Tom Recommends: The Dresden Files

My very first Gabbing Geek column was on urban fantasy.  Anyone who follows that subgenre knows who the 800 pound gorilla is for fans, the one all other urban fantasy characters will be compared to.

That would be Harry Dresden.

George R R Martin Still Sucks, Doesn’t Suck More

Did I just take my evil to 11?

You can’t spell G R R Martin without Grr and that’s probably because he infuriates us all.  Between the book delays and the TV show passing the book series–he’s certainly given his fans enough material to be less than thrilled with him.  So when I saw he was working on a new Cinemax series I thought “Oh, great, another excuse for more Game of Thrones delays.  At least this one will skip the pretense of having a story and just skip straight to the nudity.  Because Cinemax.”

But it turns out the series is based on a novel he already wrote (The Skin Trade, all about werewolves) and he isn’t revisiting the work with new novels.  The most he did was approve the writer for the show from a number of interested candidates.  Bah.  No big deal.  He’s not any better, but he certainly isn’t any worse for cashing in on his current fame.

Skin Trade.  Who could’ve guessed that would end up on Cinemax?

Geek First Dates….Can Be Dangerous…

Finding love is hard for anyone. Finding love for geek can be murder!

Discworld Read-Along #19: Feet Of Clay

Continuing my occasional series where I read my way through Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, one book at a time.

Today’s entry is the 19th book, Feet of Clay.

Geek Lit: Thicker Than Water (Felix Castor Book 4)

Gabbing Geek snared a great interview with author Mike Carey for his novel The Girl With All The Gifts a while back.  If you haven’t read it, you probably should.  Carey’s a great writer in the world of horror and dark fantasy, and if you haven’t read Girl or his great Vertigo series Lucifer, then you’re probably missing out on something.

He also has this dark, fun urban fantasy/horror series about a London-based exorcist named Felix “Fix” Castor.  Review with possible SPOILERS for the fourth book in said series, Thicker Than Water, after the cut.

Discworld Read-Along #15: Men At Arms

Continuing my occasional read-through of Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, one novel at a time.

Today’s entry is the fifteenth book, Men at Arms.

Non-Geek TV From The Geek Perspective: True Blood

There’s a lot of TV out there, and some of it looks like it’s for geeks, but no, not really.  Looks can be deceiving.  Just because you have a lot of monsters and things and some kind of mythology involved doesn’t mean it’s actually geek TV.  It might be more just an excuse to show a lot of boobs and butts and romance-y type thing that if it weren’t for the boob and butts, you’d probably be watching Twilight.

Yeah, this week I’m covering True Blood.

ICYMI-And Now…Twilight Bashing

Don’t worry. This article is worth the pain memories of this photo may cause.

I tagged my first two articles with the tag “Twilight sucks”.  It would be irresponsible of me not to explain why.

See, I’m a happily married man.   As a result of this fact, I have seen most of these movies.  I am not sure my wife even really likes these movies.  She proclaimed reading the final book as six months of her life she’s like to get back since the book was so dull it took her that long to get through it.  But I am not my wife.  I have photos of the two of us in the same room to prove it.  So, why do I think Twilight sucks?

Kate Beckinsale Bought A New Leather Jumpsuit, Figures May As Well Make Another Underworld Movie

If someone were to look up Kate Beckinsale’s mortgage payments you could probably track to the exact month when she makes a new Underworld movie.  The first movie, hated by critics (a harsh 31% on RottenTomatoes) was still loved by movie-goers for its novel vampire/werewolf war and Matrix aesthetics and stunts. Evolution, the second in the series, was hit with a 16% while the third and fourth in the series earned a 29% and 26%. They’ve all pulled in over $50 million, with the exception of the third perhaps because Ms Beckinsale only narrated.

Still, if you loved the first four films then you’ll be pleased to know the fifth is on its way.  I’m sure it won’t at all be like the other four but you’ll enjoy its thoroughly unique tight leather outfits, dark set pieces, and slow motion stunts as vampires fight werewolves with swords and bullets.

Anatomy Of A Horror Movie: What Really Scares Us

This image comes from a movie called “Zombeavers”. I am not making that up. If I know my horror movies, the dog and the woman who keeps her top on longest will be the survivors.

I’m not generally one for horror movies.  Horror novels I can generally deal with, but I was a rather nervous kid who was easily frightened by things that probably weren’t that scary to begin with as far as TV and the movies go, and as such I’ve never been much for scary movies.

That’s too bad.  Horror movies are about what scare us, and not just on the surface, but what is frightening to a society as a whole in a specific time and place.