{"id":1259,"date":"2008-06-09T00:30:00","date_gmt":"2008-06-09T04:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/?p=1259"},"modified":"2008-06-09T13:25:49","modified_gmt":"2008-06-09T17:25:49","slug":"sunday-night-quick-book-links","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/2008\/06\/09\/sunday-night-quick-book-links\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday night quick book links"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>As I write this I am watching the Australian movies made from Shane Maloney&#8217;s books about Murray Whelan. You may remember that those books were some of the big successes from my first Australian trip, and that I even mentioned the movies <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/2007\/05\/21\/book-hunting-in-melbourne\/\">when I wrote that stuff up<\/a>. Well, my usual online sources didn&#8217;t make the movies available, but just recently both of them were <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.ca\/Murray-Whelan-Brush-Off-Stiff\/dp\/B00105302E\">released for North America in a single package<\/a>. I&#8217;m enjoying them. Melbourne in the film certainly looks more noir than my experience of it.<\/li>\n<li>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.littlebig25.com\/index.html\">25th anniversary edition<\/a><footnote>Would it be snarky to mention that we&#8217;re into the 27th anniversary year now?<\/footnote> of Little, Big is getting closer and closer to real. In the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.littlebig25.com\/PR-080606.html\">June 6th update<\/a> you can see a PDF preview of the layout and art placement for the first chapter. When the book finally is finished, it&#8217;s going to look lovely, and reward <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/2006\/09\/13\/patience-is-rewarded-at-least-sometimes\/\">my patient waiting<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Are you allowed to call it an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nypress.com\/21\/22\/summerguide\/summerguide5.cfm\">&#8220;elitist&#8217;s&#8221; summer reading list<\/a> if it has King, Barker, and Simenon on it? Don&#8217;t they kind of have the common touch? On the other hand, it&#8217;s nice to see Murakami, old school Gibson, and Lukyanekov on these lists. That&#8217;s the same Murakami that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/2008\/03\/05\/its-been-a-while-since-this-happened\/\">so captivated me earlier this year<\/a>&#8211;I bet he enjoys it.<\/li>\n<li>As much as I did enjoy that book though, I did not feel compelled to <a href=\"http:\/\/polyfusia.blogspot.com\/2007\/07\/my-new-baby.html\">get a tattoo inspired by it<\/a>. Actually, I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ve ever liked a book that much. (That&#8217;s a much cooler tat than most, though.)<\/li>\n<li>The National Library of Ireland has put up a marvellous <footnote>except for it&#8217;s reliance on flash.<\/footnote> site dedicated to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nli.ie\/yeats\/main.html\">Billy &#8220;Buts&#8221; Yeats<\/a><footnote>Yes, Will, that is a reference to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cafepress.com\/steeldragon.12262977\">Cats Laughing<\/a>.<\/footnote>. Lots of good stuff in there for the fans. (Link via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jonathancarroll.com\/blog1\/2008\/05\/carrollblog_523_2.html\">Jonathan Carroll<\/a>, who thinks Yeats doesn&#8217;t know how to read his poem &#8220;The Lake Isle of Innisfree&#8221;.)<\/li>\n<li>Recently ex-Haligonian Hope Larson has her new book, <a href=\"http:\/\/hopelarson.com\/\">Chiggers<\/a>, out next week. <a href=\"http:\/\/hopelarson.com\/\">Her site<\/a> has undergone a redesign to support the new book. The &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/hopelarson.com\/makingof.html\">Making Of<\/a>&#8221; section is particularly cool. You can see <a href=\"http:\/\/nymag.com\/daily\/entertainment\/2008\/05\/exclusive_comics_excerpt_chigg.html\">an excerpt at New York Magazine<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Hope&#8217;s husband, indie comics golden boy (and former HGPA member), <a href=\"http:\/\/radiomaru.com\/\">Bryan Lee O&#8217;Malley<\/a> had <a href=\"http:\/\/destroyerzooey.livejournal.com\/180842.html\">an interesting rant<\/a> on the TokyoPop Manga Pilot contract. Great fun to read. An <a href=\"http:\/\/comics212.net\/2008\/05\/30\/how-to-run-a-business\/\">even better read<\/a> on the same subject though, comes from Toronto comics retailer&#8211;and former O&#8217;Malley roommate&#8211;Christopher Butcher. And, actually, <a href=\"http:\/\/comics212.net\/2008\/06\/03\/thoughts-on-tokyopop\/\">he hits it again<\/a> later.<\/li>\n<li>While we&#8217;re talking comics, I should mention that I&#8217;m quite looking forward to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.comicbookresources.com\/?page=article&#038;id=16646\">the new Necronomicon series<\/a>. But then I&#8217;m a Lovecraft junkie, and I&#8217;ve been enjoying <a href=\"http:\/\/www.boom-studios.com\/taxonomy\/term\/117\">the Fall of Cthulhu series<\/a>&#8211;especially <a href=\"http:\/\/www.boom-studios.com\/node\/1335\">the &#8220;masked mute&#8221; issue<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Still on Lovecraft, did you see the &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/books\/features\/if-i-could-bring-an-author-back-to-life-835859.html\">if I could bring an author back to life<\/a>&#8221; piece at The Independent? Most of the picks were pretty safe, but it was nice to see old H. P. get a mention, even if the pastiche was a bit dire. (If you want to check that, see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eponymous.org\/lovecraft.html\">selected stories, free online<\/a>.)<\/li>\n<li>There&#8217;s been quite a bit of James Bond stuff this year, playing off the &#8220;Fleming would be 100 years old this year&#8221; angle. It&#8217;s nice to see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.timesonline.co.uk\/tol\/comment\/columnists\/guest_contributors\/article4016559.ece\">the focus on the novels<\/a>, rather than the movies, for a change, though. (This is probably a good spot to plug that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/2007\/03\/31\/oh-and-speaking-of-chandler\/\">Fleming\/Chandler interview <\/a>again, too.)<\/li>\n<li>We could also talk a bit about James Bond&#8217;s female counterpart, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Modesty_Blaise\">Modesty Blaise<\/a>. Or at least about <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Peter_O%27Donnell\">her creator<\/a>, since Kristy Valenti is writing a multi-part appreciation of his career. The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/2007\/03\/31\/oh-and-speaking-of-chandler\/\">first<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.comixology.com\/articles\/69\/Peter-O-Donnell-an-Appreciation-Part-Two\">second<\/a> parts are out now. I&#8217;ve read a handful of the novels, and seen two dire movies<footnote>I did once read a quite good script treatment for <em>I, Lucifer<\/em>, but it never actually got made.<\/footnote>, but I think I enjoy the comic strips the most&#8211;Titan has been <a href=\"http:\/\/www.titanbooks.com\/categories\/us\/universe-58-Modesty_Blaise\/\">reprinting them as collections<\/a>, which make for good reads.<\/li>\n<li>I&#8217;ve gone on about the problems with adapting good novels to film before, but I haven&#8217;t actually played the &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.screenhead.com\/reviews\/the-unfilmables-a-list-of-the-hardest-novels-to-film\/\">what would be unfilmable<\/a>&#8221; game much.  That <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/A_Wild_Sheep_Chase\">Murakami novel <\/a> discussed above leaps to mind, so it&#8217;s nice to see him get a look in (albeit with a different novel) on the list. Other favourites that leap to mind (besides Wolfe and Crowley, the ones already mentioned in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/2007\/10\/31\/the-foetid-taint-of-hollywood\/\">past grumping<\/a>) include <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/VALIS\">Valis<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sfreviews.com\/docs\/Pat%20Cadigan_1987_Mindplayers.htm\">Mindplayers<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spikemagazine.com\/0997coll.php\">The Collector Collector<\/a><footnote>&#8230;or really any Fischer.<\/footnote>&#8211;but I hear at least <a href=\"http:\/\/www.variety.com\/article\/VR1117899328.html?categoryid=13&#038;cs=1&#038;query=utopia+and+pictures&#038;display=utopia+pictures\">one of those<\/a> is actually being made (and has been an opera). What do I know&#8211;I would have said <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sabriel\">Sabriel<\/a> was unfilmable, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.publishingnews.co.uk\/pn\/pno-news-display.asp?K=e2008041313110003&#038;TAG=&#038;CID=&#038;PGE=&#038;sg9t=a0f5bdc5d2742a86df787eb3062fcf6d\">but<\/a>&#8230; You got any picks?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"excerpt\">As I write this I am watching the Australian movies made from Shane Maloney&#8217;s books about Murray Whelan. You may remember that those books were some of the big successes from my first Australian trip, and that I even mentioned the movies when I wrote that stuff up. Well, my usual online sources didn&#8217;t make the movies available, but just&hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/2008\/06\/09\/sunday-night-quick-book-links\/\">Read more &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[109,458,31,460,202,193,185,100,284,81,177,158],"class_list":["post-1259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","tag-adaptations","tag-books","tag-comics","tag-hgpa","tag-irishmen","tag-lovecraft","tag-melbourne","tag-poetry","tag-recommended","tag-spying","tag-tattoo","tag-the-masses","xfolkentry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5UQvw-kj","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1259\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chrismclaren.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}