Meander61's Open Salon Blog

Cannonball Read 2.0_01: Something from the Nightside - Simon R. Green

Mon, 9 Nov 2009 13:11:00 -0500

I've only spent weeks mentally preparing myself for the Cannonball Read, only of find myself in the first week, completely stymied by a book that simply wasn't very interesting.

I am a big fan and constant consumer of most of the early entries into the "urban fantasy" genre. I specify "early entries" because you will not find a lot of copycats on the supermarket and rug store racks, and most of them aren't much good. All of the vampires and werewolves have been taken.

"Something from the Nightside" starts off with such a derivative steal from Hammett and Sam Spade that I very nearly dropped it and took up something else. Naturally it starts off in a seedy detective's office, where he also lives, and naturally, a dame walks in and the case begins.

The PI in our case, Taylor, promises something different but it is quite a while before we get there. Instead of Chandler's "mean streets", however, we are given "the Nightside", and alternate reality in the middle of London where it is always 3am and raining, and where every single interdimensional and magical beastie can make their home in an urban setting. Taylor, himself, plays like a Harry Potter gone to seed.

It is fun to watch Taylor, in his white trenchcoat, make his way through this twisted landscape, which resembles nothing so much as a low-down version of Rowling's "Diagon Alley", and encounter everything from time travel through alternate realities, and Lovecraftian beasts-from-beyond, and everyone and everything has good reason to want you dead.

It is obvious that "Something from the Nightside" is intended as the opening of the series, and luckily I was fascinated enough by the Nightside to want to explore future stories, but there is not much besides knowing that to take you through to the next book. There are ten books in the Nightside series, however, so I'm sure that I will look into more of them.

Pajiba's Cannonball Read - 52 books, 52 reviews.
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Nobel Peace Prize

Fri, 9 Oct 2009 06:10:00 -0400

President Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

OSLO - President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.

Attaturk: "I guess Krauthammer was right, the international regard for the United States has so fallen after Obama became President that they just awarded our Chief Executive the Nobel Peace Prize."

Oliver Willis: "Congrats to the President for this honor, another turn of the page from the failed warmongering failure of the last 8 years of U.S. foreign policy."

I may criticize the man (from the left) for his centrist tendencies, but only in the fever dream of deranged righ-winger has he failed to complete represent the dreams and hopes of the American people. A proud accomplishment.
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Brooklyn Tech Students Turn Out — And Westboro Leaves

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:09:00 -0400

Students Turn Out — And Westboro Leaves :

As school let out this afternoon, picketers from Westboro Baptist Church, a scabrously anti-gay group from Topeka, gathered outside Brooklyn Tech to spread the gospel found on their site godhatesfags.com and, according to their schedule (since updated), to “teach the rebels of Brooklyn what good looks like, and you had better behave.”

But outnumbered by nearly 200 Tech students, the Westboro protesters, escorted by police officers, left the corner of Fort Greene Place and Fulton Street at 3:45, 15 minutes earlier than scheduled. (The protest had been slated for 3:20 p.m. to 4 p.m.)

Oh, think you're going to mess with Brooklyn Tech? Oh, thou sad deluded fools.

Oh, and this?

Is awesome!
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Haters

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:09:00 -0400

President McCain will be on my teevee yet again on Sunday.

It dawned on me this morning - I don't give a shit any more about those people who refuse to admit that they lost the election last year. Seriously, bored with them, annoyed with them - fuck them.

I don't care if they are corporatists, fascists, or racists - they lost the election last year. Period.
It's not rage we should be feeling, it's contempt. 80% of Americans support the President - the 20-percenters can go jump off a cliff. Sooner than later, please.

Monday Morning...

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:09:00 -0400

I do believe that I said that Obama wasted three months letting the Thugs get traction on any damn thing, much less health care.

Curiously, Maureen Dowd seems to get it. Yes, dear - that IS why they hate him.

He isnt really losing the "white" vote. He's losing squishy Dems who weren't really thrilled with him to begin with, but thought that he would kick some Republican ass. That they happen to be largely white is just incidental demographics.