Favorite Fictional Character --- William "Buck" Rogers

 

I turned forty-nine this year, and if you're around my age, you'll understand what I'm about to say about our childhood.

Growing up, there weren't a lot of options for television viewing—especially if you didn't have cable, which I don't remember having until the fifth grade. So, you kinda watched whatever was on the few TV stations you got. And what was on wasn't necessarily new, especially during the daytime or late at night. A lot of what aired during those times were reruns—a concept that now feels almost antiquated in this age of streaming. That means I grew up watching a lot of shows that first aired before I was born—or, in the case of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, a show that premiered when I was an adorable three years old.

I feel like I didn’t really watch the show until we were traveling with the carnival, sometime between fifth and eighth grade—but don’t quote me on that. I'd be willing to bet I’d seen it earlier, even if my first clear memory of watching it was in a short-term rental—just two weeks while we were in town for the fair in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I was eating a fried bologna sandwich, sitting on the floor, watching Buck and Hawk take shelter from a storm on a barren planet. It had to be a season two episode. I was enraptured.

There are characters you like for no other reason than you thought they were “cool” the moment you saw them. Captain Buck Rogers is one of those characters for me. From his swagger to the way he spoke, I wanted to be him. I wanted to fly around in space, saving the day from whatever bad situation Buck, Wilma, Hawk, and Twiki found themselves in. He was just—for lack of a better word—cool. I’ve watched the show as an adult, and while some aspects haven’t aged well, the young kid that still lives inside me thinks he's one of the coolest characters ever to grace a TV screen.

February 2021 Viewing, At Least So Far

 

For those of you who may be new to Wordsmithonia, I'm a huge movie nerd. I have almost 400 movies in my personal collection, and I'm always buying more, especially over the last year. I have probably spent more on Amazon in the last twelve months, than I have over the previous ten years. If you couldn't tell by the picture, I'm an even bigger horror movie nerd. I love them. From the cheesy to the terrifying, I'm just about down for anything horror, at least once. Except for torture porn, that stuff just sucks. I didn't watch all that much in February, especially compared to the month before. 

This is what I watched:

Tenet (2020) - It was okay. I keep watching these kind of movies, hoping I'm going to come out the other side in love with what I had just watched. It's never happened before, and it didn't this time. I'm going to have to admit that I just don't dig high concept sci-fi thrillers. They give me headaches. I didn't hate it, and I enjoyed the action scenes, but it's nothing I'll watch again.  

Watched On: Vudu

Blood Fest (2018) - I absolutely love horror comedy, and I was so damned relieved when my second pick of the month, was one that I absolutely adored. It's not perfect. It had a few missteps, but they are the kind of flaws that are easy for me to overlook. The cast is, minus one, perfect. The plot is an on point send up of both horror movies and horror themed attractions. This will go on my yearly watch of Hellfest LLC, The Houses October Buillt, Haunt, and Hell Fest.

Watched On: Amazon Prime Video

Fright Fest (2018) - Despite some decent casting, this was a waste of my time. It was an orgy of over the top horror cliches and one dimensional characters. I can sometimes over look those sorts of things, but if the movie doesn't scare me or make me laugh, it's not worth the pain of sitting through the whole thing.

Watched On: Amazon Prime Video

21 Bridges (2019) - A heroic performance by Chadwick Boseman. Great performances by the rest of the cast. I wish I could say that the movie was worthy of it's talent, but I can't. The storyline was generic and predictable, albeit entertaining. In order for me to fall for a movie like this, I need some sort of redemptive arc, and nobody was given that opportunity. I was entertained while watching it, but it's nothing I will ever watch again.

Watched On: Vudu

Digging Up the Marrow (2014) - The best thing about this movie is the poster. 

Watched On: Amazon Prime Video 

The Haunting of Grady Farm (2019) - It was okay. I love found footage horror, but that love means I watch a lot of mediacore to bad movies. This was about average.

Watched On: Amazon Prime Video 

Hollows Grove (2014) - Another found footage horror, and one I genuinely enjoyed. The performances were above average for this genre, though three of the male characters oozed just a tad bit too much toxic masculinity. I actually ended up caring about what happened to the other male character, which rarely happens in these kind of movies, since the endings are always the same. My one sticking point is the way it's framed as an investigation by the FBI. Stupidest framing ever.

Watched On: Amazon Prime Video 

Ghoul (2015) - Yet another found footage horror movie, this time taking place in Ukraine. The movie is filmed in a mixture of English and Czech, so luckily there were subtitles. This followed a group of Americans as they were attempting to make a documentary about modern day cannibals. I liked it, but not enough to watch again.

Watched On: Amazon Prime Video 

The Empty Man (2020) - Just below my love of found footage horror, sits my love of cult horror. James Badge Dale is frickin brilliant here, I just wish the rest of the cast had lived up to his performance. They weren't bad, but compared to him, they were noticeably weaker. It made for a disjointed viewing experience. The movie is probably too long as well, though it does pack in a few unsettling moments. I feel like I'm saying this a lot, but while I enjoyed it, it's nothing I'll ever need to watch again.

Watched On: Amazon Prime Video (Rented)

Love and Monsters (2020) - A shit ton of fun, with some really cool looking monsters. I loved that it doesn't have the typical happy rom/com ending, and I thoroughly enjoyed the mix of comedy and scary thrills. Dylan O'Brien is an absolute treasure.

Watched On: Bluray From My Collection

Camp Cold Brook (2018) - Decent performances with an interesting storyline, but some of the writing felt unfinished and rushed. I actually think, given the plot, that it would have been better as a found footage film.

Watched On: Amazon Prime Video 

Against the Night (2017) - It was surprisingly better than it should have been. The acting was superior to what I expect from these kind of low budget horror movies. It definitely has a few flaws, and the red herrings were a little annoying, but I actually enjoyed this one. 

Watched On: Amazon Prime Video 

Dakota Bell and the Wastes of Time by Brian Olsen

Synopsis From Publisher: 

Dakota Bell had a difficult summer - her boss turned evil, her roommates took off, and her girlfriend wanted a break. She hoped her birthday might turn things around, but the gang of identical gunmen crashing the party had other ideas. Dakota and her friends flee for their lives through a mysterious portal, leaving them stranded in their own childhoods. She'll need to save the past before she can save the future, but the present holds dangers all its own. A madman hunts her across the years, monsters wait for her beneath the earth, and Dakota's out of time...

It seems like it's been decades since I read the first three books in this series, but it's only been about a year, so I'm not feeling too guilty.  What I am feeling is annoyed that I didn't get to this one sooner. I got it at the same time I got the previous two books, but for whatever reason I got distracted, and forgot about it. And before I get started on the review, I have to say how much I love this title and the way it not only plays with word meanings, but with the actual concept of time as well. Frickin brilliant.

Like the first three books, this is a mashup of fantasy, science fiction, horror, and social commentary. This time it's blended together into a hilariously violent game of cat and mouse played through space and time. Of course you can't have time travel without paradoxes coming into play, and I like the simplistic approach the author took. If a paradox occures, the universe manufactures whatever it needs to keep it from destroying the time line. 

Character wise, I'm in love with this cast of characters even more than I was in the beginning. They all get their moments to shine, even though this book centers around Dakota. Alan is still my favorite. What he goes through in this book, makes what happened to him in the first book look like child's play. Whether it's having to confront a truly horrific episode from the past, or having to deal with yet another issue of the heart, he rises above it, and shows a huge amount of maturity at the end. Caitlin is still Caitlin, and she has to deal with where her life is heading, and what she pictures the end goal to be. Mark makes the most selfish decision he could in this book, and I applaud him for it. I can't imagine having to face the choices he had to make, or the sacrifices he chose in order to save the world. Dakota has to deal with choices made in her childhood that were not only beyond her control, but about as paradoxical as can be. And that leaves us with the evil boss. I still adore him, I still understand where he was coming from, I'm heart broken at the betrayals he has had to contend with, but I stI'll think what he did is truly horrific. He made choices that are almost impossible to defend, even if his heart was in the right place. I wish he could have been saved or redeemed, and I still cringe when I think about his ultimate fate. Since this series played with science fiction constructs, maybe there will be a fifth book that serves as his path to salvation. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.

Other Books in the Series:

Alan Lennox and the Temp Job of Doom 
Caitlin Ross and the Commute from Hell 
Mark Park and the Flume of Destiny

Favorite Fictional Character --- Apollo Adama

To be perfectly frank, I was only 13 months old when Battlestar Galactica first aired.  Since it only lasted one season, I'm assuming not many people watched it, which is just damn stupid. Thanks to reruns, which seemed to happen a lot more often when I was a kid, I was able to enjoy all twenty-four epsidoes in all their glory. I was able to get lost in a story that pitted the last remaining humans, against merciless Cyclons bent on their eradication. It was space opera at its best, and I loved every second of it. The strangest thing, I have never been a huge fan of science fiction, but there is something about this show that has never left me.

My favorite character, by far, was Captain Apollo. There was nothing abut this guy a young kid wouldn't have looked up to. He had a swagger all his own, but never took himself too seriously. He had a sharp mind, but knew how to enjoy himself. He was loyal, brave, fearless in danger, took risks when he needed to, but nevery acted recklessly without thought and consideration.

He was fiercely protective of those he loved, and had faced tragedy on so many levels. He lost his brother to a Cylon attack, his mother to another Cyclon attack, and his newly married wife Serina to a third attack. After her death, he steps up and adopts her son, becoming a single father. He was killed in action, only to be revived by the Beings of Light. He took care of his squadron members, backed his best friend Starbuck up when needed, and never thought of himself over others. He is the perfect hero, which at times can be pretty damn boring, but when you are constantly fighting for the salvation of the human race, stagnation never sets in.

Of course it helped that the actor who played Apollo, Richard Hatch, was hot, which resulted in a huge childhood crush. But that's not as important as the role he played on the show, and his overall influence on pop culture.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Jaime Sommers

It feels like it's been forever since I've done a Favorite Fictional Character post. I've put the feature off for the simple fact that, in my head at least, if I start doing it again, it meant I'm really going to have to get back into blogging. It means I'm going to commit the time and energy, two things I've been lacking lately, into my blog. I still do not really have the time or the energy, but I've been missing Wordsmithonia, and I've been missing you guys.

So with the reappearance of the feature comes a new approach to it, at least for the next 42 weeks. Starting with 1976, the year I was born, I'm going to feature a character from every year that I've been alive. They will come  from TV shows, movie, books, and comics. So today's character, Jaime Sommers, had her TV show debut in 1976. Next week's character, who has not been selected, will have made their debut in 1977, and so forth through 2018.

Now I know that Jaime Sommers appeared on The Six Million Dollar Man prior to 1976, but her own show didn't start until that year, so that's the benchmark I'm using. For those of you who don't know her, Jamie is The Bionic Woman. She was a professional tennis player, ranked amongst the top five women in the world. Then tragedy strikes.

Remember when I mentioned she appeared in The Six Million Dollar Man? You should, it was at the beginning of the last paragraph. Anyway, she and Steve Austin were childhood friends, and through some machinations from Steve's mom, they reconnect. One fateful day they go skydiving, and her parachute malfunctions, plummeting her to the ground.  Both legs, her right arm, and right ear are damaged beyond repair. Steve, being the cyborg man that he is, contacts his bosses, and has Jamie decked out in all new bionic replacements, making her The Bionic Woman. She also loses her memory, forgetting all about the love she shared with Steve. And that's part of the reason why I loved her so much. Instead of getting wrapped up in the life of the man who "saved" her, she is able to go out and build a life separate from him. She stands on her own two feet, and makes the best of a horrific situation.

With her new found abilities, she gets put to work as a super spy and general bad guy ass kicker. She saves the day on a regular basis, and does it with a style all her own.  Her show was only on for two seasons, and I was too young to watch it when it first aired, but I'm pretty sure I've seen every single episode of it. I enjoyed her more than I did her ex-boyfriend, though I couldn't tell you why I don't like Steve as much as her.

I know they tried a reboot a few years ago, but I would like to see them try again. Actually, I have a better idea. Instead of another Avengers movie, or even the Justice League movie that's coming out, let's make this movie instead.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Dr. Beverly Crusher

Given which character I'm featuring this week, what I'm about to say is going to sound rather odd.  I'm not a huge Star Trek fan.  I don't hate it, but I would never actively seek it out to watch.  I'm sure it's been at least 15-16 years since I've seen an episode of any of the TV shows, and the only reason I watched the first Star Trek movie with Chris Pine, was because of Chris Pine.  Like any good kid of the 1990s, I got into Star Trek: The Next Generation more than the original, but if I missed a few episodes or a whole season, it was no skin off my nose.  So you are probably trying to figure out why I would be featuring a character from the Star Trek universe, so I'll tell you.  For whatever reason, boredom probably, I recently downloaded the Star Trek: Timelines game, and now I can't seem to stop playing. The universe is dealing with several temporal anomalies, and every single character who ever existed, along with every single version of the character, are now all smashed together. Dr. Beverly Crusher is not one of the characters on my crew as of yet, but I'm hoping I get her at some point in time.

Of every character created for the franchise, she is my all time favorite. She suffered loss after loss in her life, and she always found the strength to come back and beat it.  She lost her parents at a young age, then her husband dies, leaving her to raise a son by herself.  She pours herself into raising Wesley and becoming a Starfleet Commander.  She is a strong independent woman, and she really cemented herself as my favorite when she went to bat for Hugh, the young Borg that was rescued from his crashed ship.  When those around her, including Captain Picard, wanted to use him as weapon, Dr. Crusher defended him, and did everything she could to make sure he had every chance to become his own person.  Time and time again, crisis after crisis, Dr. Crusher proved to be a deeply talented officer, willing to put the needs of others before her own.  I also thought that of all the main characters on the show, she was the one who seemed to grow the most over the years.  By the end of the series, she was a woman & officer who was not only completely comfortable in her own skin, but supremely confident in who she was, and what she had to offer.

Mark Park and the Flume of Destiny by Brian Olsen

Synopsis From Publisher:

Mark Park is model-handsome and strong as an ox, but thinking has never been his strong suit.  When everyday machinery turns murderous, Mark will have to strain his brain to keep his friends and family safe.  An amusement park holds a deadly secret and his roommates are in for the rides of their lives, but Mark will have to venture alone into a whole new world, a world where all his strength is useless and only his underused intellect can save the day. Can Mark solve the mystery of the flume before the people he loves are lost to him forever?

I think most of you guys already know about my childhood years spent traveling with a carnival, so when I figured out that an amusement park is one of the star attractions of the book, I couldn't wait to dig in.  I had already read the two previous books, and I fell in love with the roommates and this weird mix of science fiction, urban fantasy, and horror.  The fact that the author has a twisted sense of humor that is evident on every single page, and I knew I would love this one just as much as I did the first two.  I was right.

Mark is one of those guys that can get any woman he wants, and he has, but it's not enough for him anymore.  The events over the last two books has Mark thinking towards the future, and he's tired of sleeping with random women, and not remembering their names the next day.  He's not sure what he wants out of a relationship, or even out of life, but he knows that what he's been doing, isn't working anymore.  It's with this confused outlook on life that Mark is forced to deal with yet another extensional threat to the human race.

This time around he, the rest of the roommates, and their friends, are facing another incarnation of the artificial intelligence born out of Amalgamated Synergy, except this time around "she" has a younger brother.  That's right, another company has spawned it's own mind controlling entity, and this time around he like makes machines do whatever he wants them to do.  Add in the mad scientist from the previous book who is intent on building doppelganger clones of the first mind controlling monster and a dead actress, and the roommates are in trouble.  They have to face a brain erasing carnival ride, a visit from Mark's multi-cultural family, explosions, a body count larger than the two previous books put together, out of control construction equipment, betrayals out the wazoo, and the lead human bad guy, that I'm still in love with, but just can't seem to get his act together.  I really do understand where he is coming from, and I feel so bad for the pain he goes through in this book, but what he's doing is wrong.  He's fighting fire with fire, and the fire he's using, can't be controlled.

But it's Mark that's the star of this show, and boy does he pull it off.  He tests himself in ways that I'm not sure he thought he would be able to pass.  I'm actually pretty sure he was expecting to fail this one.  He saves everyone else, and is ready to get lost in the shuffle, but he shows a strength of will that surprises everyone, himself included.  He comes out stronger for it, and he quickly became my favorite of the four roommates.
 
Other Books in the Series:

Alan Lennox and the Temp Job of Doom
Caitlin Ross and the Commute from Hell

Caitlin Ross and the Commute from Hell by Brian Olsen

Synopsis From Publisher:

Caitlin Ross is on track to be the action star she's always wanted to be.  She's go the lead in a new play at a downtown theater, she's got a handsome, successful boyfriend, and she's picked up some killer new martial arts skills.  But after a missing teen reappears outside her theater, disfigured and violent, Caitlin finds that there's more to being a hero than just throwing punches.  When mysterious portals start hurling her friends around New York City and into danger, Caitlin will have to make the ultimate sacrifice to keep her loved ones safe.  If she survives long enough to discover the truth behind their teleporting tormentors, can Caitlin avoid the monstrous fate awaiting her in the theater's basement?

Where Alan Lennox and the Temp Job of Doom, opened with a scene direct from a slasher movie, Caitlin Ross and the Commute from Hell, opens with a scene direct from the type of  science fiction horror movie that gave me nightmares as a kid.  I saw The Fly once as a kid, and I have yet to be able to sit down and watch it since.  Because of that movie, we all know what happens to someone when their body is transported from one container, into another container that contains another live body.  So you can imagine what happened to the kid mentioned in the synopsis, when the evil scientist kidnapped him, put him in a transporter type pod, and tried to transport him to another location, using a dog as the other test subject.  Here's the rub, in order to transport someone, you have to break them apart at the atomic level.  In order to recreate them, you have to have some sort of building blocks in place, otherwise the body can't be reconstructed.  It's a gruesome and bloody process, and the horrors of it are on full display, more than once.

There is a lot going on in this book, and once again the action is split between the four roommates.  They have tried to move on from the nightmares created by the artificial intelligence, Amysyn, that tried to kill them in the previous book.  They thought they had beaten her, but humans being the fallible creations that we are, a character you badly want to be a good guy, ends up resurrecting a part of it, in order to try and defeat other intelligences as they develop in the future.  He has his heart in the right place, but the actions he takes, in conjunction with the scientists he partnered with, do so much more harm than good.  One is an egomaniac, willing to sacrifice anyone in order to reach his goals.  The other, is a grieving mother who just wants her daughter back, a daughter who died as a result of her research.  Both of them are bat shit crazy, and blood thirsty in their attempts.  As a reader, you don't realize that he is responsible for all the pain and death that is inflicted in this book, and there is a lot of both, until the end.  And even then, you still want to like him.  The roommates still want to like him, and in many cases, they find that they can forgive him, if not totally trust him.

Between the wormholes opening up, hurtling subway cars to the ground, and old men into shark infested water, to the horrific consequences of the transportation machines, there is a ton of science run amok in this book.  Sometimes the "scientific" aspects of the book felt heavy at times, but the author, doesn't bog the action down with overly elaborate explanations or descriptions.  And while I know this is all science fiction, it fits so well into the world the author created, that none of it felt too far out there.

There are also a lot of new characters introduced, and others that are more fully developed in their second outing.  Certain side characters are turned into heroes, and characters you thought may stick around, end up being cowards, or dying in ways I wouldn't wish on those I dislike the most.  None of them are superfluous, as they all seem to enhance the action, rather than take away from it.

Overall this was a fast paced, humorously bloody and violent romp through New York City.  It was a terrific second book to the series, and it keeps strengthening the four roommates as individuals, and as a team.  I can't wait to read the third and fourth books now.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Orko

In the world of long gone, Saturday morning cartoons, the sidekick reigned supreme.  Off the top of my head, I can think of 20 to 30 that served alternately as comic relief, and as their show's conscious.  They could quickly become the heart and soul of show, and at times, they overshadowed the main characters.  Some of them have gone on to be remembered with fondness, and other with derision, if they are even remembered at all.  Then there are the ones who have become cultural icons, instantly recognized by the masses.  They can be found merchandised to the hilt, in other works of fiction, and as a stand in for some sort of cultural ideal.  In the world of the cartoon sidekick, one of my favorites of all time comes from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, a cartoon that existed to solely sell toys.  Oddly, Orko, the hero of this post, was the only character who started off on the show, before ending up as a toy.

Orko is one of those characters that has continuously bridged the line between annoying and heroic.  On one hand, the writers, when they couldn't think of any other way to get the action started, would have Orko screw something up, and the rest of the show would be him, and others trying to fix the problem.   The rest of the time, he was the one would somehow save the day, rescuing He-Man and the other Masters out of some predicament they found themselves in.  It was as if they could never really get a real handle on who Orko was, or at the least, couldn't figure out the way to use him. 

It's that bizarre dichotomy of character, that has endeared him to millions of us that grew up with him on our TV screens. He's so earnest, so eager to do the right thing, you can't help but find his bumbling charming, and forgivable.  He ended up on Eternia by accident, with no way of getting home.  Where many of us would have hunkered down, and wallowed in self pity for a while, he decided to make the best of the situation, even though he found himself at a disadvantage in his new home.  On his home planet, he was a powerful wizard, on Eternia, who has different natural rules, that magic doesn't work as well as it should. But he never gives up, he never feels sorry for himself, at least not for too long, and he's always willing to give all of himself when it's asked of him.  If you think about it, he is the whole reason He-Man even exists.  If he hadn't saved a young Adam in the swamp, Skeletor would have conquered Eternia long ago.  And if you take that logic to it's next level, that means Orko is in fact the hero of the show, not He-Man.

They tried to reboot the show, and the characters in the early 2000s, but it never recaptured the heart of the original.  Part of that was due to the changes they made in the characters personalities, including in Orko's, and part of it was simply bad writing and even worse animation.  Orko, at least for me is a cultural icon that can not be reproduced.  While I wish they would have done a better job of defining who he was as a whole character, not just good for a laugh or two, Orko is the one who has stuck with me all these years later.  Now I just need to see if I can find his action figure one of these days.  Besides, how can you not love a guy who is responsible for bringing Christmas to Eternia.

Ghost of a Smile by Simon R. Green

Synopsis From Back Cover:

Meet the operatives of the Carnacki Institute - JC Chance: the team leader, brave, charming, and almost unbearably arrogant; Melody Chambers: the science geek who keeps the antisupernatural equipment running; and Happy Jack Palmer: the terminally gloomy telepath.  Their mission: Do Something About Ghosts.  Lay them to rest, send them packing, or just kick their nasty ectoplasmic arses...

A distress call was received from the private research centre of one of the biggest drug companies in the world.  The police went in - and never came out.  A national security team stormed the place.  No-ones's heard anything further from them, either.

Now it's in the hands of the Carnacki Institute's rising stars. They have the wrong equipment. They have no idea what awaits.  And they have the clock ticking in the background.  But they also have a secret weapon; JC's very lovely - and very dead - girlfriend...

Part of the reason I love Simon R. Green's book so much, are the names he gives to his creations. Whether they are the good guys, or bad, they all just have cool names.  It can be a name that is very specific to the type of person they are; personality, abilities, that sort of thing. They can be bad-ass names, that come straight from a dark and twisted comic book.  Or they can be a simple definition of what the character is, as in the case of the main, terrifying villain in Ghost of a Smile, The Flesh Udying.

I've never really thought about it, but names truly are a powerful thing.  Yeah, we have all read a book, or watched a movie, where the bad guy is vanquished by the hero learning the true name of their foe.  If a demon is involved, the name hunt is going to come up, it's a sure thing.  Hell, just ask Superman and Mr. Mxyzptlk, names are important.

But that's not the importance I'm placing on names in these books.  After reading numerous Simon R. Green's books, nine of them now, I've learned, anew, how powerful names truly are. Sure, the whole vanquishing through uttering a name cliche has come up in his books, but it's more in the way he uses names that I've become intrigued by.  Since I don't know the author, I'm not going to say this as a definite statement, but I'm pretty positive that he puts some thought in to the names, and that they aren't picked out of a hat.   Each name he picks seems to have a very specific function.  And I appreciate that.  These are names that give me insight into the characters's personality.  They help me understand the character's thought processes, and their motivations.

I've always appreciated the author's style and humor in his writing.  He blends satire, horror, fantasy, and science fiction, just about better than anybody I've ever come across.  Ghost of a Smile, the second book in the Ghost Finders series, is a continuation of my love affair with his work, and it's the book that finally got me to look at the naming of his characters, and the insights those names give into what's going on on the page.  It's a madcap ride through a locked building, think a traditional haunted house story set in an office building, and involving a lot more than a ghost or two. Think more on the primal level, and you may get an idea of what our ghost finders are facing.  If you think of the name he gave his main monster in this one, The Undying Flesh, you get an even better idea of what it is they faced in that building.  Like they always say, names have power, and Simon R. Green is genius at utilizing that power.

Alan Lennox and the Temp Job of Doom by Brian Olsen

Synopsis From Publisher:

Alan Lennox has been assigned yet another soul-crushing temp job, keeping him from his first loves - drinking, playing video games, and looking for a boyfriend.  But Alan's new job proves to be anything but boring when his co-workers start turning up dead.  The mysterious megacorporation Amalgamated Synergy has taken a deadly interest in Alan and his three roommates, and the hapless quartet are woefully unequipped to deal with the psychotic secretaries, murderous middle managers, and villainous vice-presidents hunting them down.  Their investigation leads them deep into Amalgamated Synergy's headquarters, but can Alan and his friends stay alive long enough to discover who - or what - waits for them on the top floor?

Picking a book, totally on a whim, can have it's drawbacks.  Often times, especially if it's a book you haven't really heard of before, a synopsis can sound promising, but the book itself leaves you cold.  You end up kicking yourself in the ass for even giving it a try, and swear with your last breath, you will never be so reckless is choosing your next read.

Then there are those rare times that the whim pays off, and pays off in spades.  I'm not even sure how I ended up spotting Alan Lennox and the Temp Job of Doom, but it's not something I would normally give a second glance to.  I've had mixed results with urban fantasy, so I tend to stay clear of it, unless it's series or author I'm already familiar with.  There was something about this cover, and yes, I'm going to blame the cover, that just grabbed me.  It also helps that the book was free at the time, so I figured what the hell, it won't be like I'm out any money.  So I downloaded the book, started to read, and didn't put it down until I flicked past the last page.

The book opens with a classic horror scene.  A single, lonely individual, stuck at work in her Tokyo office building, long past the time when her coworkers have left for the day, is staring at her computer screen.  Naturally she's not working, rather playing a game that simulates working at an office job.  What's better than being an office drone, than playing a game as an office drone?  When she finally shuts off the computer, ready to go home, she is startled to see the reflection of her manager in the dark screen.  Next thing she knows, she is being chased through the building by her murderous boss with a baseball bat, and I'm pretty sure you can figure out the rest.  From Tokyo, the scene shifts to New York City, where the rest of the action takes place.

Alan, the hero of this book, has just stormed out of another boring temp job, and insists on meeting his roommates for a drink at their favorite lesbian bar.  This scene sets up the group dynamic, though we have already met them separately.  Dakota Bell is the ambitious girl, plugging away at her first job out of college, working for Amalgamated Synergy.  She's been there for months, but has never been given a task to do.  Mark Park is a personal trainer, more concerned with picking up women and setting up Alan with a hot client, than he is anything else.  By the way, Amalgamated Synergy is at work in his life too.  The gym he works at is owned by them, the hot chick he picks up is a VP for the company, and the client he sets Alan up with, is lawyer involved in a lawsuit on behalf of a certain game developer.  You know, the game the office drone in Tokyo was playing, right before her brains were bashed in, the game every single character in this book is playing.  Then there is Caitlin Ross, the struggling actress, hellbent on finding the next big gig.  She gets suckered into working for Amalgamated too, as a voice actress.  No reason is given, the director of the shoot has not clue why they are doing it, neither does the corporate exec who shows up to supervise.  And that's sets the scene, though I'm leaving a whole bunch of details out.

What follows is a hilariously gruesome, workplace killing spree.  It takes a satirical look at the modern workplace, poking fun at the size of global corporations, and the hive like mentality they instill in their employees.  Alan Lennox and the Temp Job of Doom, also plays with the precepts of horror, fantasy, and science fiction.  It blends the genres together, breaking all the rules, and has a ton of fun at the same time.  In that regard, it reminds me of Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix, poking fun at not only modern society, but the genre(s) the book is being written in.

I'm hoping the remaining three books of the series, each one features a roommate as the main character, are half as good as this one.  From what I can tell, though the nightmarish situations change, each book will find the roommates fighting for their lives, surrounded by satire and gore.  I can't wait to dive into them.  This was definitely a whim that paid off.

The Children's Home by Charles Lambert

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

In a sprawling estate, willfully secluded, lives Morgan Fletcher, the disfigured heir to a fortune of mysterious origins.  Morgan spends his days in quiet study, avoiding his reflection in mirrors and the lake at the end of his gardens.  One day, two children, Moira and David, appear.  Morgan takes them in, giving them free reign of the mansion he shares with this housekeeper, Engel.  Then more children begin to show up. 

Dr. Crane, the town physician and Morgan's lone tether to the outside world, is as taken with the children as Morgan is, and beings to spend more time in Morgan's library.  But the children behave strangely.  They show a prescient understand of Morgan's past, and their bizarre discoveries int he mansion's attics grow increasingly disturbing.  Every day the children disappear into the hidden rooms of the estate, and perhaps, into the hidden corners of Morgan's mind.

Every once in a while I come across a book that is almost impossible to review, not because it's horribly written or boring to read, but because it defies description.  The Children's Home is one of those books that no genre label is really going to fit.  There are elements of horror, fairy tale, fantasy, and science fiction.  Throw in generous helpings of the Gothic and psychological, and you may be able to grasp the sort of book this is.  I'm going to assume, if you were to look for this in your neighborhood bookstore, it would be shelved under the generic Fiction label.  At least that's where I hope you find it after you read this review, and take a car trip to get your own copy.

My reaction to this one, is as close to my reaction to Gillespie and I by Jane Harris, as I've had since then.  I'm gong to simply tell you guys to read this book, pray that you do, and give a big "I told you so", once you do it.  But if I'm expecting you guys to just do what I say, maybe I should try to get across why I loved this one as much as I did.

In Morgan, we are given a narrator who is both deeply flawed, and extremely likable. Morgan is one of those characters that I could easily see myself spending time with, holed up in his mansion, floating from conversation to conversation.  He has a painful family past, and no true familial relationships to ground him.  He is a passive participant in life, though I'm not always sure of that, as glimpses of a "real" Morgan do appear from time to time.  At first, he lives alone, except for some nameless staff, on this massive estate, closed off from the outside world.  In a very Shirley Jackson style way, we are given to know that maybe this is for the best, and that outside those walls, society is falling apart and isn't a place anyone in their right mind would want to be.  His household grows with the inclusion of his housekeeper Engel, who is definitely not all she is purporting to be.  And then the children start to arrive.  And that's when the Shirley Jackson aspects of this book, really start to kick in.

As the reader, you know, without a shadow of a doubt, that something is definitely off about the whole thing.  The children range in age from newborn to early teens, and they just show up.  Some appear on the doorstep, others emerge from the lake, and some just appear out of thin air. You are really never sure, including after the bizarre ending, who these kids are, or where they are coming from.  Are they the ghosts of kids sacrificed for the family fortune? Are they time travelers from the past and future, trying to prevent an even more heinous outcome? Are they from another reality all together, trying to save some aspects of this one?  Regardless of who they are, or where they come from, the bigger question is why are they there.  After the ending at the factory, it's safe to say we know the answer to that, but I'm not totally convinced.  There is an almost dreamlike quality to the scene, I'm not sure if Morgan, Dr. Crane, or I as a reader, can truly trust everything that happened.

With any good Gothic story, there needs to be an element of romance, and we have that with Morgan and Dr. Crane.  The author does a terrific job of navigating their relationship; keeping it on the purely platonic level, but allowing a reader to infer what is really going on between them.  As with the rest of this book, their relationship is open to interpretation.  I can almost bet, 50 of my friends could read this one, and not pick up anything of a romantic nature between the two characters, but it's all I noticed when they were together.  Maybe it's because, after all he's been through, and after the children leave, I want Morgan to have a solid future.  It doesn't have to be a blissfully happy life, but I need for him to be on solid ground, sure of his place and of those in his life.

Ghost of a Chance by Simon R. Green

Synopsis From Back Cover:

The Carnacki Institute exists to Do Something About Ghosts. Lay them to rest, send them packing, or kick their nasty ectoplasmic arses with extreme prejudice. 

The Institute's operatives are the best of the best.  JC Chance: sharp, brave, charming, and almost unbearably arrogant;  Melody Chambers: science-geek techno-wizard extraordinaire who keeps the antisupernatural equipment running smoothly; and Happy Jack Palmer: the telepath with the gloomy disposition, the last person anyone would want navigating through his head. 

Their current assignment: investigate a major haunting deep underground at London's Oxford Circus Tube Station.  Difficult - and dangerous - enough without the added interference of a pair of agents from the infamous Crowley Project whose mission is much simpler: eliminate Chance, Chambers, and Palmer, whatever the consequences... 

I think by now, at least if you have followed the blog for any length of time, you guys know I'm a huge fan of the Secret Histories series by Simon R. Green.  The story of the Eddie Drood and his family, protecting the world from supernatural, extraterrestrial, and other dimensional bad guys, never fails to entertain.  It is a series full of humor, daring, and dry wit, that I couldn't help but fall in love from the beginning.  In that series, we are introduced to an entire world of other organizations, beings, and clubs, who are either on the side of good, or on the side of world domination. The Carnacki Institute is one of those groups, and though Eddie doesn't think too much of them, I wanted to discover them for myself.  I finally got around to purchasing the first three books in that series, and Ghost of a Chance is the first one.

If I had gone into this book, expecting the same sort of tone that I've gotten used to from the Eddie Drood books, I would have been wrong.  This series has some of the same dry humor and wit, but the characters, and the story lines, take themselves a little bit more seriously.  There isn't the tongue in cheek humor that I've gotten accustomed to from Simon R. Green, and I'm grateful for it.  It was nice to experience a different style of writing from him, and it gives me hope that if I try some of the other series, set in this same world, that I would like them just as well.  Where the the Drood novels are more of a James Bondy type of spy thriller, albeit one like you have never seen, the Ghost Finders novels are more in the line of Hell House by Richard Matheson.  Of course that would mean Richard Matheson was writing Urban Fantasy novels, and I'm really not sure the world is ready for that one.

These guys are still facing major, world shaking adversaries, the type of which would have destroyed Buffy Summers, even if I worshiped the ground she slayed on.  Where Eddie Drood will go in for the kill, all barrels blazing, because of the nature of their adversaries, our heroes of the Carnacki Institute have to use their brains just a bit more.  Don't get me wrong, despite their lack of physical prowess, these guys can still kick ass if needed to, it's just that their brains get more of the workout.  And between the three of them, there are some great brains involved.

I really like these characters, and though I kept wanting to compare them to Eddie Drood, it's just not a fair comparison.  Not only are the tone and style of their respective series totally different, the tone of the two sets of characters couldn't be more different.  If you took James Bond, turned him into a supernatural fighting Drudic Superhero, you get Eddie Drood, and that definition really doesn't come close to describing him.  With our three heroes of the Carnacki Institute, it's more of a combination of Buffy and her Scooby Gang, meets Captain Jack and his team at Torchwood.

Bottom line is this, I already loved the Secret Histories series, and I'm falling in love with the Ghost Finders series. At this point in time, I'm almost positive that I picked up another series by Simon R. Green, I would love it as well.  I love this author's style, his world building, and his character development.  Between these two series, and a few others, I'm going to be a well read guy for a few more years.

The Hunger by Whitley Strieber

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

Miriam Blaylock, rich and beautiful, lives life to the fullest - a house in Manhattan's exclusive Sutton Place, a husband she adores, priceless antiques, magnificent roses.  But then John Blaylock, like all Miriam's past lovers, suddenly beings to age.  Almost overnight, his body reveals the truth: he is nearly two hundred years old!

Fearing the terrible isolation of eternity Miriam stalks a new lover.  She is Sarah Roberts, a brilliant young sleep researcher who has discovered the blood factor that controls aging and thus may possess the secret of immortality.  Miriam desperately wants Sarah, for herself and for her knowledge.  But to win her, Miriam must destroy Sarah's love for Dr. Tom Haver, who learns that his enemy is like no other woman who has ever lived... now or forever 

You know the old adage that the book is always better than the movie?  This is one of those times where it comes really damn close to being false.  I fell in love with the movie adaptation of The Hunger the first time I saw it.  It stars the gorgeous Catherine Deneuve as Miriam Blaylock, David Bowie as John Blaylock, and Susan Sarandon as Dr. Sarah Roberts.  T he movie is about as sexy and horrifying as a movie can be.  The tension, of all kinds, oozes off the screen, all of which can be attributed to the way Catherine Deneuve embodied the character of Miriam Blaylock.  It's a beautiful movie to watch, and my love for it, is what kept me putting the book off for as long as I did.  I didn't want to fall in love with the book, and have a movie I love, suddenly start paling in comparison.

I finally picked a hardcover edition up at a used bookstore for about $5.  It still took me a few months before I was willing to read it, but once I did, I fell in love with Miriam all over again.  The sensuality of her character, which is nailed by Catherine Deneuve, is a bit subtler here, but just as effective.  This is still a story about lust and love, and how those two things can become so twisted and blurred, that it's hard to tell them apart.  It has vampiric wrappings, and after Lestat de Lioncourt, she is about the sexiest vampire to ever be dreamed up.  She is not afraid to draw blood and to use violent means to get what she wants.  But outside of that, and sort of hidden among the obsession, is a story about a woman who is trying to find a home.  More than anything Miriam Blaylock wants that forever home, just in her case it would really be for forever.

The Rowan by Anne McCaffrey

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

The colonies on Altair were frontier settlements whose raw materials fed the factories of Earth.  It was no surprise after torrential rains thundered across Altair that the small Rowan Mining camp was totally destroyed in a mudslide. What was surprising was the psychic wail of agony that went up, so loud and clear that it pierced the mind of every halfway sensitive telepath on the planet - and more surprising still, the discovery that this strong new psychic voice belonged to a three-year-old child, the lone survivor of the disaster.

The named her "the Rowan," not knowing any more about her than that, and she grew into a beautiful, magical-looking woman. She was also the most important Talent on the planet, using her enormous mental powers to help move cargo loads to all of the other inhabited worlds. 

But it was a lonely life - an especially lonely life for a lovely woman who had been deprived of her childhood.  The men who loved her were beneath her, and she loved no one - until Jeff Raven entered her life.  His voice appeared in her mind one day: the strong call of a fellow telepath in distress, Jeff was a wild Talent, his latent abilities called forth by an alien attack that threatened to destroy his planet.  With the Rowan's help, he rove back the invaders; now he wants only to find out more about he strong and fascinating woman who helped save his world.  

Their tumultuous love affair means the end of loneliness for the Rowan, and the union of their Talents makes them the most powerful team in all the inhabited worlds - ready for the challenges they expect may await them, as the rest of the universe begins to notice the expansion of human settlements in space. 

The Rowan, and it's sequels, are comfort reading for me.  I'm not a huge science fiction fan, nor am I really a fan of Anne McCaffrey.  I've tired to read the Dragonriders of Pern books, but really can't get into them at all.  But there is something about this series, these particular characters, that I can't seem to ever let go of, and choose to revisit every once in a while.

I'm sure part of it's because the Rowan, whose real name ends up being Angharad Gwyn, and her sense of isolation and loneliness that tugs at those same feelings in my own life. Because of all the moving and traveling we did as a kid, I never really had the opportunity to stay around kids my own age, which means I really never learned how to develop lasting friendships.  I couldn't relate to them, so loneliness was a very real thing for me growing up.  Add in the feelings of growing up a gay kid, and you can imagine that it wasn't a ton of fun for me.  Like the Rowan, I grew up, and while that loneliness never goes away all the way, I've learned to deal with it, and have come out of my shell quite a bit.  She is an amazing character, one that changes so much through this books, and it's sequels, but like a lot of my favorite characters, she is more than that for me.  She's like a sister I never knew I had, or a long lost cousin, one I get to reconnect with every year or so.

What really sets this book apart from the rest of what I've read from McCaffrey, are the secondary and supporting characters.  There really isn't a weak or unnecessary one in the whole bunch, and I'm in love with them about as much.  I adore Jeff Raven, and his mother for that matter.  He's such a quietly confident individual, and he is the perfect match for the Rowan.  They compliment each other in ways, I can only hope of finding in my own life.  I've always pictured them this way; take the relationship that Nick and Nora Charles have, take away the alcohol, give them monstrous telepathic/telekinetic abilities, and put them in space.  They are one of those couples that just fits, and nothing could ever force them apart.  There's also Afra Lyon, who I love just about as much, and a whole host of equally compelling characters.  When you put them together, it's the perfect family portrait, just mixed in with telepathy and invading aliens.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Hank Palace

It's been a bit since I've done anything with this feature, and it's one that I've been missing for quite a while.  Now that I've gotten back into the rhythm of blogging again, it feels right to start sharing my favorite fictional characters once again.

When I started this feature back in 2009. it was born out of a need to express why I get so engrossed in a good book, movie, or TV show.  It's the characters that matter almost more than anything else, because if they don't get me to feel something, the story really doesn't matter anymore. I don't need to like them, but I need to feel something for them.  I need to have a connection with them in some way, otherwise I lose focus, and I end up not giving a damn about any of it.

I will be the first to admit that when I first started this feature, it was to showcase my all time favorites; the one that made me fall in love with them, or even the ones that scared the hell out of me. No matter what emotion they made me feel, they were the best of the best.  Over the years, I started to lose focus on that, and some of my character choices were less than inspired.  They were still characters I liked, and connected with, but they weren't the ones I loved, the ones I needed to spend as much time with as I could.  My resolution this year is to make sure that all my choices really do matter.  They will be the characters that I do love, the ones I seem to go back to year after year.  I've already shared with you a lot of them, especially those first 20 or so; Vanyel Ashkevron, Auntie Mame, Eeyore, Buffy Summers, Brainy Smurf, and Nick and Nora Charles.

Because of this, I'm not going to stick with any sort of monthly theme, or try to plan this too far out in advance.  Instead I'm going to wing it, go with my gut, and hope you guys fall in love with these characters enough, that you will be willing to discover them for yourselves.

To start this off, I'm going to go with one of my most recent literary crushes, Det. Hank Palace.  For those of you who aren't familiar with Hank Palace, he is the star of the Last Policeman trilogy by Ben H. Winters.  In that series, he is a detective with the Concord, NH police department, and his is a world on the brink of extinction.  He is living in a reality that has a meteor set on a collision course with Earth, and there is not a damn thing anyone can do it.   The entire world knows they only have a few months left, and most people have walked off their jobs and away from responsibility.  They are living out their last wishes, or simply ending it now, before it's ended for them. Almost from the beginning, I know that Hank is different, that he isn't one to shirk away from his duties, that in fact he is one that takes it upon himself to make sure the job gets done, that society is protected, even if it means he hurts himself in the process.

I'm going to be honest, I fell in love with Hank in The Last Policeman, admired him in Countdown City, and fell even more in love with him in World of Trouble.  He is the type of man I wish I could be, if I found myself in those same circumstance.  I'm almost positive I wouldn't be, but I would like to think I would at least try.  Regardless of whether or not I could live up to that ideal, he is the kind of man I would want by my side, in any sort of capacity, if I was living in a world about to end.  I would know, no matter what else happened, that he would have my back, and be there for me.

He rises to any problem that occurs, he doesn't lose sight of the suffering of others, and he is always trying to do what is right.  Not just right for him, but what is right for a society that is quickly crumbling into chaos.   He is courageous, loyal, and has a strong sense of duty.  With all those traits going for him, he still isn't a god sent from above to save the world.  He is just a everyday man who had the character to rise to the challenge, when so many others failed.  He isn't the most intelligent guy, but he is methodical and knows how to get the answers he needs.  He isn't a muscle bound gym bunny, or a tough ass street fighter, who has the skills to take on a countless stream of enemies, but he can hold his own in a fair fight.  Nor is he a movie idol stepped off the silver screen, able to charm the pants of everyone around him just by smiling and showing a dimple or two, even if he managed to charm me.  In other words, he is not the archetypal Hero.  He is simply a man.  A man who had that core strength to seem him through what was needed to be done.

To be quite honest with you, when I finished reading the last page of World of Trouble, my heart broke a tiny bit.  Over the course of three books, Hank stole a piece of my heart, and since I can pretty much guess how his story ends, though the author never gets that far, I'm saddened that I will never know for sure how it happens.  I'm not sure if I even want to know how he leaves the world, the pain he is still going to face before the end comes.  But I know if Hank were a real person, and not a fictional character, I would do everything in my power to make sure I was there for him when the time did come.  There aren't a lot of truly Noble characters being written anymore, but I can promise you that Hank Palace is right up there with the best of them.

The Suicide Collectors by David Oppegaard (Password Clue)

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

The Despair has plagued the earth for five years.  Most of the world's population has inexplicably died by it's own hand, and the few survivors struggle to remain alive.  A mysterious, shadowy group called the Collectors has emerged, inevitably appearing to remove the bodies of the dead.

In the crumbling state of Florida a man named Norman takes an unprecedented stand against the Collectors, propelling him on a journey across North America.  It's rumored that a scientist in Seattle is working on a cure for the Despair, but in a world ruled by death, it won't be easy for Norman to get there. 

You guys already know this about me, but I'm not a huge fan of science fiction, or dystopian fiction.  There is actually very little of either genre that I tend to enjoy, but when I do, I love them.  I think I can still count on two hands, the total number of books or series that I enjoy from either genre.  I first read The Suicide Collectors back in 2009, when it first came out.  I hadn't started blogging yet, hence I've never written a review for it before, and since I decided to dust it off, and give it another go, this is the perfect opportunity for me to convince you that you really do need to read this book.

It actually came to my attention because of the Barnes & Noble Book Clubs, which sadly are now defunct.  They used to be a lively and engaging group of message boards, covering a wide swath of topics.  It was on the Fantasy Board that this book was first introduced as a monthly read, and I jumped a the chance to get my hands on it.  The cover was extraordinary, the synopsis had me hooked, the moderator seemed to be really excited about it (thanks Paul),  and the author was from my home state of Minnesota.  As soon as the book was released, I took a trip to Barnes & Noble, paid for the book, and had it read in one sitting.  I was actually hoping to link that old discussion for you guys to read through it, but sadly they decided to not even keep the archives up.

I really don't want to go into too many plot points or character studies.  You guys know that I normally don't really have that much of  an issue doing that, but this is one of those books that you really do need to discover on your own, and it would be so easy for me to spoil something for you.  I am willing to say, and it's even more so now that I've done a second reading, that Norman is one of those character that you can't help but fall in love with.  There is an inner strength to him, one that is not forced or contrived.   He is one of those  men, who may not be the most eloquent in verbally expressing how they feel, but you know that you can depend on them for whatever you need, that they are true "men" in every sense of the word.

The only other tidbit I want to throw out there is this, I love the way the author chooses to keep the cause of the Despair a little foggy.  I've never been a huge fan of books, or movies for that matter, that feels a need to explain every little detail.  I seriously doubt the characters are really ever going to be aware of every little nuance or piece of back history, so why should the reader.  Some things simply can't be explained, there needs to be a bit of mystery to them, otherwise they just aren't that impactful.  Explaining everything, takes away some of the punch.  I think that was part of my problem with The Town that Forgot How to Breathe, it was too neatly wrapped up, too explained, hence it lost some of it's mystery and horror.

So please, if you only read one book that I recommend this year, let it be this one.  It's a gorgeously written journey, one that explores what it means to be human, in the face of overwhelming heartache and pain.  It's a story that will stay with you for days after you turn the last page.

Challenges: Password (Suicide)

The Twelve by Justin Cronin

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

In the present day, as the man-made apocalypse unfolds, three strangers navigate the chaos.  Lila, a doctor and an expectant mother, is so shattered by the spread of violence and infection that she continues to plan for her child's arrival even as society dissolves around her.  Kittridge, know to the world as "Last Stand in Denver," has been forced to flee his stronghold and is now on the road, dodging the infected, armed but alone and well aware that a tank of gas will get him only so far.  April is a teenager fighting to guide her little brother safely through a landscape of death and ruin. These three will learn that they have not been fully abandoned - and that in connection lies hope, even on the darkest of nights.

One hundred years in the future, Amy and the others fight on for humankind's salvation... unaware that the rules have changed.  The enemy has evolved, and a dark new order has arisen with a vision of the future infinitely more horrifying than man's extinction.  If the Twelve are to fall, one of those united to vanquish them will have to pay the ultimate price.

It's been a little over three years since I read the previous book in this series, The Passage, and lord only know when I will get to the third book, The City of Mirrors.  It's not even out yet, it comes out later this year, but I'm pretty sure I won't be able to fit it in anytime soon.  It won't be through lack of desire, because I really do want to read the final chapter on this story.  It's more of the fact that while I loved The Passage, I didn't love The Twelve.  I like it well enough, I'm still enjoying the characters, but I didn't feel that invested in this one, at least at the level I had with the previous book.

I'm even willing to admit that part of it may be my fault.  I may have waited too long in between books, which forced me to feel as if I was playing catch-up for a bit.  I was having to remind myself of who some of the characters were, at least in terms of the relationships between them.  Once I was able to get that all sorted out in my head, I was actually able to relax and enjoy the story.

The rest of the issues I had though, while still personal to me, had more to do with the story, than they did anything else.  I've always had an issue with authors who introduce strong "hero" characters, only to have them killed off half way through the book.  It happened with Brad Wolgast in The Passage, and it happened with Bernard Kittridge in The Twelve.  Both are men that I grew rather fond of, almost from the start, only to have them cut down mid story.  They are noble characters, and in my opinion, they deserved more than what they got.  Especially since they died, doing almost the exact same thing, protecting a child.

And that brings me back to the biggest bone of contention I had with this book, the way Brad Wolgast was brought back in this book.  I understood the point of it.  I even understood the "nobility" of what his role was in this book, but that doesn't mean I like it.  Given the sacrifice he made in the previous book, I think it was a discredit to the man, for him to become what he was.  I understand that for the end of this book to work the way it did, and for Amy to develop into the woman she needed to be, that Brad had to play the role he did.  He had to be what he was, I just wish that weren't the case.

As far as Peter, Alicia, Sara, Michael, Amy, Hollis, and Greer goes, I still love them.  They have all changed so much since the previous book, which is to be expected.  From what I can tell, the books take place five years apart, and for the most part, the friends have gone there own way.  They all meet up for the end though, and it's nice to have them all back together.  They are joined by a couple of new friends, Eustace and Nina.  I wasn't sure what I thought of them at first, but by the end, I really liked them.

There are a lot of changes in store for the characters, at least that's what is implied by the end of this book, so I'm looking forward to seeing the directions they continue to go in.  I'm curious to see how it all ends, how the new characters introduced in this book change along with the old characters, and whether or not humanity ultimately survives the viral plague, though I'm pretty sure I already know that answer to that one.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Ianto Jones

If there is a theme going on this month, it appears to be scifi characters, which is odd since I don't enjoy scifi all that much.  I think the fact that the first two characters this month, Steve Jinks and Ianto Jones. are gay or bisexual, happens to be more of a coincidence than anything else.  I think what the two of them really have in common is that while they aren't the main characters of the shows they were in, they tend to act as the heart of the show.  They are the truly good guys, the ones that can be counted on to be there when they are needed, in any capacity.

When we first met Ianto, he was the quiet guy in the shadows of Torchwood.  He was the public face, and the guy who brought the tea, but that's about it.  After a while his presence starts to push further and further into the forefront.  He is there when he is needed, and in any capacity that he is required to fulfill.  The fact that he has a huge secret, involving an ex-girlfriend, comes out later.  And even though Ianto made a huge mistake in that regard, he is quickly forgiven, and sets out to prove himself all over again.  But even in that mistake, his reasoning and his emotions make him all that much more relatable, identifiably human.

As the show progresses, so does his involvement in the field, and the danger he is placed in.  The other development, the one I did not see coming, was his growing relationship with Captain Jack Harkness.  At first, it appears to be more about the sex, as far as Jack is concerned anyway.  I think Ianto had his heart in in from the beginning, he just doesn't seem to be that much of a casual relationship kind of guy.  But over the course of their relationship, I think it got to be more about love on both of their parts.  You could see the emotions in the way they talked, interacted, and touched each other. And I know by the end, when Ianto is killed, that Jack really did love him, even if he never said it.  

Watching their relationship grow, was akin to watching Ianto's role in Torchwood grown.  It seemed that as his relationship with Jack solidified and grew more certain, that his confidence grew as well.  He became more assertive, and more willing to put himself out their, not just for the team, but for his own benefit as well.  He was a fascinating character to watch, and one that was killed off to soon.  I'm not ashamed to admit it, but when he died, I felt real emotion, and some of my love for the show died with him.