03-12-03:Anne Rule
Adapted, Adam Roberts' New Look
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Anne
Rule Adapted
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Anne Rule send her greetings,
nope, her dismay at discovering her
good friend Ted Bundy was in fact a
serial killer.
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My favorite Anne Rule book --
and to my mind, one of the best 'true crime'
books you can find -- is 'The Stranger Beside
Me'. In it, she tells the story of her
friendship with one Ted Bundy, a friendship that
dissolved as she realized he was the serial
killer whose crimes she was investigating. While
I thought 'The Deliberate Stranger' an excellent
look at this twisted mind, I'm on board to watch
this adaptation and see whether or not USA
embarrasses itself. I hope not; and if so,
readers are directed to the book, which is
peculiarly chatty and personal. The mundanity of
Rule's experience contrasts nicely with the
extremity of what's going on in Bundy's.
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Adam
Roberts' New Look
Adam
Roberts' new book 'Polystom' is coming out in
May, and Victor Gollancz are re-issuing the
paperbacks with a new cover design. To my mind,
these covers more accurately reflect the dry and
cerebral nature of Roberts' work. From what I
can suss without spoiling it, 'Polystom' looks
to be the best yet -- a little more personal and
certainly on the wild side of imagination. You
can find reviews of 'Salt',
'On',
'Park
Polar' and
'Stone',
an overview
of his fiction and an
interview
with Adam Roberts on
this site. I've been a fan since I first found
'Salt'. We'll see how the new one measures up.
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03-11-03: John Varley,
James Blaylock, Eric Schlosser and Kevin
Randle
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John
Varley's 'Red Thunder'
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No, it's not the
novelization of a bad
movie. Yet.
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I received lots of
interesting new books in the mail to day. John
Varley is one of the writers who formed my
youthful SF reading, with such classics as
'Gaia', 'Titan' and 'Wizard'. I haven't read any
of his recent material, but now's my chance. The
premise is kind of creepily appealing. It
involves DIY AMERICANS who put together a
spaceship on a shoestring to rescue a marooned
mission. It all sounds a bit patriotic, and the
proximity of the Columbia tragedy makes it
rather uncomfortable. Overall, it's rather a
weird vibe.
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James
Blaylock's 13 Phantasms
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James Blaylock short
stories are a great
introduction to this
peculiar author's style and
range.
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Formerly only available in a
small press edition from Edgewood Press, now Ace
has published a nice trade paperback edition of
'13 Phantasms'. Blaylock is a slippery writer.
He covers steampunk to subtle supernatural
horror. He does surreal collaborations with Tim
Powers. It's a good sign that this collection
was published for the mass market.
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Eric
Schlosser's 'Reefer Madness'
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Three layers of sleaze from
the man who brought you the grease
from your favorite fast food
restaurant.
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Readers wanting to get a
preview of Eric Schlosser's new book, 'Reefer
Madness' can easily find the articles upon which
the book is based. He first wrote about this
subject back in 1994 in the article
'Reefer
Madness'. He updated
his article in 1997, in 'More
Reefer Madness'. This
meditation on pot, porn and illegal immigrants
is going to go over a treat in the current
political climate. It certainly looks like fun
reading to me.
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Kevin
Randle's 'Signals'
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Incoming phone,
collect. Another novel
about aliens who contact
humanity with radios.
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Kevin Randle is one of the
folks who started the most recent of Roswell
mining. He's a member of the UFO press. For
anyone who has ever spent more than a little
time reading non-fiction about UFOs, it's no
surprise when one of the non-fiction writers
turns up writing science fiction. The UFO press
is itself a fairly science fictional phenomenon.
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