’t know why.”

The Friday 56: Summer of Sandman #1

Posted on 05/08/2015 by Gene'O

The Friday 56 is a weekly booking meme courtesy of Freda’s Voice. And there is a linkup! The rules are simple: Grab a book, any book. Turn to page 56. Find a sentence, any sentence, and post it. (Or post a few — just don’t spoil it!) Add the post url (not your homepage) to the linky and do some visits.

I did a short run of these at Just Gene’O back in the spring and they did so well I decided to move them here. Since Diana and I are doing a lot of posting at Comparative Geeks about Neil Gaiman’s Sandman this summer, I’m working my way through the ten-volume trade paperback collection of that series. Enjoy!

From “Imperfect Hosts” in Preludes and Nocturnes:

Cain: Now, why would I give you an exploding present? What kind of brother would I be if I did that?

Abel: My kind of B-brother. The uh, the kind who kills me whenever he’s uh . . . Mad at me, or bored, or just in a lousy mood.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books on My Fall Reading List

Posted on 09/23/2014 by Gene'O

Each week, the good folks at The Broke and the Bookish host a meme post they call Top Ten Tuesday. They provide topics well in advance and even have a way to share your links with other Top Ten Tuesday bloggers. I love these posts, and I haven’t written anything substantial here in awhile, so this seems a good week to jump back into the TTT game. Enjoy!

1. The Benevolence Archives vol. 1 by Luther M. Siler

This is a collection of novella-length science fiction stories that I intended to read this summer. The author is the delightfully demented genius behind the blog Infinite Free Time, and everyone I’ve talked to who’s read this book so far has thoroughly enjoyed it, so it’s at the top of my list.

2. Storm Front by Jim Butcher

The first novel in the Dresden Files series. While I need to commit to another fantasy series even less than I need to try and follow one more t.v. series, the premise intrigues me. This one’s been on my tbr list for awhile, and I’m thinking I might actually pick it up this fall.

3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I feel as though this one is a matter of cultural literacy at this point. I’m tired of reading Hunger Games posts and having to say “um well, since I haven’t read it I hesitate to say too much about it but . . .”

4. Lamb by Christopher Moore

Diana loaned this one to me over the summer, and I’ve not gotten around to it yet.

5. The Collector by John Fowles

I’ve been wanting to read this one for years, but I always forget about it when I go for library books. I saw a friend of mine reading it for a course a couple of weeks ago and made a mental note to put it on the list.

6. Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore, Ill. By Brian Bolland

This is the most influential Batman story I’ve never read. Judging from the conversations I had over the summer on some of Jeremy’s Batman threads and at CompGeeks, I really need to get on this one. Fortunately, Jeremy loaned me a copy yesterday, and it’s a quick read.

7. One of our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde

I binged on Fforde’s Thursday Next series a couple of summers ago, and this is where I left off. I’m hoping to get caught up on the series this fall.

8. Interworld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves

I discovered this one by googling a list of Gaiman’s books and browsing the titles I’ve not read until I found the one I like most.

9. The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King

To my knowledge, this is the only piece of King’s Dark Tower lore I haven’t read. I wasn’t even aware of its existence until yesterday, and the blurb is quite intriguing.

10. To the Finland Station: A Study in the Writing and Acting of History by Edmund Wilson

Since no reading list of mine can be complete without at least one serious piece of nonfiction, and I’ve been putting this one off for 20 years.