Tuesday, December 30, 2003
The Island of Doctor Moreau
This somewhat short novel tells the tale of a man, Edward Pendrick, who is shipwrecked and ends up on an island populated by one Dr. Moreau, his assistant Montgomery and a cadre of misshapen laborers. As the tale proceeds, we find out that Dr. Moreau is a surgeon performing experiments of questionable morality. And that's all I'm going to say. Now anyone who's into science fiction probably knows the details of the scenario. But on the off chance that you don't, I'll keep mum. After all, some of the story was spoiled for me because I read the introduction which was included in the edition I got from the library. The writer explained some of the allusions Wells had made in the book, so I was denied the pleasure of figuring them out for myself. (Assuming that I would have been able to, that is.) Anyway, Mr. Wells uses the tale to make some comments about his society. Overall it's a good tale, good enough to check out.
Labels: CheckItOut, HGWells
Saturday, December 20, 2003
The Dracula Caper
The setting is London, 1894. Scotland Yard is puzzled by a series of mysterious murders, committed by a murderer or murderers of great strength and brutality. Unfortunately, in this world, Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character, unable to help them crack the case. His creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, however, has similar powers of observation and deduction and attempts to help unravel the mystery. No, this isn't an untold tale from our history. It's book eight of the Time Wars series. In this volume we see more fantastic genetically engineered creatures, of similar origin to the ones that appeared in The Argonaut Affair. This time the time commandos are out in force--10 soldiers in all--to try to stop the mastermind of this scheme, and if that wasn't enough, they wind up getting an assist from Dr. Doyle, Bram Stoker and H. G. Wells. Ironically enough, though I claim to appreciate Mr. Hawke's willingness to change the status quo, I found myself wishing he would have given more time to the returning characters. Maybe that's why I consider this book to be merely waiting room material. Maybe he just tried to pack too much into a 212 page story: his ongoing time wars story line, a Holmsian mystery, an homage to Dracula, an homage to H.G. Wells and general comments on Victorian London all mixed together. Or maybe Mr. Hawke's attempt to mix Victorian characters into a new story pales in comparison to Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. (the comic book, not the movie) Whatever it's problems, this time I think Mr. Hawke missed the mark. He shouldn't have raised my expectations so high.
Labels: SimonHawke, TimeWars, WaitingRoomMaterial
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Mythology
I was into mythology for a spell way back in my grade school days. I read every mythology book we had in the school library, including this tome. I didn't recall anything specific about it save the name, which I have seen mentioned on and off through the years. Either Ms. Hamilton has a great press agent or she knows her stuff about mythology. Anyway, when I needed to find the source book for The Argonaut Affair, it was a no-brainer to pick this one up. I had really forgotten how good some of those stories are. And as an adult I could now also appreciate Ms. Hamilton's comments on mythology in general and the various sources she used to assemble her own book. While I couldn't quite share her enthusiasm for the subject, it was enjoyable to hear her lovingly present these tales from ancient Greece and Rome. (and a brief nod to Norse mythology) While my girls already have some great mythology books, written by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire, I'm going to keep this one on my shelf for them as well.
Labels: OnMyShelf
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