John August

Books

Horses and books

Books

In his [lengthy essay about e-books](http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/02/the-once-and-future-e-book.ars), John Siracusa makes a good point about how new technologies rarely completely replace what came before them.

> Take all of your arguments against the inevitability of e-books and substitute the word “horse” for “book” and the word “car” for “e-book.” (…)

> “Books will never go away.” True! Horses have not gone away either.

> “Books have advantages over e-books that will never be overcome.” True! Horses can travel over rough terrain that no car can navigate. Paved roads don’t go everywhere, nor should they.

> “Books provide sensory/sentimental/sensual experiences that e-books can’t match.” True! Cars just can’t match the experience of caring for and riding a horse: the smells, the textures, the sensations, the companionship with another living being.

> Lather, rinse, repeat. Did you ride a horse to work today? I didn’t. I’m sure plenty of people swore they would never ride in or operate a “horseless carriage” — and they never did! And then they died.

For the record, I love my Kindle while acknowledging its many shortcomings. I’m looking forward to the next version, and whatever Apple finally releases.

(Kind acknowledgements [Daring Fireball](http://daringfireball.net).)

Zombies, Bridesmaids and Assassins

Books, Travel

A quick trip to London over the weekend gave me 20+ hours of plane time to catch up on reading. I finished three books. The first two had been sitting on my Kindle ((Mini review: I like the Kindle a lot. It looks awkward, but feels surprisingly good in the hand. The screen is terrific for books, but far too slow for reference materials. It’s good enough that I’ll always get the Kindle edition of a book if available.)), while the last is dead-tree-only at the moment.

[world war z](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307346617?ie=UTF8&tag=johnaugustcom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0307346617)As I’ve [mentioned before](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2007/at-the-gates-of-paramount), screenwriters spend an inordinate amount of time thinking and talking about zombie invasions, so it was high time I read Max Brooks’s World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. It’s structured as a series of interviews with survivors of an apocalyptic zombie event, and while certain interviewees use words a bit outside their vocabulary, on the whole I thought it created a very believable world.

These are Romero-style supernatural zombies, as opposed to 28 Days/Weeks Later style biological zombies. That sounds like an esoteric distinction, but it has huge plot implications. These zombies won’t stop. Ever. They don’t need food, water, oxygen. They can’t swim, but they’ll walk along the ocean floor in giant mobs, later to walk up on beaches. Survivors are smart to head up above the frost line so zombies will freeze solid — but remember, they’ll thaw come spring.

As disaster movies love to show us, there’s something comforting about the end of the world, and Brooks’s book is no exception. J. Michael Straczynski is writing the big-screen adaptation, and while I’d love to see it, the material really feels better suited to a Lost-style television series. Regardless, the book is worth a read if you ever spend time contemplating zombie fortifications.

[cake](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159448306X?ie=UTF8&tag=johnaugustcom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=159448306X)Sloane Crosley’s I Was Told There’d Be Cake is a collection of mostly-witty essays in the style of David Sedaris. Crosley is the centerpiece of most of the tales, and she’s likable enough. Barely. I can imagine being her friend: In my 20’s, I would have been her gay roommate and/or co-worker sharing eye rolls at perceived transgressions of a secret social code. In my 30’s, I would recognize that her minor misfortunes are invariably self-sabotage in the hopes of attracting attention, and would eventually stop returning her calls.

To her credit — I guess — Crosley seems to understand her negatives. Her story about volunteering at the butterfly pavilion accurately reflects how mostly-good intentions can result in drudgery, self-doubt and shame. In the best of the essays, Crosley serves as a bridesmaid to a high school friend she barely remembers. The story works largely because the former friend is such a needy monster that Crosley’s ambivalence feels fully justified. The conclusion is disappointing, but true to the spirit of the book: she’s not sure what she learned, or if there really is anything to learn.

I think Crosley will improve greatly with better editing. She’s a smart observer, but too often feels like she’s padding to reach a target word count.

[silver bear](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933648449?ie=UTF8&tag=johnaugustcom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1933648449)The last book of my trip was Derek Haas’s The Silver Bear. Haas is a friend and colleague, having co-written 3:10 to Yuma and this summer’s Wanted. His novel, which charts the rise of an assassin, is stripped-down and lean. Chapters following his pursuit of one target alternate with earlier episodes: his first kill, his first love, his first betrayal. It’s unapologetically genre fiction, romanticizing even as it attempts to deconstruct.

Considering they’re both assassin origin stories, Wanted and The Silver Bear couldn’t be more different. Where Wanted is all flourishes and suspension of disbelief, The Silver Bear is played straight. It reminded me most of Donald E. Westlake’s The Ax, in that murder simply becomes a job function.

It’s a smart, quick read, and recommended.

Links to Kindle versions: World War Z, I Was Told There’d Be Cake, The Ax.

Manhunter = awesome

Books, Rave

Stuff tends to stack up in the August household.

We have systems in place to optimize magazine readership and recycling, ((When finished with a magazine your significant other and/or roommate may also wish to read, write **(your name) read** in big letters across the cover with a Sharpie. Then the other person may safely recycle the magazine after reading.)) but printed objects of which I am the sole reader — comic books, scripts, serio-comic novels purchased on an Amazon spree — have a tradition of piling up on the corners of desks and counters.

I offer this preamble as partial explanation for my delay in articulating how much I love Marc Andreyko’s Manhunter.

manhunterI’m not the first writer of note to notice that it’s great. It features blurbs from Joss Whedon and others. But I came upon so late, and so randomly, that I feel some obligation to point out its merits so others can appreciate it.

As long-term blog readers will know, I have deep respect and shallow knowledge when it comes to the comic book world. I didn’t grow up reading them. My teenage years were spent around the D&D table, arguing over the relative merits of a vorpal blade vs. a sword of sharpness. ((You can see a summary of the vorpal/sharpness situation [here](http://community.codemasters.com/forum/showpost.php?s=2466046a9f4e0b7ad3b276c18b93d3a4&p=1307195&postcount=55). And no, I didn’t write it.)) That and snow-caving. (Colorado + Boy Scouts = unsafe survivalism.)

So a few months ago, when I was in Golden Apple picking up the latest Black Adam, I had no idea that Manhunter was a DC character, or that Marc Andreyko was doing a new series with a female protagonist: Kate Spencer, a D.A. with no special abilities, a failed marriage and a smoking habit. I would have passed it on the shelf, unopened, except that Marc Andreyko happened to be in Golden Apple at that moment, and recognized me from a screening of The Nines.

After a friendly chat, I asked him what he wrote. He put three trade paperbacks of Manhunter in my hands. Which then landed in one of my to-read piles.

I read all three over Christmas, back-to-back, forgoing sleep and egg nog.

Other than Batman, I never had much use for superheroes who couldn’t fly or punch through walls. If I wanted normal people, I’d read a novel. What Manhunter does so well is create a deeply flawed and funny hero who has to interact with the super-powered every day. As a prosecutor, Spencer has to deal with all the villainous debris left behind after the capes fly off. And one day, frustrated by guilty psychopaths going free, she decides to deliver justice herself.

The series is set in LA, rather than a mythical surrogate city, so having direct references to real places is refreshing. The book manages to weave in a who’s-who of minor DC villains, with some big names showing up in unexpected ways.

There’s no shortage of ambition in the comics world — that’s one of the things I admire most about it, as opposed to features. But the combination of ambition and execution in the Manhunter series is why I’d urge you to give it a shot.

Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician

Big Fish, Books, Projects

bookDaniel Wallace, the dashing and talented writer who wrote Big Fish (the novel), has a brand new book in stores for your purchasing pleasure: [Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician](http://astore.amazon.com/johnaugustcom-20/detail/038552109X/103-6872397-4470203). I read it a bazillion years ago — books take a surprisingly long time to go from manuscript to shelf — so I’ll let the official blurb handle the one-line summary:

From the author of Big Fish comes this haunting, tender story that weaves a tragic secret, a mysterious meeting with the Devil, and a family of charming circus freaks recounting the extraordinary adventures of their friend Henry Walker, the Negro Magician.

Do you like tales of the South, the circus, and mysterious goings-on? Presumably, if you liked Big Fish. It’s a very different story, told from multiple viewpoints, and certainly worthy of the great reviews it’s been pulling in.

Daniel’s touring, so it’s worth checking when he’ll be at a store near you ((5/3/2011 Update: Tour link inactive)). While you’re at it, explore the rest of [his site](http://danielwallace.org).