Imaginary author photo

James Frey and Jobie Hughes co-wrote I Am Number Four under the pseudonym of "Pittacus Lore." That's Lore's "photo," above. (I've linked to a fascinating article about Frey's "fiction factory" before.) Via.

Link roundup

1. Any ideas what my book club should read next? Ideally a novel that's not science fiction or fantasy. (In the past, we've all liked Bonfire of the Vanities, The Time Traveler's Wife, and I Am Legend, which we just finished.)

2. Useful advice from OK Cupid: "Among all our casual topics, whether someone likes the taste of beer is the single best predictor of if he or she has sex on the first date."

3. How to "Fix a Stripped Screw Hole with Toothpicks."

Pat the Zombie

Pat the Zombie, "A vibrant new retelling of the beloved children's story." Preorder for $10 at Amazon. Via.

Medals for Trials of Modern Love

Some of the medals in Stefan Bucher's Medals for Trials of Modern Love:

For more than two millennia, heroic public deeds have been rewarded with medals. But what about personal affairs? You Deserve a Medal commends those who struggle in the search for true love with forty hilariously truthful stops along that timeworn path.

You can see closeups of several of the medals here, and the book is $15 at Amazon. Via.

A puff of smoke appears

A few panels from this collection of scans from The Fantastic Four in the House of Horrors (A Big Little Book). The book is available at eBay and Amazon. Via.

Link roundup

1. The Mystery Writers of America announced the nominees for its 2011 Edgar Awards. It's interesting how instantly forgettable the book covers for the top five novels are. Mystery lovers don't care about book covers?

2. CFLs are proving to be significantly shorter lived than promised. (That's certainly been my experience.)

3. I've once again been offered money to post infographics.

The Windup Girl

German book cover for Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl, which I just finished reading. You know, I skipped my book club's last book, The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo, because I wasn't interested in reading anything that featured sexual violence against women. Instead I read this . . . which features sexual violence against women. Other than that, the book is excellent. It's often compared to William Gibson's novels, but I didn't see much of a similarity. Really, it's very much like a futuristic version of George Martin's Fire and Ice series - - told from the viewpoints of many fairly unlikable characters as they're outmaneuvered by far more savvy operators in a political struggle. It's well deserving of the many awards it's won, and $9 at Amazon. I can't give it better praise than to say I've placed all of his other books on my wishlist.

"Breathtakingly crude"

So earlier this week I posted photos of this SEAL doll ("1/6 Scale SEAL Team 5 Mountain Ops" by Toys City) and commented that it looked like Eric Bana:




Tom said he thought it looked like Richard Marcinko, and I'm inclined to think he's right:



Marcinko is the author of a successful series of books, and the Publisher's Weekly reviews at Amazon are very entertaining:




Violence of Action:

Riding the wave of controversy over Iraq, and dedicated "To the many heroes of September 11th," this 10th volume in the breathtakingly crude but bestselling Rogue Warrior series again stars hairy-chested author/narrator Capt. Dick Marcinko, ex-navy SEAL and covert-ops antiterrorism expert. Licking his wounds after unjustly serving time in a white-collar federal prison, Capt. Dick is called to Washington when the White House is confronted with the theft of a suitcase-sized nuclear bomb by a band of terrorists. After capturing one of the terrorists, Dick's team tortures him into revealing the group's plan to nuke Portland, Ore., as the first step in establishing ethnic purity in the world. Marcinko may have jettisoned his longtime co-writer John Weisman (whose name no longer appears on the title page), but little else has changed. As in previous volumes, Dick is boorishly self-aggrandizing (he boasts of bedroom swordsmanship with a 10-inch saber), and the first-person narration is punctuated with personal confidences that detract from the authentic descriptions of cutting-edge high-tech military weapons and vivid action-packed scenes of engagement. Bordering on comic book satire and saturated with gruesome, gratuitous violence, the novel should fly off the shelves into the eager hands of the rabid legions of blood and guts fantasy-fulfillment RW readers.

Detachment Bravo:

Unabashedly testosterone-addled, the ninth installment in the Rogue Warrior series cuts another swath through posturing bureaucrats and waffling military brass. Capt. Dick Marcinko, a Navy SEAL black ops specialist, teams with British SAS special ops Brig. Mick Owen and a select few men to stop a London bombing by an IRA splinter group. Too many screwups endanger the mission, cause a big PR snafu and land Mick and Dick in hot water with their bosses. Then they're assigned to track another splinter group, the Green Hand Defenders, who are brewing a plot to kill huge numbers of U.S. and British citizens in one hit. Snubbing the higherups, Mick and Dick follow a lead to Argentina, where Dick abuses an old nemesis who's now a CIA station chief when the man rejects Dick's warning of an attack on the American Embassy. After word gets out, the boys find themselves persona non grata in their own agencies, but remain committed to finishing their jobs any way they can. The ensuing roughshod romp over land and sea is a military vigilante's fantasy. The authors' habit of addressing the reader adds to the tongue-in-cheek downplay of the superhero action, but make no mistake these irreverent characters skewer the establishment and trumpet opinions on what's wrong with the world today (e.g., political correctness, environmentalism) while upholding their pledge to defend it from terrorists. (May)Forecast: Copious vulgarity and violence, with an emphasis on male bonding and military lore, define the Rogue Warrior franchise when WWF fans read, chances are Marcinko is one of their picks. Expect brawny sales.

Rogue Warrior:

Seize the Day: Marcinko and DeFelice keep up a withering fusillade of wisecracks as Marcinko's fictional alter ego, Dick Marcinko, tangles with an aging Fidel Castro in the loosely plotted 13th outing for the former Navy SEAL (after Rogue Warrior: Dictator's Ransom). Dick (aka the Rogue Warrior) and his Red Cell International cohorts must prevent a deadly attack on the U.S. to be triggered by the demise of the Cuban dictator. The action hinges on the central joke that Dick, with some age-related makeup, actually looks so much like Fidel that he can imitate the leader well enough to trick the authorities and general citizenry of Cuba into doing what Dick and the CIA want done to free the island from the yoke of tyranny. Series fans will cheer as Dick and company run all over Cuba, killing people and causing trouble.

Fuzz and Fur: Japan's Costumed Characters

Fuzz and Fur: Japan's Costumed Characters:

While adoration for mythical creatures and popular anime characters is nothing new in Japan, this pastime has spurred a new marketing took utilized by local government institutions: yuru-kyara. Roughly translated as "amateur characters" these costumes are based on local attractions and points of interest that help define any given area. The municipalities take advantage of their citizens' willingness to create these characters in a strange amalgam of hometown pride and cost-saving measures on the part of the city councils. These civic mascots brought to life in floppy, fury, fuzzy and homemade costumes. Citizens convene conventions of their very own, demonstrating how yuru-kyara devotees represent another enigmatic, yet utterly captivating, aspect of contemporary Japanese visual culture.

$11 at Amazon. Via.

Link roundup

1. How to stay safe at a public Wi-Fi hotspot.

2. And How to Secure Your Smartphone.

3. I've been working my way through Michael Piller's unpublished book about writing for Star Trek The Next Generation and Star Trek Insurrection. Really good so far. Via.

*Buy Tribbles at Amazon.

Embassytown

Cover to China Mieville's next book, Embassytown, which is available for preorder at Amazon. Via these sites.

Link roundup

1. I really liked Broken Angels, the second novel I've read by Richard Morgan. It's a little tough to describe, basically imagine a tale of WW2-era profiteering featuring a Humphrey Bogart like character, if Bogart's character was a genetically modified super soldier. But the cover, which you can see at Amazon is embarrassingly bad.

2. The good news: EA says expect less in-game advertising in the future. The bad news: expect more microcharges since those have proven to be highly lucrative. Via.

3. Funny comic by James Kochalka. After reading it, you'll want to know what he looks like.

Link roundup

1. Let me do my small part to improve the seo of Henry Selick's new studio, Cinderbiter. (link not yet active.)

2. Great comic about the nasty little voice in your head.

3. New illustrated version of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. "The cover is printed in holographic ink on navy blue glittered cloth with blind embossing." Via.

*Buy iPads at eBay.

The Art of Alice: Madness Returns

The Art of Alice: Madness Returns:

Legendary game designer American McGee created one of the most visually arresting games of all time in Alice. Eleven years later, McGee returns with a sequel just as groundbreaking as his critically acclaimed classic—Alice: Madness Returns!

Just in time for Madness Returns, Dark Horse and Spicy Horse studio invite Alice fans to take a journey through the wonderland of American McGee’s imagination for an unprecedented look at the creation of this magnificent and disturbing world. With an introduction by McGee, The Art of Alice offers an intimate look into the stunning and terrifying artwork behind this blockbuster reinterpretation of Lewis Carroll’s enduring masterpiece!

Preorder for 34% off at Amazon.

Supermen, Beasts, and The Horror

A few book covers by Jacob Covey. Links below are to Amazon:



Supermen!: The First Wave Of Comic Book Heroes 1936-1941






Beasts!: Book One




The Horror! The Horror!: Comic Books the Government Didn't Want You to Read!

Cory Doctorow's new book

Cory Doctorow's new book With a Little Help is available in a variety of options ranging from free to $275.

(His books are typically thrilling and thought provoking.)

(and occasionally spiced up with graphic sex.)

The Octopus would like to put a stop to us

A few illustrations from The Octopus would like to put a stop to us by Otto. You can see more and buy the book here (under new books). Via.

The Universe in Miniature in Miniature

The Universe in Miniature in Miniature features a pop-out solar system cover by Zach Dodson. You can buy the limited edition here, and the mundane version at Amazon. You can also print out your own foldable Miniature version of The Universe in Miniature in Miniature. Via.

*Buy Breathless Homicidal Slime Mutants: The Art of the Paperback at Amazon.

Her Idea by Rilla Alexander

Her Idea by Rilla Alexander - - 64 pages with die-cut googly eyes on sale at Amazon. Via.