What to read next?

Tonight I find myself struggling, as I always do when I finish a book, with what to begin reading next. I've got several books within my own library that I've not yet read, and a host of others that I don't have that I also want to read. This is always a difficult decision, complicated by whatever current mood I’m in, influences at the time, and how good or bad the last book I read happened to be. That particular book, Ken Scholes Lamentation, is followed by a sequel (Canticle) that is currently available at bookstores, but I think I want to delve into something different before I pick back up with Lord Rudolfo's Gypsy Scouts and the world of The Psalm's of Isaak. More on that later when I post my review of Lamentation.
So, I offer you, dear readers of The Sound and Fury, a chance to sway my choice. Below is a list of books that I've a mind to read next. Please feel free to give your input in the comment section, and give me the nudge in whichever direction you'd have me go.

Sabriel is a book that I picked up randomly at Half Priced books because it sounded interesting and it was really cheap. I haven’t read anything by Garth Nix, but I want to give this fantasy tale a try.

The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King I’ve probably had in my collection the longest, but for one reason or another have just never gotten around to reading it. It seems like I read somewhere that The Eyes of the Dragon was the first book that fit into the world of Roland, The Gunslinger of The Dark Tower series. The Dark Tower series is and has been something of a conundrum for me.  Having sailed straight through The Gunslinger, I thought that I’d steam right on through the rest of the series (at the time I think there were only four books), but quickly stumbled on The Drawing of the Three. I found it difficult to switch gears so easily with the writer from the world of the dark tower to ours, and the characters in The Drawing simply did not speak to me at all. Not too long ago I re-read The Gunslinger (once again speeding through it and enjoying every last word) but when I got to The Drawing of the Three my interest fizzled out again.
Well, suffice it to say that my interest in this world has never waned completely, and I’m kind of hoping that The Eyes of the Dragon will again kick start my interest in The Dark Tower series. The lure of the mythology that King has created in that series, and woven into the fabric of so many of his other non-fantasy stories, is utterly, astoundingly impressive to me. So much so that I feel I must one day finish them.

I’ve long been a fan of Bernard Cornwell, and owe my love for historical fiction largely to his tales of Uhtred of Bebbanburg in the Saxon Stories.  In fact, the most recent Saxon book came out in late 2009, and if it were already in paperback I wouldn’t even be writing this post right now. I dislike hard bound books, but I look forward to each new tale of Uhtred as a child looks forward to Christmas day. Nevertheless, I do happen to have in my possession one book of ancient historical fiction by Cornwell that I’ve not yet read: Stonehenge. The standing stones of Europe have always fascinated me, and I look forward to reading Cornwell’s version  of the history of Britain’s most famous stone ring. Should it be now?


A Game of Thrones is the first book in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, a series that I’ve only been aware of for perhaps six months. What’s to say? They come highly recommended from big time fantasy fans, and I look forward to giving it a go.


I talked about The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie here shortly after they were cartoned up and dropped into the mail for me by my blogging buddy Logan over at Rememorandum. I know very little about them except that just about every fantasy related blog I’ve come across recommends them. I’m sure so many good fellows can’t be wrong.


I read the first two books in John Varley’s Gaia trilogy back in about, oh… 1998? A coworker at the miserable retail job that I was working at the time forced them upon me with the promise that I would love them. And I did rather enjoy them, but he never brought the third one, Demon, and I eventually forgot about it. Until recently, when I mentioned to my coworker and friend Andy that I’d never gotten around to finishing the series. The very next day he was in with the book and dropping it on my desk. Good friend, that Andy. Always thinking of other people. Though, it’s been so long since I last read the second book, Wizard, that I might need some sort of refresher. Perhaps Wikipedia has a descent plot summary on them?


Well, that’s the line up as of right now. Which should I pick? I’m a bit tired tonight, so I may not start a new book until tomorrow. I look forward to all of your input and opinions. I know that you are full of them. Heh heh.
Kirk out.

Retro Review: ‘The Black Hole’

There are three important things that take place when I go home to see my folks. First, there is the customary greeting accompanied by hugs and kisses. Then there's typically a round of “It’s good to see you’s” and other refinements, followed quickly by some kind of wise crack from my father. After all of that is finished, however, I quickly make my way to the DVD cabinet(s) for my requisite review of their film library to see if anything new has made it into the vaults since the last time I’d been there.

On my last foray into the cabinets of Charles and Deby Denby, I found a new/old movie that I hadn’t thought of in a long time. I decided to snatch Disney’s The Black Hole, simply because it had been years since I’d seen it. But with Disney’s recent announcement to remake the sci-fi classic, watching the old film again quickly took on a dual purpose. And it is for second part of that dual purpose that I give you the Sound and Fury Retro-Review of The Black Hole.
The film opens as the USS Palomino returns from deep space on an exploratory mission to find other intelligent life. The ship’s scanners detect a black hole nearby and as the crew investigates further, they discover the hulking mass of a large spaceship floating lifelessly near the black hole’s event horizon. The crew, which includes Anthony Perkins as the ship's scientist, Robert Forster as captain of the Palomino, Ernest Borgnine as a wily, journalist, and Yvette Mimieux  as the ship's resident psychic,  is baffled as to who could have beaten them this far into space. But after a perfunctory search of the Palomino’s computer data base the mysterious ship is identified as none other than the USS Cygnus, another exploratory ship that disappeared over twenty years before. The Palomino’s crew decides to move in for a closer look, almost out of sheer curiosity, but all hell breaks loose when their ship is sucked too close to the gravity well of the black hole. Barely averting disaster and making it back to the relative safety of an artificial zero gravity field surrounding the giant Cygnus, the Palomino manages to dock with the the larger ship to try and make repairs.  The crew discovers, to their astonishment, that the ship is not deserted and lifeless, but in fact contains a man, Dr. Hans Reinhardt (played by Austrian actor Maximilian Schell), and a host of humanoid robots that help maintain and run the ship’s navigational and support systems.

But something is wrong aboard the USS Cygnus. And besides the fact that Reinhardt seems to be a raving lunatic, the crew’s unease is only compounded by the strange human-like appearance of the ship’s robotic crew.

The Black Hole is a pretty good flick for a science fiction film made by Disney in 1979. The space effects are actually quite beautifully realized, and the story line isn’t too bad either. The acting, although a bit over-the-top at times, is fair if a bit outdated even for its time. Ernest Borgnine plays the role of the Palomino’s cunning journalist Harry Booth, and he is fun to watch in almost anything. Robert Forster is the ship’s ever-serious captain, but he is convincing in the role, despite his clumsy attempts at action sequences, and the rest of the cast fills in nicely (Yvette Mimieux looks pretty nice in her space jumpsuit—something I failed to notice as a kid). The cinematography is even there, blending sweeping shots of a beautifully rendered outer space with interior shots of the Cygnus.
 

 The menacing robot Maximilian in The Black Hole surveys the situation.

Of course there is an element of cheese involved, though. It is the height of the disco-era, after all. Besides all of that, though, The Black Hole seems to take it’s sci-fi cues straight from the Star Trek television series' playbook, complete with ridiculously awkward hand-to-hand combat and action scenes. And although Maximilian (Reinhardt’s menacing, red robot) and the faceless humanoid crew members are pretty well designed characters, his crack army of robotic sentries are so terrible by comparison that I found myself wondering if the film’s SFX guy called in sick the day these costumes were designed and built. I mean, come on, these “robots” are clearly guys in suits, and the viewer never for one second accepts that they are anything but that. And I don’t buy the notion that a guy in a suit is going to look like a guy in a suit no matter how you dress him up, because our pals over at Industrial, Light, and Magic managed to turn Anthony Daniel’s into a pretty convincing robot in Star Wars by simply putting him in a suit.

I should also mention that the music used in the film is quite good, but that the way it is edited together with the film itself is pretty clumsy. Let me clarify that remark: The music is well written. It is orchestral and fits the film well. But, the way it ebbs and flows from static scenes to action scenes is poorly done, almost as though a first time film editor cut the thing together. Sadly, what is actually a good film score, is poorly used and serves to further the cheesiness of the movie at times.

At the end of the film, The Black Hole attempts to make some sort of statement about the nature of man, good and evil, and how our actions may affect our souls in the afterlife. If that sounds strange to you, you’re not far off. I don’t mind a bit of philosophical pondering in my movies, but this just felt… tacked on. I must admit that when Reinhardt and Maximilian somehow meld towards the end of the movie, and the resulting abomination stands ominously atop a rocky outcropping looking out at a host of robed figures marching single file as fires leap and spit all around them, it’s pretty freakin’ eerie! And even though the whole Dante’s Inferno symbolism was pretty much lost on this old country boy, it was a very interesting and thought provoking sequence. I just wish that the film’s writer and director had given us a bit more carrot to lure us into the trap. I might have been willing to go that extra mile with them on the thematic shifting of gears if it had been for a bit more extrapolation within the script to get us there.

And perhaps we’ll get it with the impending remake. I can honestly say that I’m not terribly upset about this one. If it gets the right sort of treatment thematically, we may be in for a real surprise. Tron Legacy will have to serve as a barometer for this remake’s potential since the team handling the Tron sequel is also behind the remake of The Black Hole.

So, what do you think about all of these remakes? Do you even care? Do you think the studio cares what you think, or are they making these movies for a different audience? And if they did care, what could the studios do to get you engaged in these remakes? Thanks for taking the time to read and participate. Your feedback and input is invaluable and immensely appreciated.

Score: 3/5

Kirk out.