More Graphic Classics, now in COLOR!

I have dim childhood memories of TV shows announcing with great enthusiasm that they were now "in COLOR!" (The irony is, most TV sets at the time were only black-and-white). The latest superlative volume (number seventeen) from Graphic Classics is also their first one in color, so consider this a similar enthusiastic announcement. Subtitled Science Fiction Classics, it proves to contain exactly that, with the possible exception of a Lord Dunsany tale I don't think really qualifies as SF. But original SF gangstas H.G. Wells and Jules Verne rub shoulders with Stanley G. Weinbaum, Arthur Conan Doyle and odd-man-out E.M. Forster's (Howards End, Maurice, A Room with a View) lone SF story.

Although there's not really a weak spot quality-wise in the whole volume, two stories really stand out. One is Micah Farritor's evocative interpretation of The War of the Worlds. The public perception of the story has always been contemporary, from (Orson) Welles' radio drama to the George Pal 1953 movie and including the recent Spielberg/Cruise version. Farritor manages to show the setting as (H.G.) Wells imagined it, with troops on horseback and artillery cannons facing the Martian death machines and doing surprisingly well.

The other superlative piece is "The Disintegration Machine," one of Arthur Conan Doyle's "Professor Challenger" stories. Challenger has always been lost in the shadow of Doyle's other creation, but he's an equally vivid character: brilliant, larger-than-life, quick to fly into theatrical rages and always up for...well, a challenge. He's the hero of Doyle's dinosaur epic The Lost World (adapted in a prior Arthur Conan Doyle Graphic Classics collection), and "The Disintegration Machine" has always been one of my favorites. In it, Challenger is recruited to test the veracity of Dr. Nemor's titular device, a kind of primitive transporter of obvious value to the more aggressive nations of the world. Robert Langridge's artwork catches the perfect tone, and his glowering take on Professor Challenger is marvelous. Why has no one ever cast Brian Blessed as this character?

Weinbaum's classic "A Martian Odyssey" is given a rollicking treatment by George Sellas. Brad Teare brings a woodcut style to Dunsany's "The Bureau d'Echange de Maux," which only enhances its non-SF feel. And Ellen Lindner illustrates Forster's "The Machine Stops" in a style that emphasizes its family resemblance to Wall-E.

Each Graphic Classics volume I've had the pleasure of reviewing has done an admirable job of putting new graphic flesh onto old narrative bones, reminding us why they were considered classics in the first place. With this volume's addition of color, that effect is only intensified. Any reader of any age can connect with these stories and get a little of the thrill that the original readers experienced.

Twilight Zone graphic novels

It's hard to find a modern-day television series that continually offers intelligent scripts and thoughtful commentaries on society and history. Due to its creativity, imagination, and daring, the original Twilight Zone has always been one of my all-time favorite television series. It never scared me; it always intrigued me, and it always made me think, be it about injury, beauty, regret, global warming, fear, or the very essence and meaning of life.

Bloomsbury and Walker Books now bring The Twilight Zone to a new generation, thanks to their line of graphic novels based on the classic episodes. Most of these new adaptations have stuck to the original scripts.

However, something gets lost in translation, and I think it's because of the medium. There are different mediums and different formats for different stories and different people. Though I like graphic novels, they don't have sound. Thus, though Mark Kneece has adapted the original scripts, these new books lack the amazing narration previously provided by Rod Serling. I miss his voice while I turn the pages. I miss real movement and sound: the turn of a head, the whistle of a train, the rustle of wings, the laugh of a villain. I miss seeing a character's face crumble upon hearing or realizing what's happened, hearing the crunch of glass(es) and the final crescendo of music. Yes, some of those things may be conveyed on a page, but not all of them, not in the same way. Graphic novels provide a different kind of movement, from panel to panel, page to page. Graphic novels have benefits TV and film do not, and vice-versa. I just think the other dimensions - the dimension of sight (in this case, movement), the dimension of sound - on the TV show intensify the experience of The Twilight Zone.

The new books are full-color, with art created by students and faculty members of The Savannah College of Art and Design that will surely catch your eye. These bright palettes of color are another notable change from the originals. Though the 1983 film and various remakes of the TV series were shot in color, the original TZ was shot in black and white. Were these wholly new stories, I probably wouldn't think so much about this, but because I know the original series so well, those episodes are burned into my brain. I cherish well-shot black and white films and series, those which are stark and intense, with shadow and substance. If the rumored Leonardo DiCaprio-produced Twilight Zone film ever comes to fruition, perhaps they'll make it in black and white.

Hopefully, these new graphic novels based on episodes of The Twilight Zone will encourage kids to watch the classic television series, and to read the original short stories that inspired so many of those episodes. Maybe these new readers will create graphic novels or short stories of their own. Maybe they'll draw up storyboards and film these stories, beginning their own thoughtful and haunting anthologies.

So far, four Twilight Zone graphic novels are available:
- The After Hours
- Walking Distance
- The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
- The Odyssey of Flight 33

...and more are planned:
- The Midnight Sun (coming out in June)
- Deaths-Head Revisited (coming out in June)
- The Big Tall Wish (fall 2009)
- Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up? (fall 2009)

The Book Fair for Boys is still cranking along

An unexpected late post that is bringing the Book Fair a bit more attention has persuaded us to keep things alive through the week. Please read my earlier post on our project to help the teen boys held in the LA County juvenile justice system. And for everyone who has bought a book so far - thank you so very very much. (And yep Catch-22 is still on the list!)

Behind the cut, read what many contributors have already sent.

These are not all the books purchased - some folks have bought books without letting us know but we thank you all the same! Also, some purchases seemed to have been made concurrently, so we have a few duplicates. Not to worry - this will work out just fine as the guys like to read books at the same time (so they can talk about them) and also some guys read much slower than others. Now on to the list!

Nancy bought Something Wicked This Way Comes (Essential October reading)

Jessica from LA bought Sleeper Code, Sleeper Agenda and The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Leila from Maine bought On Writing (totally indispensable in my book), Acceleration and It's Kind of a Funny Story

Becker from CO bought The Wednesday Wars, Geography Club (one of the best books ever I think) and Wide Awake

Seth from NY State bought Seabiscuit, The Visual Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs (that's about as good as it gets as far as I'm concerned), The Schwa Was Here, Shakespeare Bats Cleanup and Romiette and Julio

Kris from Georgia bought The Things They Carried (this book changed my life) and Runaways Vol. 1

Charlotte from New England bought Holes and My Family and Other Animals (funniest book ever!)

E Luper bought Seabiscuit (this blew my mind when I read it) and Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie

Maureen Frank from LA bought Something Wicked This Way Comes, Riding Rockets (astronauts rule!!), Satchel Paige & Rio Grande Stories

Michael from NY bought Candy

Heather bought Fallen Angels, Autobiography of My Dead Brother (Go Walter Dean Myers!) and Bud, Not Buddy

Brenda from Seattle bought Into the Wild and Hatchet (Gary Paulsen rules)

Michael & Katharine in Austin, TX bought Laika (I defy you to read this book without crying - it's amazing history), Runaways Vol. 1 and Jurassic Park

Scott & Michelle from Kansas bought Looking for Alaska (yea John Green!), Life of Pi, Ranger's Apprentice and Fast Food Nation (the boys who read this will never eat MacDonald's again...)

Jen Robinson (the awesome Jen Robinson!) in CA bought The Giver, Silverfin: James Bond #1, Heat (if you know Jen, it makes perfect sense that she bought a baseball book) and Notes From the Midnight Driver

Elisabeth bought Tyrell, Tears of a Tiger and its two sequels (how cool is that - they weren't even on the list!), Forged by Fire and Darkness Before Dawn

"A Shared Meal" from Shanghai, China bought A Rose That Grew From Concrete (because poetry is cool)

Nephele from Pasadena bought The Alchemist and King Dork (maybe we need to add "Catcher in the Rye to the list now..... :)

Julie from Seattle bought A Long Way Gone

Loree from Massachusetts (the fabulous Loree Griffin Burns actually - author of Tracking Trash whose book would have been on the list if it was out in tpb!) bought the Field Guide to Birds in CA, Snake Scientist and Once a Wolf

Jamison, also in Massachusetts, bought The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman for everyone!

Kelly in Tucson, AZ bought graphic bios for both Jim Thorpe and Jackie Robinson, two great Americans we all should know about

Kerry in FL bought Gregor the Overlander, Gorilla Doctors, Ultimate Spider-man (whoo-hoo!), Zombie Haiku, Looking for Life in the Universe and Beginning Chess (Is this the most eclectic group of books from the list or what?)

Christine bought Ysabel which won a ton of awards and was one of my favorite reads last year. Plus Guy Gavriel Kay is a baseball fan - go Red Sox!

Heidi bought Octavian Nothing Vol. 1 (whoa....)

Julie from VA bought The Sledding Hill (Chris Crutcher rules!) and Schooled

Kimberly from S. Dakota bought Fahrenheit 451 and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Ray and Harry - pretty good reading combo!)

Laura from NY bought the Dark is Rising set (go Susan Cooper!), Sunrise Over Fallujah, Neverwhere, Just So Stories (Kipling!), and It

Catie In CA bought Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban, Coraline, The Hot Zone, Peak, Lonely Werewolf Girl (LOVED this - wicked cool werewolf wars!), Inside Out, Always Running and Pride of Baghdad (can't read this one without crying at the end.......)

Cheryl from San Jose also got Prisoner of Azkaban (we are buying so fast we are overwhelming the system at Powells, I think) and Feed!

Sarah from Austin, TX bought Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (clearly we are all big HP fans...)

Janet bought Kon Tiki (as we know Kristopher's post a few months ago, this is a book that will change your life forever) The Right Stuff, Dogs I Have Met and From Baghdad With Love

Blacklin bought Something Wicked This Way Comes (and Bradbury love keeps going)

Janet from the UK bought From Baghdad With Love, Throne of Jade (go Naomi Novik!), Hitchiker's Guide to the Universe and the Marvel Comics Illus Last of the Mohicans (This is exactly how I learned the classics...)

Lisa from MA bought The Perfect Storm, Territory (wicked cool magic spin on the OK Corral), Baseball in April and Other Stories and Summerland

CC also bought The Perfect Storm (you can not have too many copies of a classic)

Kat bought Two Fisted Science (yea Jim Ottavini!), Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Life, Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, HItchhiker's Guide to the Universe, Worlds to Explore, Winterdance, From Both Sides Now, Found Dogs and The Dogs Who Found me. Kat - YOU ARE OUR HERO!!!

Sherry bought Dreams From My Father (sending some Barack Obama love...)

Natalie from Northern Virginia bought Hoot and Small Steps (the sequel to the fabulous Holes)

Jessa from NH bought Make Lemonade (she was happy to find a girl's voice - we've got a few on the list, Jessa!)

Jessica in VA bought The Man in the Iron Mask (Marvel illus of course!), We Wish to Inform You...., The Photographer (sitting right here beside me right now - it is fantastic) and My Side of the Mountain

Shannon from Richardson, TX bought M is for Magic (Hmm, whose more popular, Gaiman or Bradbury?)

Miss T bought M is for Magic also (looks like that one was bought at the same time by two folks - Gaiman is surging ahead!), Al Capone Does My Shirts, The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night Time and The Gift of Fear

Lynne from Ohio bought Once a Wolf (great nature title - very popular in my house), Code Talkers and finished off Naomi Novik's series with Black Powder War and Empire of Ivory

Chris bought American Shaolin and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (we're closing in on the complete set...)

Jenn also jumped on American Shaolin (these orders went through at the exact same time - I basically watched it happen - who knew this one would be an immediate hit?) and Hero!

Drew ordered Freak Show (wildest cover ever!), The Saints of Augustine and Rainbow Boys

Leigh from Tucson, AZ order Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (almost there...), Interworld and A Dog's Life (we seem to have a lot of dog lovers)

Sherrie from CA bought The Audacity of Hope (Obama is popular) and Among the Hidden

Heidi in TX bought The Martian Chronicles, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (preordered as the tpb is due out in July - now the HP set is complete!), Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises, Dogsong, Last of the Breed (awesome Cold War/espionage/fighter pilot/Native American coolness), the Illustrated Book of Myths and the Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Heidi - YOU ROCK!

Kate from Geneva, Switzerland (!) bought Airman, the Caesar Chavez biography, Ghost in the Tokaido Inn, (one of the best MG/YA mystery series out there) Good Omens, The Watsons Go to Birmingham and The Illustrated Man (more Bradbury!)

Trev from WA state bought Misfits, On the Road (Hey Kerouac!) and I Wouldn't Start From Here (my interview with the author runs next week in the Summer Blog Blast Tour)

Patty in Michigan bought Astronomy and Secrets of Sound (animal sounds that is...)

Jodie just chimed in from England with purchases of some second copies some great titles, The Legend of Colton Bryant (I reviewed this last year and adored it), Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Throne of Jade, Last of the Mohicans & From Baghdad with Love

Sara Lewis Holmes (the divine Sara - it was her post way back more than a year ago that sparked GLW in the first place!) bought some of her favs: Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian (never get enough of Sherman Alexie), Son of the Mob, American Born Chinese, Hole in my Life and I am the Messenger (how did we forget to put this on the list?)

Jackie in Toronto bought Julie of the Wolves (tough Alaska girl survival story), Grayson, In Darkness, Death and The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet

Starrie bought The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, Tamar (awesome WWII intrigue) and Ball Don't Lie

Benjamin bought Howard Zinn's Young People's History of the US (cause history is cool you know....)

Julie from NYC bought Redwall #1, The Afterlife, Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key and Jarhead (one of the best books on the USMC ever written, according to my brother - who oughta know)

GD (freshly graduated librarian school student!) bought Firewatch (Connie Willis!!!) and Maxiumum Ride #1

Angela bought Runaways #2 (love this series) and Life As We Knew It

Jodie came back for more with Liquor (the first Rickey & G-man novel), How to Draw Cars Like a Pro, Airborn, The Bug Scientists, Mossflower & The Hungry Ocean Jodie - YOU ARE THE COOLEST!! THANKS

Trisha bought Travel Team and Cooked (a memoir that I really want to read)

Lorie Ann from WA (one of the readergirlz divas!) bought Locomotion

Mikki from Brooklyn bought The Sea Dragons (underwater dinosaur-type creatures!), Warriors #2 and A Kiss Before the Apocalypse

Midori from AZ bought The Big Sleep, As Simple As Snow and threw in Walter Mosley's Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned and two Tim Cahill titles, Jaguars Ripped my Flesh and A Wolverine is Eating My Leg (ew.....)

David from New England (and a GLW regular contributor) bought Shark Trouble and Howard Zinn's People's History of the US

Holly from WA (another fabulous readergirlz diva!) bought Fat Kid Rules the World

Pinguinus from Brooklyn, who writes a great birding blog, bought Project Ultra Swan (which makes perfect sense!)

Alyssa, Jake and Gregory three teens from CA bought Ender's Game, The Eyes of the Dragon and Dateline: Troy (which is an amazing book and really brought the Greeks alive for me)

Kim from Portland, OR bought Percy Jackson #1 (we're going to have these guys addicted to like eight different series!)

Eve from East Midlands, England bought The Wee Free Men and A Hatful of Sky - more Pratchett, YEA!

Erin from Portland bought Percy Jackson #2 and #3 (so I just added #4) and Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life

Donna from Connecticut bought If I Die in a Combat Zone

Eugene from NYC bought Coyote Road - another great Terri Windling/Ellen Datlow anthology

Melanie from Nashville, TN bought Farthing (Jo Walton is so cool!) and A River Runs Through It

GLW's own aquafortis from CA bought Deogratias (which makes perfect sense as she was the one who suggested we put it on the list!)

"qugrainne" from Milwaukee, WI bought Bad Boy (Walter Dean Myers' excellent memoir) and The Sword That Cut the Burning Grass

Steampunk vamps and undersea adventure

I'm all about cool fantasy titles over at my column in Bookslut this month; two novellas in particular stood out for me that I thought GLW readers would enjoy. If you're in the mood for alt history vamps or Sherlock Holmes with serious style, I have the books for you.

Elizabeth Bear’s new novella Seven for a Secret is a sequel to her alternate history saga, New Amsterdam. This time her vampire main character Sebastien and his companion, the sorceress detective Lady Abigail Irene, find themselves embroiled in a plot by Prussian invaders to conquer Russia -- the last strong holdout in a Europe that has been overrun and occupied. The couple has returned to London for the elderly Abigail Irene’s death but it is not comfort they find in this occupied city. The action begins early on when on a protective whim Sebastien follows a pair of teenage girls out late one night who are in danger of falling victim to loyal Brits who will not favor their Prussian military dress. There is something about the girls that strikes him as odd and as he reveals a few gathered clues to Abigai,l Irene and their friend Phoebe they realize that an attempt is being made by the Prussians to form a squad of werewolves that could be unleashed on the Russian front. Whether the girls (who are part of this) can be saved or must be sacrificed is a point of contention that is not solved until Sebastien meets with one of them and discovers her secret. He realizes that the adults are not the only ones with a plan, nor are they necessarily the most powerful ones in the plot to change the world.

While I enjoyed New Amsterdam immensely (and highly recommend it), Bear surprised me by making this very teen friendly sequel. Ruth and Adele, the teens Sebastien follows, carry their fair share of the story and are strong characters. Bear also does a great job of rewriting history here, with a dark version of 1938 that fits perfectly into might-have-been territory. (See Jenny Davidson’s The Explosionist or Jo Walton’s Farthing for other excellent alt-histories set in this period.) While the book will be most enjoyed by fans of Amsterdam, as it follows up on events there, new readers will find much to be excited about with Ruth and Adele as they face grave choices about loyalty to country, self and each other. It is clear that children are the new weapon of choice in this war but in a very unconventional matter. Bear provides plenty of political intrigue, some tension and enough mythic conversation to make readers long for a mystical library collection of their own. It’s nice to see Abigail and Sebastien still on the side of the good guys here, and even better to find a teenager who is bloody well tough enough to take on the true face of evil.


Alternate history detective Professor Langdon St. Ives returns in Subterranean Press’s The Ebb Tide, a steampunk adventure that includes one wicked cool submarine, a lost (and recently recovered) map, mysterious bad guys with guns and a final confrontation in Morecambe Bay “with its dangerous tides and vast quicksand pits.” St. Ives continues to be his brilliant deductive self although this time around more of the action is focused on stalwart sidekick (and faithful biographer) Jack Owlesby, who affords himself quite admirably in several dangerous situations above water and below.

Together with old friends and new, St. Ives and Owlesby are on the hunt for the suspected alien device from the Yorkshire Dales Meteor, which was lost in Morecambe Bay years before while under the care of Bill “Cuttle” Kraken who created a map of his intended route across the bay before succumbing to its treacherous tides. Just what the device is capable of no one knows but recovering it before the evil Ignacio Narbondo (otherwise known as “Frosticos”) is imperative. When the map is found, Ives is quickly on Kraken’s trail and along with Owlesby, a talented street urchin, and others who support him in his current days of banishment from the Explorers Club, the race is on to beat Frosticos. The discovery of a shipyard below the River Thames keeps things moving while introducing several of the mechanical devices that steampunk fans will enjoy. Everything leads to a confrontation with dastardly villains, one of whom gets his just deserts. All’s well that ends well (mostly) as Owlesby is victorious and the device -- whatever its origins might be -- is revealed at last.

Author James Blaylock keeps the action moving, the pithy comments flowing and the dire circumstances just this side of believable as St. Ives maneuvers his way around his arch enemy. Accompanied by J.K. Potter’s always stellar illustrations, The Ebb Tide is one of the better fantasy adventure characters I have come across in ages. Modern teens will love St. Ives but the inclusion of talented teen Finn Conrad (former circus acrobat of course) will keep them particularly riveted. There is nothing not to like about this novella and a lot to recommend it. Be sure to check out Blaylock’s other St. Ives adventures as well. (And don’t miss his afterword to the The Ebb Tide, a delightful combination of fact and fiction as the author ruminates on writing his story.)

[cross posted from Bookslut]

The Sixth Sense vs. Turn of the Screw

You’ve seen The Sixth Sense, right?

And you remember the super secret shocker ending, right? Now imagine this. What if the movie had ended before the secret was revealed? And you and your pals walk out saying, “That was some weird stuff, but what the heck happened?”

Later a Taco Bell, you go, “Wait a minute! What if the kid saw…”

And your buddy goes, “But the kid didn’t see…”

And you go: “But maybe he did, but he didn’t realize …”

And so on.

Well, that’s what happened 100 years before The Sixth Sense with Henry James and his whacked out ghost story, “The Turn of the Screw.” He freaked people out and forgot to calm them down by turning the lights on at the end of the story. The secret stays secret.

If you’ve thought about tackling a "classic," this one isn’t a bad place to start. For one thing it’s short. For another it’s a page turner. Some of the sentences made my brain glaze over, but there's plenty of straightforward stuff to get you through.

And then there’s the big secret for you to chew over for a while.

The upshot is that a naïve, young lady lands her first job as a governess. “Go to my creepy country estate,” says her new boss, “and take care of a couple of orphans. It pays great, but there’s just one rule: don’t bug me -- no matter what happens.”

Things do happen, of course. AND things have happened in the past, which the boss failed to mention. Such as the untimely death of the previous governess. (You saw that coming, right?)

Then it’s all ghosts and creepy kids and who is lying to whom and more ghosts until suddenly - BAM - the story is over before the big secret comes out. IF there was a big secret. Maybe the big secret is that there wasn’t a big secret.

When you’re done with the story, you can go online and read the many, many theories about just what happened. These are often called “literary criticism,” but they’re really just seriously geeked-out Taco Bell conversations.

Where we stand on books for boys

The books are still arriving at InsideOut Writers for the Book Fair for Boys. We are going to give the project a week for the dust to settle and then we'll share how many books arrived, how the library is being set up (there are so many books we might have books in more than one location as there are three juvenile detention centers in LA County) and what the boys think. Keep in mind though, as awesome as the response has been we are still looking at about 300 books for 2,500 boys. This is just the beginning of our commitment to this project and we look forward to what comes next.

[Post pic of Eve's house as she opens books - read more, including some of the messages from folks who donated books, in her latest entry.]

For Surfers

Saw this in a recent issue of Booklist and couldn't resist passing along the review to you. Sounds like perfect summer reading if you live on the coast (which, incidentally, is where I grew up).
Fierce Heart: The Story of Makaha and the Soul of Hawaiian Surfing by Stuart Holmes Coleman:

Dude! Hang ten! Don’t wipe out! Such phrases, both quaint and common, have their genesis on the sylvan shores of the Hawaiian islands, home to the ancient and modern sport of surfing. And nowhere has the taming of the waves been more revered or refined than in the tiny, isolated village of Makaha on Oahu’s wild western coast. Led by the aptly named Buffalo Keaulana, a ragtag group of rebels and outlaws, loners and drifters, natives and haoles found solace and sought glory there through the study and mastery of towering walls of water. Inspiring and inspired by the gentle songs of Makaha’s giant Israel “Iz” Kamakawiwo’ole, this renegade village came to embody the peace and power of the ocean. Coleman richly pays homage to the legendary pioneers who elevated surfing from an island pastime to an international competition and shares stories of the great generosity, unwavering courage, and audacious vitality of the surfers who epitomize the deep cultural resonance of the Hawaiian spirit.

Monster Maker by Nicholas Fisk

Matt finds himself working his dream job - assistant to a special effects artist - but after being injured during a fight, he finds himself wondering if the creatures from the workshop have come to life.

One of the shelves in my bedroom is devoted to the books I loved as a kid. Last month I talked about one such "classic," and my May entry is devoted to another.

Back in 1979, I was ::cough, cough:: years old. I would go to my local library on the weekends like a devoted soul attends church or synagogue. Imagine my delight when I found a brand new book, protected by that crinkly cellophane jacket. Monster Maker (back then I never looked at author names, but the fellow who wrote the book was Nicholas Fisk). It had an exciting cover, featuring all sorts of monsters. And that brings me to another childhood love: monster movies, especially the Japanese men-in-rubber-suits sort of flicks. Godzilla was my muse.

I devoured the book in the car with as much relish as a dragon chomps on hapless princesses.

British 14 year-old Matt lands a job with his idol, a famous monster maker, Chancey Balogh, who builds mechanical creatures for Hollywood. Balogh is working on his magnum opus, a fire-breathing beast named Ultragorgon. This monstrosity is so life-like that Matt finds Ultragorgon haunting his dreams.

Life for Matt grows worse when the school bullies begin harassing him. The bullies (who come from impoverished households) discover Matt carrying several pound notes, money given to him by Chancy, and start nicknaming him "Moneybags Matt." Soon, Matt finds himself fighting the bullies and, without knowing it, suffers from a concussion.

Here the book takes a surreal turn. He starts seeing out of the corner of his eye the creatures from the workshop. Had Chancey's genius brought the monsters to life? But when he tells the girl he likes, even Chancey, no one believes him.

Matt's fascination with Ultragorgon becomes an obsession. And when the bullies plan to rob and vandalize the workshop, things take a frightening turn.

What I found so endearing about this book was that, as a kid, I found imagination so powerful that it could make the distinction between reality and fantasy blur. I wondered, while turning the pages, did the monsters come alive because of Matt's concussion or his yearning for them to be more than metal and plastic creations.

Fisk's work seems to have faded from too many shelves, a tragedy. The world needs more makers of monsters. And stories.

Bonechiller by Graham McNamee

It's the middle of the night and freezing, because this is Canada in December, and Danny is on his way home when he senses something following him. Something big and fast and soundless as it runs, something unlike anything Danny has ever seen before, that catches him as he nears home.

At first, the only proof Danny has that something out of the ordinary happened are a small blue mark on his hand where he was bitten and the giant footprints he finds in the snow the next morning. The prints are at least twice the size of Danny's feet, complete with claw marks, but Danny's brainy pal Howie is sure they're fake. Then the creature attacks Howie.

As Howie begins to piece together the clues that tell of a long pattern of missing teens, all bitten by a strange creature, then lured into the cold winter night, never to be seen again, he and Danny start to feel the effects of the bite. One of their classmates, Ray, fell ill with some sort of infection and ran away from the hospital where doctors were trying to treat him. Danny and Howie are sure Ray was the creature's first victim this winter. Will they be able to avoid Ray's fate?

Bonechiller by Graham McNamee reads almost like an episode of Supernatural, circa Season 1, but without Sam and Dean. (And not written by a guy named Chuck.) This isn't blood-and-guts horror, but a gradually-building supernatural thriller. McNamee deftly conveys his characters' dread and their determination to escape the creature, while also leaving the reader wondering how Danny and Howie can manage such a thing.

Danny's first-person narration is merely serviceable and I do wish the pacing had been better, because after the initial attack on Danny, not much happened for about the next 60 pages. But once the story got going, I forgot about about these complaints. Instead, I would swear that the air around me got cooler and the breeze stronger as I read deeper into the book. While the creature is physically terrifying, McNamee uses a less-is-more approach when it comes to its physical appearance. True, he does describe the way it looks and how it frightens Danny, but the main focus is on the creature's psychological effect on Danny and Howie: the way it relentlessly chases them and invades their dreams, and their knowledge, based on what they have learned of its previous victims, that they have less than two weeks to find a way to survive.

[cross-posted at The YA YA YAs]

Punkzilla by Adam Rapp

Jamie was stealing iPods for Fat Larkin by hitting joggers over the head with a pointy alarm clock. ("I mostly went for mom types or fat people because they were the easiest to knock unconscious. I'm still small for my age.") Fat Larkin rewarded Jamie with a nice one: color, 80GB, and--most importantly--loaded with a bunch of punk rock, like Dropkick Murphys, the Dead Kennedys, and Minor Threat. Fat Larkin somehow knew that Jamie was into punk, started calling him "Punkzilla," and pretty soon everyone in Portland was calling him that, too.

Fourteen-year-old Punkzilla/Zilla/Jamie has found himself in some tenuous circumstances, after running away from military school, going off medication for his ADD, ending up in Portland ("PORTLAND, OREGON, NOT PORTLAND, MAINE"), falling in with the likes of Fat Larkin, trying meth for his first time, and finally, hastily, boarding a Greyhound bus when he finds out that his older brother in Memphis is dying.

Punkzilla--the book, and to some extent the character--is a little hard core, recommended for ages 14 and up. It's a collection of letters, mostly from Zilla to his brother, but also a few written back to him. Steer clear if you're uncomfortable reading about some intermittent (but never gratuitous) sex, drugs, and violence. ("I've gotten off here and there but I'm basically talking about hand jobs. I don't mean to be weird P but in your letter you said how you wanted the truth about stuff even if it's ugly and trust me it's going to get a little ugly. Uglier than my skittery penmanship if skittery is even a word.")

But despite the grittiness, Punkzilla still manages to be awfully funny at times, and always real and raw and surprisingly hopeful, as young Zilla navigates some pretty bewildering situations--some of them specific to the sketchiness of being a runaway on the road, and some faced by every restive boy on the brink of becoming a man.

The book was written by Adam Rapp, one of NYC's most exciting younger playwrights, so it's not too surprising that the character Zilla is so believable and appealing. Rapp's gift for drama is also clearly what makes the book itself such a page-turner, with the backstory revealed out of order, in bits and pieces from the letters in Zilla's worn spiral notebook.