The Game

Dear Reader,

I am not an enthusiastic sports fan, I would rather attend a game than watch it on TV, and I would rather watch a game with friends, than watch alone.  I have not, for many years watched a regular season game, be it baseball, or hockey, but I have and will watch the final game of the Stanley Cup playoffs, especially if I can convince a friend to join me.

I have attended hockey, baseball, basketball (once), and auto racing events.  I enjoy the feel of the crowd, the exhilaration of everyone getting caught up in the game. Oh ya, I almost forgot, I attended a midget wrestling once, no, don’t ask me why, it was not my idea.

Golf is ok, but boring as hell to watch on TV, soccer, lacrosse, cricket, lawn bowling, hold no fascination for me, I have other things I would rather do than watch.  When I was younger I would watch the Olympics with my sisters and my mom, lots of figure skating, and down hill skiing, we only had one TV, it was 3 against 1. I did not often get my choice up on the black and white screen (Yes I know who Victor Newman is).

Ken Dryden, was a student first and a goalie second, he played from 1971 to 1979 for the Canadians, he took 1973 off to attend University in Toronto, his home town, then went back to Montreal to play for the Canadians.  He retired when he was 31, and owing to the fact that he studied law between games and during the off season, he was in a good position to begin his second career.  The Canadians off season was never as long as the other teams during Dryden’s time with them, because they would continually with the Stanley cup, 6 in total.

The Game was another birthday gift, a paper copy from “the in-laws”.  While in the news everyone was busy debating what/who should win the 2012 Canada reads contest, I was hoping that it would be The Game, only because I have always liked Ken Dryden, and every time I would hear his name I would be taken back to my youth, and with a smile on my face, I would remember the game.

Dryden is probably referring to many “games” in this book, there is the game that you and I know, and that is the game of playing hockey, there is also the game of being a hockey player, and the game the players play in the dressing room before the game, the banter between players, the building up of big egos, getting bigger and ready to face the opposition, the game of practical jokes in the dressing room, Dryden tell a story of how before many games, he would pull out his skates from under his section of bench in the dressing room, and the laces would be cut off and left hanging, its helps to cut the tension, and relax the team. As Dryden brings the game to life, in his book, he talks about how the game has been improved along its long journey, he referrers to the many hockey “greats” that where around during original 4, then 6 and how the league has expanded to now having 30 teams.  The original 6 teams are fondly remembered as the “original six” because this was a period after the1930’s when the league settled down and began to look like the real thing. 

Over the years rules have changed, added and removed, lines were added to provide first the blue lines, then the red line, to speed up the game, to allow the players more flexibility, with the addition of the lines came new rules again.  Most of the rules were created to make the game faster, more exciting.  We have moved from a backward passing game to a forward passing game, more speed, bigger players, and harder hits.  It might be time to start only passing backward again, slow it down and save a few brains from concussion.

A flurry of memories arrived on my doorstep while reading this book, As I read the names of the players I remember from my youth, Maurice Richard, Bobby Orr, Bobby Hull, Jacques Plante, Phil Esposito, Bobby Clarke,  Frank Mahovlich(the big M), Henri Richard, Brad Park, Tony Esposito, Yvan Cournoyer, and of course  Ken Dryden.  There are too many to name, did you get goosbumps reading the names, I do, goosbumps and waves of youthful memories, go ahead and click on a name. 

I remember back when I was 7 or 8 years old, I was not allowed to stay up late to watch Hockey Night In Canada, it was on much too late, “aww, but mom it’still light out, no fair, it’s the playoffs”, well anyway too young to stay up, but I did have a transistor radio, whats that, what is a “trasnistor radio”, well all you children of digital audio players click here.  So I’m scooted off to bed no TV it’s late, but I have my radio, once I was snuggled into bed,  I would tune in to CBC and listen in.

Street hockey was also a favorite past time on my block, we had kids from blocks over come by to play on our street, because we were good, real good, we actually had 2 nets, this was important.  Most of the players would have plastic blades on our stick, when our wooden stick broke, a trip to Canadian Tire, a bit of allowance money, and presto you can screwnail a new blade onto that shaft, don’t forget to slowley heat it up over the stove ellement to give it some curve.  “What, you mean an 11 year olds can’t use the stove top, oh, sorry about that, but I was careful, ya ok, I won’t do it again”.  A tennis ball, a bunch of kids in running shoes, well ya can’t run in boots, yelling screaming, laughing, scoring, I hated having to chase the ball when “the most powerful slapshot in the world” went wide of the net, you shot it you chased it.

I, on occasion would don the golie pads, borrowed from someone’s big brother and play net, sometimes we would even have a golie stick, but they were expensive, so a regular stick would do, except if you held it over the stove too long and had too much of a curve on it, now it starts to work against you, how do I know, well I could almost pick up a tennis ball with the curve on my stick it was crazey huge, golies hated my wrist shot because it usually went high, and that is where the golie’s face is, so they would kinda move aside, I would shoot, and I would have to go get it, because it went over the net.  Hey the curve was great for shooting the ball over everyones heads at the net, great way to move it forward, afterall Hockey was not a forward passing game.

There is one thing that I want to mention, something that I feel has been lost in the game of street hockey.  I am not exactly sure of why it has been lost, but over time some things tend to evolve, some for the better, and some for the worse, there are some things though that I feel should not have evolved at all, there are some things associated with street hockey that should allways stay the same as they were when our grandparents were young, have you figured it out yet? That’s right, it’s the net, remember how when you would see a car coming down the road, everyone would yell “CAR” and then both nets would be dragged or sometimes carried it if was a new net, to the side of the road, all the players would get off the road, leaving the road for the car.

Wow what an interesting thought, move the net, get off the road, wave to the driver, stay safe, play safe.  How ‘bout we see if we can resurrect this time honored tradition, teach you’re kids, grandkids, neibours kids, to move the damm net and get off the road.

The Game was a wonderful journey through the evolution of hockey, I had never thought about the life of a player off the ice, had no idea of the evolution of the game as it moved from pond hockey to indoor areanas, from a backward passing game to forward passing, rules, lines, paychecks, contracts, from a sport to a business. Here are two passages form The Game, I think you will agree with them, I know I do;

 “I know that in any way an athlete can be measured, in strength, in speed, in height or distance jumped, he is immensely superior to one who performed twenty years ago. But measured against a memory, he has no chance”.

“The “golden age of sports”, the “golden age” of anything is the age of everyone’s childhood”.

Thanks for the book Joan, it will be one I keep and treasure and perhaps re-read one day.

Game On.

bfn Brian

Fruiting Bodies, and other Fungi

Dear Reader,

Honest, Dear Reader, this is the title of my latest book.  Taken from my not so slowly dwindling supply in my bag -O- books, one that I was not sure about, was not certain that I would even be able to read.  I am one of “us” whom, at times, will actually judge a book by its cover, (or its name).  I have looked at this book several times, flipped it around in my hand, checking out the back cover and finding myself not believing the raving reviews that I see printer there. I mean, really, would anyone print a bad review on the back of their book?

So after reading several other books from MI, (the bag-O-books previous owner), including the Psychomech series by Brian Lumley, I decided to throw caution to the cover, and read it, after all with a name like Brian, how bad could it be?

This book is a collection of Lumley’s short stories, science fanticy/horror the first one is the reason for the name of the book, it is Fruiting Bodies, but what the *%@$ is a Fruiting Body, well it’s time to learn.

• Fruiting body (bacteria), the aggregation of myxobacterial cells when nutrients are scarce.

There, that pretty much sums it up then.

OR:

• Fruiting body (slime mold), the sorophore and sorus of a slime mould.

‘nuff Said. Lets move on shall we.

I don’t often read short stories, I find that there is not enough time for the writer to build the plot and the characters to a point where the reader can become one with the story.  I like to become “invested” in the book. True often times short stories are the beginnings of a larger work, using the short story to “test the field”, to see if the story might gather a following, and then actually be worthy of becoming folded up into a full length novel, most times, I think the  short story stays just that, short, and the few pages used to hold such a work of fiction are left to gather dust, left to rot in a corner of the garage, in the damp, and the dark, to mold, thus providing nutrients for bacterium….. until such time as the nutrients become scarce, then other things begin.

I found two stories in this book of fifteen, to my liking. 

The first is called “The Man Who Felt Pain”  Imagine in the future, being an astronaut, in a deep space training program, youthful and eager to know everything there is to know about the “real” outer space, the outer space beyond our galaxy, sounds pretty cool. Until you begin to feel the pain of others, the actual physical pain from a paper cut, or a broken leg.  Imagine walking along the sidewalk, and BAM, you are on the ground writhing in pain, not able to move, you have no physical injury, but you feel the pain of someone else, someone who just broke their leg, they must be close for you to feel the pain.

How would you control this new sensation, these sensations, for the ‘attacks” are growing more frequent, you begin to feel the pain of people further away, headaches, heart attacks, burning lungs from smoke inhalation, somewhere someone is trapped in a burning building, oh my god they are burning, burning, the pain, ooohh, “help me, it is too much, I’m dying, help, help.” But then it is gone, you are exhausted, you rest, then it begins again, someone else, more people, more pain, over and over. Never any mark left from the agony.

How would you deal with something like that, feeling the pain, with no where to run, it builds until you feel the pain of the city, it must have limits, dammit, “I must find somewhere far away, away from people, animals,” yes, even the pain of birds flying into statues, windows, the squirrels, oh my even the ants, “:stop, everyone stop stepping on the ants, ppplease, help me, get me away, far awwaaayyyyyy.”

The answer is there, staring you in the face, if only you survive long enough to get there. Unless of course, that is what caused it in the first place.

The other story is called “The Thin People”.

Human arrogance would let us believe that we are the only creatures with any form of higher intelligence, living on this third planet from the sun, or with an understanding of “being”.  However, just look at Harry Potter, an entire race of magical people living amongst us, and we don’t even know, we never see them, or remember seeing them.  We do understand that there are other beings in the universe, far, far away from our little rock, but what about right here, in you’re neighborhood.

We have seen these strange creatures, as they show up in the many shows that we watch on television, all the episodes of Star Trek, Star Wars, Alf, Buck Rogers, and we cannot forget Dr. Who, (who?).  These shows did not just materialize out of thin air, the creators had direction, oh sure they will tell you that it was all them, but in the end we will see that their creativity was nudged, and massaged, we will understand that we were led into a long and slow acceptance of what we at some point will finally learn, that we are not alone.

Remember men in black (MIB), another preparatory moment for us humans.  But back to the “Thin People”, it is not difficult to believe that we are living amongst other sentient beings, it is possible that these “people” are so thin that we might not be able to see them clearly, especially if they are as tall as a lamp post, as wide as a lamp post.  If these people only venture out of their homes (thin homes), only at night, and when they come within eye sight of humans, they pretend to be lamp posts or hydro poles, we humans would not see them, after all we are all caught up in own lives, we tend to miss big things, like new paint on a wall, or a different picture on the newly painted wall, we miss noticing that new hair do, “I’m sorry I did not notice you changed your hair, wow, I like the light blue”, sometimes we are so caught up in life we miss dinner.  It is reasonable that we would miss seeing the Thin People.

Remember the next time you look out the front window onto the street, check to see if that lamp post is still there, or if it has moved. The thin people are not fond of automobiles, or loud noises, they will actually destroy you’re car if it is loud, so fix that muffler, turn down that radio.  If you find yourself in a neighbourhood that is quiet, and automobile free, count the number of lamp poles, then check back again in a few days.

bfn Brian

ps; I'll have the stuffed mushrooms.

How To Do Everything

Dear Reader,

How to do Everything From the Man Who Should Know, a book by Red Green.

I'm not surprised that the man who is the leader of Possum Lodge, Chapter 11, in Northern Ontario, would eventually get around to wrting a book. Actually Red has written a few books. Red has sooo much knoweledge in that head of his it is only natural he share it with us.

I remember Red's television show The Red Green Show, and the previous show called Smith and Smith, both were comedies, and both featured our unique brand of Canadian humor. 
Steve Smith aka Red Green was born in Toronto, yep right here, he produced the TV shows in Hamilton, he is a real hometown boy, but his heart belongs to Northern Ontario, where the Possum Lodge is.

Steve was awarded the "Order of Canada" in 2011, and continues to perform as Red Green.

This self help book is actually my first ever self help book, I received this book from Patrick for my birthday, thanks Pat. (What are you trying to tell me?)

My favorite part about this book, or rather my favorite chapter, is the chapter on hanging doors. I agree with red when he tells the reader that the single most difficult thing to do is to hang a door, unless of course you are to buy all the door pre hung in frames, then it becomes much easier, but to buy a door, then have to cut in the hinges and the door knob, well I suggest you take Red's advice.  Buy all the doors pre-hung in their frames, and then build the house around them.  It's that simple.

Speaking of doors, I did have the opportunity to hang a door recently, and I did not have the luxury of having it pre-hung in a frame, let me tell you about it.

A friend purchased a doggy daycare in downtown Toronto, called Umbrella Pet Services, everyone is helping out to spruce the place up a bit, and I was asked to put a new door on, what I call the utility area.  The building is old, not ancient, but old, made of cement and brick, with wooden floor beams reinforced with steel I beams, old.  When I first saw this door I realized that it was going to need to be changed, and this is when I started cringing, damn I hat hanging doors.
Now I have hung doors in the past, I have build cabinets requiring doors, ceder chest with doors, covers for electrical panels with doors, but for the most part, I built the doors first then build the cabinet around them, (you got it right Red).

At first glance the door opening appears to be a standard 30" wide, so a 30" wide door is purchased, and luckily it already hade the door handle holes in place.  All I have to do is cut in the hinges, hang the door and hope that the latch matches the hole in the jamb.
Before I measure and cut for the hinges, the existing door has the top 1/3 cut off, so anyone in the utility area can still look out and see the dogs, hear the dogs, and provide direction to the dogs, like, "no barking", (ya right!), and "stop chasing after Fluffy", and "no humping before lunch" (ya right!), things like that.  So I measure the door height, transfer my numbers to the new door, clamp on a straight edge for my circular saw, and begin to either ruin a perfectly good door, or hang a perfectly good door.
Yes, thank you Dear Reader, I will fill in the top of the newly cut section to maintain the strength, good idea.

Next I measure and cut for the hinges, measuring is easy, cutting them is not so easy, but we manage to get them in the correct spot, phew.  Time to mount the hinges, then mount the door, and voila, the door will not close.  What???   So I carefully measure the old door, which by the way is a complete right off, imagine a herd of 60 to 80 pound dogs charging the door, over several years, trying to get at their lunch, no, not not the employees behind the door, but the dog food that is stored there, the door is trashed, careful measuring tells me that the door is about 1/4" smaller than standard.  Dammit, now I have to cut off the hinge cutouts I so carefully made, remember that the handle hole is already in place when it was purchased, can't cut that side, OK, lets get on with it. 
I measured the opening and trying to read the tape measure with the thing curving back toward you is not an exact science, but it looks like 29-3/4", most of it anyway.  More careful measuring, clamp on my straight edge saw guide, and off comes, 1/4" of door along with my carefully placed hinge cutouts.
I put the hinge cutouts back in, only after checking to see if the door will fit, it does, now will the latch line up?

The latch lines up, after a bit of further adjustment, the door closes smooth as you like, now to reinforce the top of the door where I cut it shorter.  Here AT, the owner of Umbrella came up with a great idea, put the 1/4" piece cut off from the door edge on top of the cut section of the door to cover up the glued in inserts, and make it look nice.  Well it does look nice, and the new door has added to the overall look of the daycare.

There you have it Dear Reader, and remember, "If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

bfn Brian.

Spider Bones and Thunderhead

Dear Reader,

Spider Bones by Kathy Reichs is a book that I purchased and had given to Lianne for her birthday, or was it Christmas.  Either occasion is always good for bestowing a book or two.  As I was purchasing this book for her, I had no thoughts about reading it myself, it was just a book on her list, she wanted it so, I got it for her.

As I'm sure I have mentioned before, I have many, many books of my own, waiting to be read. Between my last blog and this one I read a book that I did not actually post a blog about, for that I apologise, but I'm sure it will happen time and time again as we move forward.

The book that we missed is called Thunderhead by Douglas Peston and Lincoln Child, yes that is correct Dear Reader, Preston and Child are the authors of the Pendergast series that I am slowly re -reading, good memory.

Thunderhead takes place in southwester Utah, where Nora Kelly, and archaeologist, leads a team into a maze of canyons looking for treasure. After receiving a letter from her father who disappeared 16 years earlier describing the long lost path that leads to the treasure.  Nora assembles her team, hires horses and follows the path her father took all those long years ago.  Did Nora find the treasure, did she find her father, you will have to read the book to find out.  I will tell you that we all must be careful of what we wish for and be prepared to face the consequences and responsibilities of what we aspire to.

After finishing Thunderhead, I was reviewing my choices for my next read, in my E-reader I have the next 3 Pendergast novels, I have one other Preston novel,  something by Tom Clancey, as well as a few paper books waiting, not to mention my bag-o-books from MI.  So I pick one of Lianne's books instead of one that has been waiting patiently for me, for, well for ever it would seem.  Lianne told me that she saw it on one of the ten best novels list in the Globe and thought it looked interesting.  Ok I think let's try a new author, I say, and I am glad I did.

Spider Bones is a mystery, not quite a "who done it" mystery, but a "who is it" mystery.  Dr. Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist, is asked to review the remains of a Vietnam Solder who had died in the Vietnam war and was buried in the USA in 1968. She was asked to investigate the remains because, a person with the same fingerprints was found dead, floating in a Quebec river.  If he died in Vietnam, and is buried in North Carolina, how could he be floating in a river in Canada?

The mystery grows larger, as we are following the trail of bones from one grave, perhaps with the wrong person in it, to Hawaii to seek the help of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), whose mission is to find the remains of American war dead,  and identify them.   The JPAC actually exists, check out this link.

Why is the wrong body identified in this grave, or is it the right body and the finger prints from the dead river dude  are wrong?  Could it be a mix up in Vietnam, could someone have miss identified the person, but wait, we now have two more skeletons, as yet not identified, and they all seem to fit together, did they all died in the same helicopter crash in 1968?

Our good Doctor Brennan runs into family members of dead US solders who refuse to provide DNA samples to assist in positively identifying their sons, and brothers, she finds herself getting chased by bad guys, gets run off a cliff into the Pacific Ocean, not the deep part of the ocean, but near the shore where is a little shalower, we can't have our star bone expert drowning now can we.

Who is in the grave in North Carolina, who's bones are in storage in Hawaii, why will no one provide DNA.

Kathy Reichs in real life is a Doctor, she teaches FBI dudes how to deal with dead bodies, bones etc, and her novels are the basis of the TV show Bones.

Spider Bones is a great read, easy to follow and alot of fun.

Next up is  a book I received from "the boy" How To Do Everything: (From the Man Who Should Know) by Red Green.

 bfn Brian

Dead Before Dark

Dear Reader,



This is another book given to my by AT.  This one is your typical murder mystery, no flashy trips into the future, no flying cars traveling at 300 kilometers per hour, or rather miles per hour, no one getting genetically enhanced, or “improved”.  Hey, have you noticed that in the future some countries still have not embraced the international standards for measurement.



This book does have a few things that make it an interesting read. The first thing is that this book has not one, but two characters who have some sort of sixth sense.  I’m not talking about mom having eyes in the back of her head type thing, but a genuine ability to pick up vibes from “things”.  Well, ok the book might have two of these people in it but only one has the ability to use and control the ESP power, the other one is kinda like mom’s ability to “pick up” on things, and sometimes even receive mental pictures, we all receive mental pictures, but this girl gets them in colour, and while her eyes are open.

I think the rest of us get our mental pictures while we sleep, and mostly in black and white, or faded colours at the most. 

Although, many years ago during my, oh, 6^th attempt to quick smoking I tried using the nicotine patch, this would have been not long after they were developed, around 1990 or 1991, and man did I have the most vivid colorful realistic dreams ever. I always said that I would go back on the patch if only for the dreams. I did finally quit smoking in 1997.



Enough about dreams, oh wait just one more thing you should check out the Blog called “The REM Files” the link is on my sidebar, some interesting stuff, ok so now back to Dead before Dark, the storyline is carried quite well, I found myself actually slowing down, as I neared the end of the book, I did not want the story to end, I wanted to allow the suspense to build, not that Wendy was not doing a good job of that herself, I felt that as I neared the end of the book, the story deserved my entire focus, and unlike the beginning or middle of this book I found myself reading every word.

Our main character becomes entangled in a suspenseful mystery that actually started 30 years in the past, no we did not time travel back to have a look, as long as you agree that the telling of memories is not actually traveling, well physically anyway. Our psychic is the main character, she along with an old friend (linked to a murder victim), a new friend (retired FBI dude), who originally investigated a serial killer who’s trail went cold and who stopped killing, some family members and other various other cops and FBI all end up tracking what appears to be the same killer 30 years later.

Perhaps the killing 30 years ago stopped because the killer was arrested and jailed for another crime, or he just decided to take a break, is he still in jail and someone else started up after hearing his stories, after all when you are in the big house you tend to brag on you’re “badness” to ensure that you are not on the bottom of the food chain, or so I’m told.

We do hear from the serial killer throughout the book, we get into his thoughts, we get hints, little caveats, but never any real idea of who he is, how he is tied to the various players and why he is killing all these people.  Of course he does leave us clues, small links to the past, and to the players, he wants Lucinda to figure it out. Oh, who is Lucinda, right I have not introduce her properly have I.  Lucinda is our main character she is the police detective/ESP sixth sence, eyes in the back of her head, “I have a bad feeling about this”, all around likeable, young, rich, perhaps soon to be heroine of our story.

The killer wants to be found, if you believe every book and TV show with a serial killer, and he wants, yes we are sure it is a he, he wants Lucinda to do the finding, after all every clue, every murder is leading her and the rest of the police and FBI right into his maze of confusion and ?????.

Will Lucinda lead the police to the killer, will she become a victim, or will she just go crazy as the clues start pointing to her as the motivation for the killing, will the voices in her head overcome her, break her, perhaps the killer is not a man after all.

One thing that I was not ecstatic about in this book is the way in which Wendy moved between her story lines, I had to go back to the last paragraph or sometime further to see if I had missed something, as she moved from one storyline to the next she did not bring me with her, as a reader I mean.  I think that Wendy should try to trim down on her descriptions, not everything requires a detailed description, and some things need no description at all, here is an example. “Have a seat, want a can of pop? Jason asked gesturing at the vending machine that works.”  I never did find out about the pop machine that did not work?  Sometimes less is better.

I will read another Wendy Coursi Staub book sometime, as I believe she knows how to create suspense and intertwine her audience with her characters.



bfn,
Brian

Still Life with Crows

Dear Reader,

Some time in the mid 1990’s I was introduced to a book that some friends thought I would enjoy.  It’s interesting how, as we move further into the electronic and digital stage of our evolution we will begin to be unable to share simple things like a paperback novel with friends.  Looking back at my earlier Blogs, you will notice that quiet a few of the books I have read come from other people either as a loan, or a book that I then pass on to someone else to enjoy.  I have always found that by sharing a book with someone, brings about a close relationship with that person or persons, giving one a common frame of reference on which to build a stronger relationship.

So at that time, I was introduced to FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast, unorthodox, intelligent, smart, yes there is a difference between being intelligent and being smart.  Pendergast is also wealthy, and somewhat eccentric, but this only adds to his colourful character.

I have read all the Pendergast novels, 11 in total, and now I have found that Preston and Childs have written the 12th due out this year.  I have started re-reading the Pendergast novels, this particular book Still Life with Crows is number 4 in the series. I had actually never re-read a book until just recently (2011).  When book 5 of George RR Martin’s series ASong of Ice and Fire, was due to be released, I decided to re-read books 1 – 4, I found it to be a great experience, re living the adventure again, I enjoyed it so much that I decided to re-read the Pendergast novels, then I discovered the upcoming 12^th book.

It takes several books to really get to know the main character, Pendergast, and even then he continues to surprise the reader with new and strange talents, one begins to wonder how one person can evolve into such and interesting personality.  The first book in this series was made into a movie, with the same name as the book “Relic”.  Unfortunately for me the only reason I wanted to see the movie was to witness first hand, on screen, the captivating personality of Pendergast, but unfortunaty for unknown reasons, of which I will never forgive, the writers/directors decided to “write out” the character of Pendergast. I have no idea why, but in my opinion it made the movie pale greatly, in comparison to the book.

Still Life with Crows could be considered to be slightly science fiction, but who really knows about the goings on in the small town like this, the creature could actually exist.

The setting is a small town in Kansas called Medicine Creek, surrounded by corn fields, this boring sleepy little town gets woken up by a series of bizarre murders.  Just after the first murder victim is found, incidentally it is interesting that the local sheriff and everyone else in town know when something dies out in the hectors of corn, by the circling of crows above the field, marking the spot.  So just after the first murder is discovered, only a few hours after, a stranger steps off the greyhound bus as it pulls up across from the sheriffs office. The stranger is dressed in a black suit, charcoal black, his pale skin is in direct contrast to the suit, and he carries his obviously wiry skin and bone frame with a smoothness that makes one thing if a silk scarf billowing in the wind, here enters Pendergast.

Pendergast in on vacation, did he just show up hoping to take in the local wild life, or visit the museum, we don’t think so, he approaches the sheriff, as the sheriff struggles with the press, Pendergast quickly disperses the press, and invites the sheriff into his own office for a chat, and from that point on Pendergast irritates the sheriff to no end, that is until everything the strange man, with the weird habits, black suit, and unorthodox methods starts to make sense.

Pendergast befriends one of the town stranger residents, a rebelling teen, who just happens to know the town inside out, it’s residents, it’s secretes, it’s history.  Pendergast needed a driver, after all he did arrive on the bus, so he hires this misfit teen with the purple hair and no future to drive him around town in her beat up old Gremlin, later on he has one of his two Rolls-Royce Silver Wraiths delivered as he feels that things are getting too dangerous for his, as now official, assistant.  Needless to say his “goth” assistant finds herself in the middle of a battle for her very existence, as she fumbles into the lair of what we know now to be a serial killer.  Pendergast must battle the unknown to save the girl, the sheriff, the killer and the town, he does it with style, and grace as only he can.

I have to thank K & N for introducing me to Douglass Preston and Lincoln Childs, they are two excellent story tellers, both as a team and as solo writers.

bfn
Brian

FEED

Dear Reader,

I'm never sure how much detail I should be putting into these blogs. I don't like giving away the juicy parts of the books as some of you might want to read them, so I decided some time ago, ok, about 3 minutes ago,(while I typed that last sentence, actually), anyway I decided that I would not worry about that, and I will leave it up to you Dear Reader, to research the book first to see if it might appeal to you, before you read my Blog. I have linked all the books in this Blog with the web site for easy access jut point and click. Try it, you never know where you might end up.

 

Oh ya, how did I score on my last Blog, did I get a passing grade?

 

At first glance Feed is all about zombies, when I received this book at Christmas LS was soooooo excited that she managed to get me a zombie book as a gift that she almost went straight out and bought the sequel to this trilogy, before finding out if I would even want to read the next one. But I don't think it would  have been money poorly spent, so please remember (LS) that I have a birthday coming up.

 

The book's cover page gives one pause to reflect, "The good news, we survived. The bad news, so did they"

They would be the zombies. Some time in our near future say around 2014, we will have found the all elusive cure for the common cold, and lung cancer, woot, this is a good thing don't you think? Be careful what you with for, all that shines is not gold, old Chinese proverb say, Not only can water float a boat, it can sink it also.

 

As science cured the cold and cancer, the human race replaced these with the ability to carry the zombie virus, named after the people who developed it, thinking that they had the ultimate cure, they also cursed every person from then on, we would turn into a Zombie when we died, or when we the living, (because zombies are not really living), when the living are bitten, or scratched, by an infected (zombie) person, they would be amplified, or converted into a zombie. None of us are exempt from amplification into the zombie form, we all will become that which will try to Feed off us. So stay out of public areas.

 

So with the news that everyone will eventually be converted or amplified, we as humans learn to adapt, we accept what we cannot change and learn to live life among the zombies. We surely do not want to come into contact with them, or allow them to get too close, so we barricade ourselves with fences, gates, walls, electronic surveillance systems to control entry and of course, we make up a whole bunch of laws and rules on how to deal with the infected.

 

After all, now that we have unwittingly created the dam virus, we can at least test you to see if the virus has begun to amplify within you, if it has not, and the flashing light turns green, we will open the door for you and let you in, however if the flashing light on the test unit turns red, well, I guess a bullet to the base of you're skull prevents you from coming in and infecting the rest of us, pretty much prevents you from doing anything else as well. Interesting note, apparently in the future you will die twice, once from the human state and the second from the zombie state, unless of course action is taken while you are in the throws of change.

 

Oh sure we will see what we can do to eliminate the virus, but so far 25 years of trying and no progress. I guess one could say, each generation will reap what the former generation has sown.

 

The title FEED leads us to think that zombies are the main focus of this book, they are a fact of life in the future and become just another daily task to deal with, like parking tickets, if you park in the wrong spot you get a ticket. You know the rules so just follow them or pay the consequences. Except now the stakes are higher.

In the future the news is provided to the populous over the world wide web, by bloggers, yep, that's correct, blogging becomes big business and the quickest and easiest method to get the word out, without having to actually get near anyone, what you are reading now is just practice for the future. The book kinda remands me of the Bourn novels, where the main character is setup for failure (no, not a zombie), in FEED they struggle against the odds to solve the mystery and bring the truth to the people, while trying desperately to follow a presidential candidate to the White House.

FEED, as in feed the zombies, and, as in the media FEED into the net. This was a pretty good book, suspenseful at times, the ending came quickly, too quickly.

It's definitely more than a zombie book.

 

 A Book is like a garden carried in the pocket.

bfn Brian

Toys

Dear Reader,

Remember when you were in school, and in the first or second English class of the year the teacher told you that you will have to read two books over the school year, and then you will have to write a book report on the books you read?  Remember how the entire class dropped their hands to the desks “thump”, then almost in unison the groans and moans of ‘do we have to” followed by “they better be easy books” and one or two might say “right, and how will that help me in the future”.  Although amongst the moaners and groaners, I think that in every school and every English class there were one or two kids who would just smile to themselves and think “whoopee we get to read and write book reports”

I was not one of those kids, I hated having to do book reports, I would drop my hands to my desk “thump”, then moan and groan, and hope to hell that the books were easy to read, and that the report did not have to be a long one.

Apparently someone knew something that I surely had no clue about, they made us read  books, and write reports, “against our better judgment of course”, and here we are, in the future, doing exactly what I never figured I would ever have to do again (voluntarily even) once I escaped from school.  How interesting our lives can become, The decisions we make, using the skills we were forced to learn, by a bunch of people, (adults, parents) who had no idea what it was like to be a kid during the time we were growing up. Sound familiar?

So here is my take on Toys, by James Patterson, I hope I get a good grade.

Toys is set in the future, our future, it is "a brave newworld”, (remember that one from grade 8) that Patterson brings us to, he creates our future as it has been seen by anyone who would consider themselves a sci-fi geek.  In Patterson’s future the world is united in country, but split in inhabitants.  Ok, let me explain further, (remember in school you would always use more words than necessary to fill up the pages), In Toys there are two factions of people, similar to the haves and the have knots, we have the human “Elite”, who have all the power, and all the toy’s, they are also the humans that have been enhanced, mentally and physically, augmented with electro-mechanical implants and genetic enhancements.  They are smarter (their opinion), faster, and richer, than those who originally created them.

The creators of the ‘Elite” were and are the humans, us, the other half of the, them and us, we are the have knots.  We, being the humans, because the reader must choose what side they want to be on, have nothing, no power, no voice, no choice, we are the servants and  the homeless.

Now the Elite are planning to purge the world of those who they deem to be unworthy, guess who, that’s right, they plan to purge the world of the humans, they have been at war with the humans, hunted the humans, and controlled them long enough, it’s time.

Time indeed, the Elite have lasers, trackers, flying cars, super speed, agility, and clones, yes clones to do the dirty work.  What do the humans have, what do WE have that could even start to have an impact on the great and mighty Elite, well, let me tell you.

Remember John Wyndham's novel The Chrysalids, where the people with the abnormalities are banished, what grade were you in when you read it?  I think I was in grade 8.  In Toys it looks like the abnormal people are the one’s taking over the world and banishing, eliminating in this case, the normal humans, do you remember how it ended?

So back to the book at hand, where were we, oh yes, what could the lowly humans possibly have to fight against the Elite, what hope, well how about the original human designers of the Elite, would they help? They might?  After all the Elite are only in their first generation, gestating in their test tubes for 2 years, and young as a species goes, and of course they do live longer. So the smart humans who developed the technology to transform the humans into the Elite should be able to help out, sometimes parents can even get their kids to help out around the house, so to speak.

Toys was an easy read, Patterson creates short chapters, which makes the reader want to know what’s next.  The main character Hays Baker, is touted as the next James Bond or Jason Bourne, according to the book cover, I’m not sure about that, it was good, but the Bourn novels are better.

Thanks for the book A.T. I look forward to reading the next Hays Baker novel if Patterson decides to make a series out of the character.

bfn Brian

11/22/63

Dear Reader,

I have at least 3 books on the go at all times, one at home, one at work and one in my I phone. I read the I-phone book while waiting for the doctor or dentist to call my name, or for the car when it gets its oil change. The book in the I-phone is needs to be an easy read, due to the slow progress, and the length of time I get to read it.

11/22/63 was one I read at home. It was one of the books I received for Christmas, this particular one came from Sarah. I appreciate it when people read the gift idea list and act upon it. This way everyone is happy (especially me J). We all enjoy that surprise gift, but there is nothing like getting a long awaited treasure like this.

I have read Stephen King from the time I was, about 23 or 24, Stephen has never failed to entertain. I will admit that some of his earlier books have a tendency to end abruptly, King builds, and builds then boom its over. I think this is one area where he has greatly improved, his endings run smoothly past while he still leaves his “constant reader” wanting to know more.

I noted while grabbing the URL for King’s web site (to link the book cover, go ahead give it a click), that he has written another chapter of The Dark Tower. “The Wind Through the Keyhole”, will be a must have on my “books to read” list.

In 11/22/63, King ventures into the idea of time travel, some believe that if we could travel back through time, we would not be able to change the events of the past, some believe that we can, and do (or will) change the past with every visit, this is called the butterfly effect, oh, by the way you should check out the move, “A Sound of Thunder” if you like the idea of time travel. And there are the people who think they can go back and change things for the better. Haven’t we all said at one time or another, if only I could go back and ….. if not to change anything, but to once and for all answer the burning questions about our past.

King manages to bring a little bit of everyone’s time travel ideals together into this one major event in the history of the United States , which had world shattering repercussions. What if JFK survived, how would this have changed the course of, not history, but the future, the future of 1963, and what would changing this event do to our “now”. Remember that our past decisions have brought us to where we are today, different decisions made in the past, the now, or the future will change where we will end up as we move forward, it will also influence what decisions we will be called upon to make in our future, so we must make our decisions wisely, we (might) only have one chance to make the right ones.

If I could go back in time, I think I would go to the book depository to see if there was a second shooter, find out how the Pyramids were built, how about Stonehenge , see the dinosaurs, or just go and hug my mom one last time.

If I only knew than what I know now………..

Our lives would be different, but would they be better?

bfn

Brian

Breaking Lorca

Dear Reader,

When I started reading this book, I did not know what it was about, I opened the “bag-o-books” and grabbed it, took it in to work to read during lunch.

I had assumed because of where and who I got it from it was a grizzly zombie or vampire tale.  The title did not give any incite as to what I would find within, unlike my previous book (see last post).

Once I started reading however, the book cover makes sense.  This book is set in El Salvador during a time of civil war, and in the USA.

The book begins in El Salvador, with a small secret squad of solders who seem to enjoy their work a little too much. All except one, our main character.  This little corner of the war is dedicated to extracting information out of the freedom fighters.

Our main character, Victor, is not interested in becoming one of the of the group, who take great pleasure out of torturing their prisoners, he gets this duty thrust upon him due to some of his own past issues, he gets demoted and sent to the “little school”.  The torture seems to be quite realistic, and is quite graphic in nature and at time actually difficult to read.  I have had no trouble watching any of the Saw movies, and  while reading this book I have realized that reading about torture is quite different and much more disturbing.

Victor is forced to observe and help in the torture and death of prisoners at what they call the “little school”.  One prisoner in particular is of great interest to the squad, and this is where young Victor is apprenticed,  this time he is forced, by threat of his own torture and death, to take part in breaking this prisoner named Lorca.  Of course we only learn her real name after two weeks of long endurance.  Now broken and telling all, the solders mean to eliminate the prisoner, no witnesses left to tell the tale of their techniques.

Victor is not like the rest of the secret group of solders, he is quiet, they are loud, he enjoys reading, they make fun of him, he wants to help, and they want to destroy.  Victor dreams of escaping his home land and traveling to America, where he can start a new life.

Now broken Lorca, is taken out to be shot, this is something that Victor is again forced to do, but due to heavy rain, and a mud slide, he misses his target as she slides down the side of a cliff, the rest of the solders thinking that Victor shot her, after all she did fall down, congratulate him and finally welcome him into their band. Only Victor and Lorca know that just as Victor pulls the trigger, the ground gives way beneath her and she falls.

Victor finally gets his chance to go to America, he changes his name, he takes the name of one of the prisoners.  The city just happens to be the same city where Lorca admitted her brother lives. Coincidence?  Not at all.  Victor wants to talk to the brother, he thinks it might help him to overcome his feelings of guilt and shame, and he wants to learn if Lorca survived the fall off the cliff.

Victor finds out that Lorca did indeed survive, although she has a great many emotional and physical scars from her two weeks in the “little school”.

Victor tells the brother that he too was a prisoner, the brother tries to convince Victor to come to dinner to talk with Lorca, Victor refuses, he cannot, what if she recognizes his voice, all the prisoners were blindfolded, he was sure she would not recognize his face.  Lorca’s brother feels that perhaps together, Victor and Lorca might be able to help one another to cope, Lorca is unable to cope alone, and her brother does not know what else to do.

Victor finally does befriend Lorca, together they find a bit of stability in their emotional world, until the past come back to haunt them.

This was a fast read, the author Giles Blunt is a Canadian, living in Toronto, he carries his reader along quite easily and leaves room for us to try to guess how the book will unfold.

Giles Blunt has written 10 more books, I think I will read another of his sometime. My next book is a “try this one, I loved it” from a friend (AT), Toys, by James Patterson.

bfn
Brian

They Thirst

Dear Reader,

One of my friends with whom I share a  love of watching zombies get “double tapped”, gave me a bag of books that he had finished reading and thought I would enjoy them as much as he had. (Thanks M.I.)

They Thirst is one that I found in that “bag-o-books”, and took it to work to read during my lunch.

One thing I learned while reading this book, yes it is about vampires, was that vampires like to sleep in a coffin that has a bit of dirt in the bottom, yep that is a new one.

I thought that a blanky and pillow was all they needed between feedings, but apparently they like all the comforts of home, if they can get dirt from home that is.

Zombies are,…. well,…. stupid. Vampires on the other hand, while having absolutely no blood, have an awareness and cunning about them, go figure. I know some people wh, … well lets  not go there.

Vampires can reason and can solve problems, and this ability over other “not quite alive” creatures has given the vampires a superiority complex, they actually think that they will take over the world, one city at a time.

In this book that was the plan, the Prince of Vampires was going to create a world of followers, meaning that everyone will be turned into vampires, ok, but then who will the vampires feed off of, after all, fresh blood, human blood is like top sirloin to them. The book has a not so surprising ending, but the method of overcoming the toothy vermin was interesting and quite timely.

I enjoyed this book more than some of the others from that “bag-o-books”, and I still have many more.  It was a Big bag.

One more thought, authors should not be allowed to make up words like “jubbling”,  really??

bfn
Brian

 

The Fifth Witness

Dear Reader,

I have just finished turning the pages on The Fifth Witness. It is the sequel to The Lincoln Lawyer, and it is every bit as good. I am not sure if it will make it to the silver screen, it does not have the uniqueness of the first book. You don’t find many lawyers whose office is their chauffeur driven Lincoln .

The book has great twisting drama during the court room deliberations and a memorable ending.

If you read the book this definition might come in handy, it is something that was referred to a few time in the book. The lawyers would join the judge in his chambers “in camera”.

“In camera (Latin: "in a chamber")^[1] is a legal term meaning "in private".^[1] It is also sometimes termed in chambers or in curia” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_camera

Why read if you can’t learn anything from it. 

Next up is one of my all-time favorite authors, Stephen King, his newest book 11/22/63.  I received this book as a Christmas present from Sarah.  Thanks Sarah.

 

                                 

bfn
Brian

The Lincoln Lawyer

Dear Reader,

Over the Christmas break, I managed to read one of the books I received for Christmas.  The Lincoln lawyer, by Michael Connelly.  I am also half way through the sequel to this book, called The Fifth Witness.

Both books have been riveting, full of twists and turns, and the fifth witness even made me laugh out loud at one point.


bfn,
Brian.