fiction
Ben Aaronovitch, Moon Over Soho: Thin but charming story of a young copper who’s now the only official magician in training, and magic seems to be returning to England. Sequel to Midnight Riot (Rivers of London in the UK). Peter’s colleague and friend Leslie is still dealing with the consequences of the last book, but Peter’s moving on to new cases and new lovers. The immediate whodunnit is perfectly obvious, though Aaronovitch does a decent job of showing why Peter’s reluctant to see it, and there’s a nice setup for a long-term adversary.
Aaron Sorkin, The West Wing Script Book: Unlike the Buffy script books, this is just 6 scripts from Seasons 1 & 2: Pilot, A Proportional Response, In the Shadow of Two Gunmen parts 1 & 2, 17 People, and Two Cathedrals. They really bring back the magic. I’m not sure they’d be quite as good if I couldn’t hear everyone delivering their lines in my head, and boy do I hate Ainsley on the page nearly as much as I like her onscreen, but Two Cathedrals alone is worth the price of admission.
Aaron Sorkin, The West Wing Seasons 3 & 4: The Shooting Scripts: Sorkin’s pick of 8 favorites. Isaac and Ishmael, the 9/11 one, is a real misfire and I don’t get why he included it. There should have been a couple of episodes in there before Bartlet for America, and also something with Lord Marbury. Posse Comitatus is the last s3 episode, then 20 Hours in America parts 1 & 2, then Holy Night, Commencement, and Twenty Five, which-I can’t lie-made me cry when Toby was meeting his babies and understanding why the President had to do what he had to do. I still think the kidnap story was over the top, but that didn’t mean it didn’t work.
Naomi Novik, illus. Yishan Li, Will Super Villains Be on the Final? Liberty Vocational Vol. 1: As my devoted readers undoubtedly know, I have yet to do anything but bounce hard off of the standard manga conventions of representing faces, especially what happens when a character is embarrassed or angry. So I was reading for content: girl with potentially awesome powers that are not yet under control enrolls at superhero school, makes friends, has enemies, moons over love interest. It was cute, and I liked that her hidden nemesis might end up conflicted not because she’s his love interest but for other reasons, but I need more to make up my mind.
Paul Pope with Jose Villarrubia, Batman: Year 100: Anonymity has been banned and the government controls straight lines! See this or or this for the explanation of that formula. Anyway, in a security-obsessed 2039, government thugs come to Gotham to lock down something, and the Batman is drawn in/shot/hunted/fighting against their conspiracy as the thugs use their authority (and telepathy!) to investigate the legend of the Batman of Gotham. His connection to Bruce Wayne/the original Batman is never explained; the libertarian-dystopian axis is strong in this one, and the end of the graphic novel includes a paean to Ludwig von Mises if you wondered why. Pope’s Batman is a big fan!
comments on DW | reply there. I have invites or you can use OpenID.
Aaron Sorkin, The West Wing Script Book: Unlike the Buffy script books, this is just 6 scripts from Seasons 1 & 2: Pilot, A Proportional Response, In the Shadow of Two Gunmen parts 1 & 2, 17 People, and Two Cathedrals. They really bring back the magic. I’m not sure they’d be quite as good if I couldn’t hear everyone delivering their lines in my head, and boy do I hate Ainsley on the page nearly as much as I like her onscreen, but Two Cathedrals alone is worth the price of admission.
Aaron Sorkin, The West Wing Seasons 3 & 4: The Shooting Scripts: Sorkin’s pick of 8 favorites. Isaac and Ishmael, the 9/11 one, is a real misfire and I don’t get why he included it. There should have been a couple of episodes in there before Bartlet for America, and also something with Lord Marbury. Posse Comitatus is the last s3 episode, then 20 Hours in America parts 1 & 2, then Holy Night, Commencement, and Twenty Five, which-I can’t lie-made me cry when Toby was meeting his babies and understanding why the President had to do what he had to do. I still think the kidnap story was over the top, but that didn’t mean it didn’t work.
Naomi Novik, illus. Yishan Li, Will Super Villains Be on the Final? Liberty Vocational Vol. 1: As my devoted readers undoubtedly know, I have yet to do anything but bounce hard off of the standard manga conventions of representing faces, especially what happens when a character is embarrassed or angry. So I was reading for content: girl with potentially awesome powers that are not yet under control enrolls at superhero school, makes friends, has enemies, moons over love interest. It was cute, and I liked that her hidden nemesis might end up conflicted not because she’s his love interest but for other reasons, but I need more to make up my mind.
Paul Pope with Jose Villarrubia, Batman: Year 100: Anonymity has been banned and the government controls straight lines! See this or or this for the explanation of that formula. Anyway, in a security-obsessed 2039, government thugs come to Gotham to lock down something, and the Batman is drawn in/shot/hunted/fighting against their conspiracy as the thugs use their authority (and telepathy!) to investigate the legend of the Batman of Gotham. His connection to Bruce Wayne/the original Batman is never explained; the libertarian-dystopian axis is strong in this one, and the end of the graphic novel includes a paean to Ludwig von Mises if you wondered why. Pope’s Batman is a big fan!
comments on DW | reply there. I have invites or you can use OpenID.