Hideyuki - Vampire Hunter D

I found a series by a Japanese author (the first seven books are available in translations), named Kikuchi Hideyuki. His novels take place on a future post-apocalyptic earth. Humans, some with super-human abilities, survive amidst the ruins of a Vampire -dominated civilization. The books feature the occasional werewolf or other monster as a secondary or supporting character. But here again, the focus is vampires. The series title is Vampire Hunter D. The lead character is a half-vampire. He has lived since well before the cataclysm, since before our time. I won't give all the backstory here, but it is interesting, complex, and well-thought out. The various novels in the series give us drama, horror, action, well-developed characters. I recommend this series for horror, action, and fantasy fans.

Nanten and Yatate - Cowboy Bebop

This week I'm reading a manga - Cowboy Bebop, by Nanten and Yatate. The artwork is good, the stories varied, most of them interesting. It is basically a continuation of the series. There is another manga, written after this one, that re-tells the series. I've glanced at it. I prefer the art from this series, but the stories in the second manga look good - except they wait several issues to bring Faye into the story. Apparently that manga's author does not like Faye, or she is a 'least favorite'. Myself, I like Faye. If she were real I would date her. Of course, she would probably rob me, but even so she would still be ahead of some of the other women I've dated over the years - ha, ha, ha .....sigh.

Coe - The Closed Circle

Last week I read Jonathan Coe's The Closed Circle. I had read his Dwarves of Death many years ago and enjoyed it, so I gave this recent (hardcover - 2004) release a try. In The Closed Circle, Coe does a solid job of combining various character's points of view, writing believably in the inner voice of both male and female characters. He experiments with technique, for example bringing back the epistolary style of writing on several occasions, even modernizing it to include e mail; also, he briefly adopts Joyce's method of writing dialogue, and so on. He is an author brave enough to grant his characters names like 'Malvina', and 'Pusey-Hamilton', which sounds like something from a Bond novel. This is a good book, but a bit soap opera-ish.

Thomas - Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog

"Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog" by Dylan Thomas. Thomas is better known as a poet (ex. "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night") but here he uses prose, or, more accurately, prose-poetry. Thomas parodies the title and the structure, but not the content, of Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man", and "Dubliners". Whereas Joyce gave us windows into his youth in Ireland of the late-19th to early 20th century, Thomas writes of Wales circa the 1920s. Most of the stories are straightforward, but one or two are highly symbolic and make no sense when taken literally; So the advice is do not do so.

Dantec - Babylon Babies

Babylon Babies, Maurice G. Dantec, Semiotext(e)2005, Trans. Noura Wedell.

Babylon Babies is a cyber-punk novel on which the movie Babylon A.D. was very loosely based. The novel has Russian and Canadian mobsters, mercenaries, psuedo-religious groups, cyborg societies, genetic engineering, brain implants, psychic powers, killer robots, bio-enhancement and control drugs, ghosts and visions, solid historically - based stuff and science- fiction set in an alternate 2005. There is perhaps too much 'stuff' in the book. Some things are introduced which deserve more development then they receive, other things get more story time then they are worth. The early flashbacks are both effective and needed, but the later flashbacks take us away from the main action too often.

A cool, strange book.

O' Donnell - Modesty Blaise

Peter O'Donnell. Modesty Blaise. Souvenir Press Ltd. 1965.

A rare book from its era that presents the female hero as competent and professional. Modesty is a believable female character, and believable as a skilled and highly trained operative. In this case a professional free-lance agent, or investigator, or just think of her as a professional adventurer. Her sidekick is Willie Garvin, also skilled and competent, a fellow who would be the hero in most books.

The pair are formal criminals, of the sort of 'moral criminal' that fiction allows. Modesty has given up her network, and lives in a sort of semi retirement, doing the occasional mission for the British Government. She and her adventures are closest in tone to the Simon Templar (The Saint) series.

In this adventure Modesty is called in to solve a case regarding a treasure and international political intrigue. She and Garvin move quickly around the globe, chasing down leads, seeking to contact their old network (which may have turned against them), and moving from danger to danger with skill and finesse.

The only flaw I can see is a lapse into a typical plot device of the sixties and seventies about two thirds way into the book. The characters, or writers, reached an apparent dead end and decided to let themselves be captured by their enemies. Once captured, they are left alone and unharmed and of course escape and are at large right in the heart of the enemy base. And of course while prisoners the enemy shared all their plans.

After this writing stumble - even in the sixties and seventies it was annoying - the book picks up quickly to an exciting conclusion.

McPartland - The Face of Evil

The Face of Evil. John McPartland. Fawcett 1954, Linford 1991. McPartland was a hard-boiled thriller writer of the fifties. He is and was known for realistic portrayals of fighting. He reads like a guy who was in a few street fights in his time, and has put that knowledge into his books.

In Face of Evil, the main character is John Oxford, a fixer. Unlike some freelance fixers portrayed in movies who do what they want and demand large sums of money, Oxford gets the money but is still in debt, and he works for one company, that basically owns him. On a job to wreck a politician's career, Oxford meets two femme fatales, one a girl he wronged in the past. Oxford begins to have second doubts about his line of work. Soon he is in deep trouble with almost everyone, and almost without friends or allies.

The action and tension are constant, the fights very good, and most of the characters are nicely drawn. McPartland has some trouble with his portrayals of women, but the Ann character is good. And one or two minor co-incidences are too convenient, but most of the plot twists are believable enough. A very good book in the 'hard boiled tough guy' mold.