On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester’s Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener’s hand is severed as ‘the dome’ comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. Dale Barbara, Iraq vet, teams up with a few intrepid citizens against the town’s corrupt politician. But time, under the dome, is running out….
Take a quess what I’ll be reading over the next few weeks.
I jumped right from A Game of Thrones to A Clash of Kings, Book 2 of “A Song of Ice and Fire” by George R.R. Martin. Once again I listened to the unabridged 36+ hour audiobook read masterfully by Roy Dotrice. The book unapologetically picks up right where the first book left off, with very little in the way of recap. What else would happen to the Starks, the Lannisters? How would Daenerys and her newborn dragons play a part? Or John Snow up in the frozen north? Most improtantly…
StephenKing.com has been teasing something to be coming in November called The Dark Tower Project. Today they released “the opening credits” trailer, which says to “Come and Play 11.30.09″. Looks to me to be some type of interactive web game. The announcement comes from StephenKing.com and Metro Digital Media Artists (Metro DMA), who did the StephenKing.com website, among many other things. It also said it’s directed by Robin Furth, who in addition to being King’s personal research assistant, is the author of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance, and who has plotted the excellent Dark Tower comic series. Click the photo above to go to the site and watch the video.
I think I’ve mentioned that I’ve gotten some of my reading inspiration over the past year or more from the reading selections of The Sword and Laser group. I don’t participate in their discussions very often, and I’m a pretty slow reader and am usually behind their pace, but I’ve read quite a few things I would not have looked twice at before because of the The Sword and Laser group. One of those is A Game of Thrones, Book One of A Song of Fire and Ice by George R.R. Martin.
It’s been made into a board game, a LCG, a CCG, an RPG, and soon an HBO pilot, but somehow it all slip past me. So is the novel worthy of all the attention?
Hot on the heels of finishing The Talisman on audio, I started up the sequel, Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub, as my next audiobook selection. Black House picks up the story of Jack Sawyer when he’s all grown up. He’s now a retired copisman… err, cop who once solved a murder in French Landing, Wisconsin, and decided to retire early and move there just prior to the start of child kidnappings and murders in the scenic, sleepy town.
So did this sequel, written by King and Straub 17 years after the first book was published, live up to the original?
The very first book I bought for my Kindle 2 was Ur by Stephen King. It is currently a Kindle exclusive, and being a sucker for all things King (a Constant Reader, if you will), I just had to pick it up.
The story revolves around college English professor Wesley Smith, who was chided by his former love as to why he can’t just “read off the computer like the rest of us.” He orders a Kindle from Amazon, and is surprised when a pink one arrives overnight. He soon discovers that not only can he download books from Amazon, but books from different Urs, alternate realities past and future. When he discovers that he can also download newspapers that way…
I’ve been sick the last few weeks and kind of out of it, so much so that I completely missed the news that one of my favorite authors died last week. According to Wired:
The world of fantasy literature has lost one of its modern giants. David Eddings, best known for his Malloreon series and The Belgariad, passed away Tuesday at the age of 77.
Eddings enjoyed a long career of writing popular books of fantasy, many with his wife Leigh, who passed away in 2007 after a stroke. He freely admitted that he got into writing fantasy for the money, after seeing a copy of The Lord of the Rings in its 73rd printing. Whatever his reasons, however, he delivered well-written books that captivated readers with rich characterizations built on familiar plots. He never pretended to be an author of great literature, preferring rather to think of himself as a storyteller.
Eddings passed away in his hometown of Carson City, Nevada of an undisclosed cause.
Definitely one of my top 5 favorite authors. Most of his books adorn my shelves. He wil be missed.
I never played any of the Warcraft PC games, but I’ve played World of Warcraft since November 2004. I own all of the Warcraft novels, but have only gotten around to reading one of them (Warcraft: Day of the Dragon by Richard A. Knaak). I was excited to read that Dick Hill had recorded 3 of the Warcraft books as audiobooks, only to be disappointed when their release was delayed indefinitely. So when I saw that World of Warcraft: Arthas – Rise of the Lich King was coming out, I thought it might be a good opportunity to read one that was highly related to the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King expansion, without being tied to a three book series. Downloaded it to my Kindle and gave it a whirl.
Upon hearing of upcoming adaptations of The Talisman by Stephen King & Peter Straub, I decided that it might be a good time to read the novel, before those adaptations hit. The Talisman was published in 1984 and is the story of 12-year-old Jack Sawyer, and his cross-country journey to find an object that might cure his ailing mother of the cancer she is dying of. But of course, this is King and Straub we’re talking about, so you have to throw in a good mix of parallel worlds you can “flip” to where your “twinner” might exist, and werewolves and maniacal preachers and … well, all manner of things you might expect from those two authors.
I think I’ve mentioned that I’ve gotten some of my reading inspiration over the past year or more from the reading selections of 
Hot on the heels of 
The very first book I bought for my Kindle 2 was Ur by Stephen King. It is currently a Kindle exclusive, and being a sucker for all things King (a Constant Reader, if you will), I just had to pick it up.
I’ve been sick the last few weeks and kind of out of it, so much so that I completely missed the news that one of my favorite authors died last week. According to 
I never played any of the Warcraft PC games, but I’ve played World of Warcraft since November 2004. I own all of the Warcraft novels, but have only gotten around to reading one of them (Warcraft: Day of the Dragon by Richard A. Knaak). I was 
Upon hearing of upcoming adaptations of The Talisman by Stephen King & Peter Straub, I decided that it might be a good time to read the novel, before those adaptations hit. The Talisman was published in 1984 and is the story of 12-year-old Jack Sawyer, and his cross-country journey to find an object that might cure his ailing mother of the cancer she is dying of. But of course, this is King and Straub we’re talking about, so you have to throw in a good mix of parallel worlds you can “flip” to where your “twinner” might exist, and werewolves and maniacal preachers and … well, all manner of things you might expect from those two authors. 
