Library Book Sale Haul Feb 2015

As normal I hit the local library book sale today. Most months with in the first few days of the month I go see what all they have gotten in recently.

Horror Films by Rhoda Nottridge
Cost-10 cents

This was in the kid's section. I grabbed it mostly cause the cover looks nice and it was 10 cents. It wasn't until I got to the car I noticed who published it,Crestwood House. When I was in elementary school my favorite books to check out of the school library was the 5 or 6 Crestwood House books on horror movies.I had no idea they had kept on making new volumes as late as 92.Each chapter is 2 pages and have lots of great pictures.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer:The Gatekeeper Trilogy Book Three Sons of Entropy by Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder
Cost-10 cents

So two months in a row I have found a Buffy book at the sale. I got about 5 or 6 of these sitting in my unread book pile.Now I gotta find the first 2 books in this series cheap.

Wizard at Large by Jim Butcher
Cost-25 cents

I had heard of these hardcover collections of Dresden Files novels.The first few Dresden books started out as paperbacks.Then the Science Fiction Book club got the rights to publish them as hardcovers.I already got the last 4 or so books in hardcover,so really have been wanting these collections.This one reprints Blood Rites and Dead Beat.Sure the dust jacket is beat up. I don't care I am 1 book closer to having the complete Dresden series in hardcover.

A Simple Plan by Scott Smith
Cost-25 cents

I have seen the Sam Rami film based on this novel a few years back. It was really good. I hope the novel is as good if not better. Still gotta get the library stickers off it.But for the price I took a chance.

I was walking around with all the above in my arms when the ladies that run the sale told me they had 10 boxes of books they  were recycling. I could have as many as I wanted out of there for free. Never one to turn down free books,I started digging through them.Got 2 books total.

Super Mario World Secrets by Rusel DeMaria and Zach Meston
Cost-Free

Found out there is people collecting these old video game guide books. No idea if this is one that goes for a decent amount of money or not. But it was free.

M*A*S*H The Exclusive,inside story of TV's most popular show by David S. Reiss
Cost-Free

I have been watching Mash as far back as I can remember. This book seems to be a guide to the complete series. And is in great shape. No idea why this was in the free box. But it looks like a decent read.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 024 The Bachman Books by Stephen King

BOOK TITLE-The Bachman Books
AUTHOR-RIchard Bachman AKA Stephen King
FORMAT-Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-No
COST-$2

This was one of the first 5 Stephen King books I read.What drew me to it at first was not only did it contain 4 complete novels,it also had The Running Man. I had recently seen the movie. So wanted to read the novel.

I am sure people reading this know why King wrote books under the Bachman pen name. And why he revealed this secret.The four novels this collection reprints were pretty hard to find before it was known King was Bachman. Once that piece of knowledge got out they became super hard to find. So this collection was published to not only give the fans a way to read these stories. But there was so much demand the publishing company knew they would make a nice profit.

Well onto the stories in the collection. Gonna do them from worst to best.

Roadwork-A already slightly deranged man finds out his house is being demolished to make way for a road. And we get to see his mental state goto shit. As he plans out a way to prevent this road. What makes this the worst novel in the collection to me is that it is way to long. The idea is decent. But it would work much better as a short story.

The Running Man-Set in a dsytopic future. We get the story of a man who is trying to keep his family living. His son is deathly ill.Mostly because of all the pollution in the air. He ends up on The Running Man gameshow. Where he hopes to make enough money to provide for his family's well being. As you can see already the story is very different from the film. The film just takes a few ideas from this story and changes so much. There is no arena in the book. Instead our hero is hiding in the cities and countryside. I enjoy the film. With it being one of the few Arnold action films I can still watch and enjoy. The book though is so much better. I would love to see a proper adaptation of the book. But I doubt that will happen.

Rage-This story is the reason why this collection is now out of print. And according to Mr King this story will never be reprinted. Thankfully it is really easy to find this collection in used bookstores for cheap. The store I got it from usually has at least 5 copies on the shelf. This is a tale of a high school student. He has some emotional issues. And is about to be kicked out of school. So he shows up to school with a pistol. And takes his morning class hostage. I know of at least two incidents where someone who had read this story tried to take a high school class hostage. Because of that and various school shootings Mr King asked that this collection be taken out of print. I understand why he felt he should do this.

The Long Walk-It is somewhat uncommon for King to write science fiction. This story set in the near future is one of my favorite non-Dark Tower books from King. Every year 100 young men start on the long walk. You have to walk a non-stop. And keep up at least a minimum speed. If you break any of the rules you get a warning. Three warnings and you are killed. The walk keeps going until there is only one person left.I am really surprised that so far this hasn't been adapted into a film or an episode of a TV show.

Even the worst novel in this collection is worth and read. With the best two being 2 of my favorite Stephen King books.

The Bachman Books gets a 4.15 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 023 Castaways by Brian Keene

BOOK TITLE-Castaways
AUTHOR-Brian Keene
FORMAT-Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-No
COST-75 cents

This was the third novel from Brian Keene I read. Having read Ghoul and Ghost Walk previously. Liked both of those but found that both had kind of crappy endings. So I was wondering if Keene suffered from the same affliction that Stephen King has since 1995ish. You know how the book will be good then in the last 10 pages either goes total shit or the ending is just BLAH.Thankfully this novel had a great ending.

What made me choose this out of the 10 or so Brian Keene novels I own is that he mentioned in an interview this was his tribute to Richard Laymon. Having already read and loved a stack of Laymon novels I was interested in seeing Keene's version of Laymon's sleazy 80s B Horror vibe.

We got a group of contestants on a Survivor like reality show. A nasty storm is headed for the island. There is no time to get the cast and crew out. They all bunker down in the crappy huts that the contestants built. But there is something deadlier than the storm. This island is home to a family of mutant genetic throwbacks. Supposedly the original draft of this story explained how these monsters are where the Beasts of Laymon's Beast series of novels come from.

Keene does a good job of capturing the feel of the Laymon novels I have read. Castaways is much sleazier than any other Keene novel. The gore factor is upped. And the novel has a much faster pace than most Keene novels.

If you enjoy either Keene or Laymon this is worth reading. Might just be my area but I see copies in used bookstores and Dollar Generals/Family Dollars all the time. I got the Leisure Fiction printing. Which like most other books from Leisure is out of print. Good thing Leisure overprinted most of their books.

Castaways gets a 3.95 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 022 Whacked! Skewed Views of Horror Movies that simply refuse to die

BOOK TITLE-Whacked! Skewed Views of Horror Movies that simply refuse to die
AUTHOR-Glen Coburn
FORMAT-Ebook
FIRST TIME READING-Yes
COST-No clue

I have no idea where I got this ebook. As I have stated before I love books of movie reviews. So that is more than likely why I got this book.

While the book does have reviews of a handful of films I never see reviewed in other books,the style of the reviews made it an almost painful reading experience.

The author writes each review like a 5th rate rip off of Joe Bob Briggs. Constant mentions of his dumb drug addicted son. Overly cute and innocent daughter,and finally his long suffering wife. It isn't hard to copy Briggs style. What is hard is copying it and making it funny. The author fell way short of making these reviews funny.

Once I finish typing up this review I am gonna delete the file. I know I will never read this again. And whatever I paid for it,if I paid anything,is way too much. Avoid this book like a $3 NOLA hooker.

Whacked!Skewed views of horror films gets a 0.25 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 021 The Walking Dead:The Fall of the Governor part one

BOOK TITLE-The Walking Dead:The Fall of the Governor Part 1
AUTHOR-Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga
FORMAT-Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-Yes
COST-$5.50

Took a few days off from reading books to blow through a stack of comics. When I was ready to dive into another novel I saw this book in my stack. I bought it sometime last year IIRC.Had sat it on my read next pile. Then let it be buried under other books.

Starting up not that long after the Road to Woodbury book ended. Our female lead Lilly is living on Woodbury and seems to feel somewhat safe.We get to see how the Governor is slowly losing his mind. With him keeping his daughter ,who is a zombie,chained up in his apartment. But it is his collection of zombie heads in fish tanks that was the creepiest.

More of the residents of Woodbury are introduced. Which is nice for people who have just seen the tv show. In the comic we got to see a bit more of life in Woodbury. Lilly ends up falling for a guy and starts believing that they will be safe.

Then Rick,Glen and Michonne show up in Woodbury and everything goes to hell. Rick gets one of his hands chopped off. Michonne is chained up in a room and assaulted daily by the Governor.With most of what happens to Glen never being told.If you have read the comic,this is basically the Governor's view on what happened when Rick and the two others go off to look for the crashed chopper.

The last 4 or so chapters as really fast paced. Rick and the two other members of the prison group start to escape. Helped out my Martinez and the Doctor and nurse of Woodbury. Of course Rick has no idea Martinez was told to do this by the Governor. After they all  get over the wall surrounding Woodbury,Michonne heads back to get her revenge on the Governor.And we get a way more graphic version of this encounter than what we saw in the comic.

After the lackluster and kind of dull second book,this third of so far 4 Walking Dead novels was pretty good. I didn't expect to get as much detail on the Governor and Michonne stuff as I got. It felt like for a few pages Edward Lee or Richard Laymon took over the writing job.

The Walking Dead:The Fall of the Governor part 1 gets a 3.85 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 020 Bat Boy the complete Peter Bagge collection

BOOK TITLE-Bat Boy The Complete Weekly World News Comic Strips
AUTHOR-Peter Bagge
FORMAT-Strip style Hardcover
FIRST TIME READING-No
COST-$3.25

I first found out about the Batboy comic strip when Danielle Corsetto mentioned on a forum she was taking it over. Looked around and saw that Peter Bagge had been doing it for over a year. Having had become a fan of Weekly World News back in the mid 80s. I had a Great Aunt that bought WWN and pretty much ever other tabloid you could find on the US newstands. So  I remember all the various Batboy stories.

Sometime a year or so ago I found out that IDW had published a hardcover of all the Bagge written and drawn strips. I wanted it,but the price was a bit too high. I have found that with IDW the cost of their trades and hardcovers is a bit higher than most other indy companies. Which is why I have learned to wait and try to grab their stuff on sale at cons.

Skip ahead to December of 2013,got send a Amazon giftcard from a friend. I took a glance at my "shit  I want but don't want to spend money on"wishlist. Kick ass there are used copies of BatBoy for $3.25 plus 2 bucks shipping. I order it. And get it in right after X-mas Day. Opened the package,got a huge smile on my face. Grabbed a cold gatorade out of the fridge. A bag of sea salt and cracked pepper chips. And kicked back in my chair to read this collection.

Bagge used the Batboy strip to satirized whatever was going on in the political or pop culture world. The pacing and just generally stream of conscious feel of the strip reminds me of what little I have read of Thimble Theater with Popeye. Bagge's art is it's normal great frenetic and energetic stuff. And I really enjoyed the Batboy as President chooses his first lady storyline.

It seems like this must of bombed cause I keep seeing obvious bookstore closeout copies of this going for really cheap prices. The copy I own had 3 or 4 clearance stickers from Barnes and Noble on its cover.Took me some time but managed to get them all off without damaging the cover.

If you like BatBoy and/or Peter Bagge and can find this for $5 or less grab it. It is not worth the cover price.But Amazon is flooded with cheap copies most of the time.

Bat Boy The Complete Weekly World News Comic Strips By Peter Bagge gets a 3.65 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 019 Ring of Hell

BOOK TITLE-Ring of Hell:The Story of Chris Benoit&The Fall of the Pro Wrestling Industry
AUTHOR-Matthew Randazzo V aka Polish Bob Stupak
Format-Hardcover
First TIME READING-No
COST-$13

I first heard about this book when someone mentioned it at DeathvalleyDriver Video Review. One of the former posters was the author. I figured I would get it through inter library Loan one day. Mostly because I don't have that much room for hardcover books.

Had drove down to the next town to the south. Was in the tiny mall.Mostly to hit the going out of business Sam Goody,Dollar Tree and the usually super shitty bookstore. Got some good deals on stuff at Sam Goody. Headed to the back of the bookstore to check out the tiny comic book section. The non fiction sports books section was right behind me. I turned around and saw a copy of Ring of Hell. I grabbed it and flipped through it. Looked decent,but this store always has new books at cover price.Not wanting to pay that much for it. I look at the back cover and it is marked down to $13. Hell yeah.

Randazzo presents his researched story of Chris Benoit's life. His info comes from so many sources. From interviews he did with people that knew Benoit,various shoot interviews and even interviews Chris had given before his death.

Through out the book Matthew points out how Benoit has a history of acting strange and sometimes being very sadistic. He was known for his very sick sense of humor. And joined in on many beatdowns/tortures/earning your place situations in some dojos in Japan.

As for one major complaint I have heard about this book,yeah lots of the info in it is from shoot interviews. And wrestlers have been known to exaggerate or out right lie about stuff in these interviews. So we won't know what stories actually happened. And if they did how much of what we are told is the truth.

Even with this caveat,this is a good read. No idea if it ever got a paperback release. And I have no clue what a used copy would cost you. I would say if you want to read this see if your library can get a copy. If not don't pay more than say 10 bucks for the hardcover.

Ring of Hell gets a 3.35 outta 5.

Dusty old long box Wednesday 01/21/2015

One thing that lets me know fairly quick if I am gonna like a comic shop is if they got a good back issue selection. Want to make me love the store then have lots of boxes of comics for a buck or less. I will comb through those types of boxes for hours. Grabbing all kinds of weird and/or forgotten series. One of which I felt needs more attention.

Back in 1991 Harvey comics was in the middle of a comeback.They were trying to take a share of the then fairly big kids market of comics. So they not only had their normal Harvey properties,like Richie Rich,Casper and Hot Stuff the lil Devil. But they also got classic and modern cartoons licenses. Stuff like Tom and Jerry,Woody Woodpecker,the Hanna Barbara characters and the one I am gonna talk about here the short lived Back to the Future cartoon.

There was that I know of 2 Back to the Future series. One that lasted 4 issues and was bimonthly. Then a 3 issue mini series in 92,that was also bi monthly.

Back to the future comic issue 01

Writer Dwayne McDuffire
Cover by GIl Kane
Pencils and inks by Nelson Dewey

Marty and the doc travel back to Prohibition times to get a specially brewed medicine to correct Einstein the dog's eyesight. He has CAT a racts,which causes everything to look like cats.

Of course they run into an ancestor of Biff. Who is a gangster. Turns out Marty's ancestor is that gangs brew master. So they plot to free him and get him to brew up the medicine to fix the dog's eyes.

Now I might have seen 2 episodes tops of the cartoon. But the comic captures the feel of the three films. I also liked how the story was wrapped up in one issue.

Back to the Future comic Issue 02

Writer Dwayne McDuffie,seems to be adapted from an episode of the TV show.
Cover by Gil Kane
Art by Nelson Dewey

I don't like how the cover is kind of a lie. Marty doesn't go back to prehistoric time in this issue. Hell he is barely in it.

Doc Brown and his sons,Jules and Verne,travel to the prehistoric era to test out a new invention of his. Of course they end up changing the future and have to correct this.

They see a  meteor about to strike. So they use Doc's anti matter gun thingy to destroy it. Guess what this is the meteor that killed off the dinosaurs. So when they get back to the present dinosaurs are the dominant species.

The real stand out is early on a pterodon the boys name Donny saves the family. When they return to the past to prevent the meteor from being destroyed they mention how every dinosaur will die. They even see Donny. But don't seem that sad that their friend is seconds away from death. Kind of strange for a comic aimed at kids. But who knows.

Back to the Future Issue 03

Writer Dwayne McDuffire,again adapted from an episode of the cartoon
Cover by Gil kane
Art by Nelson Dewey

Doc and Marty go back to Roman times. For Doc to return some scrolls he had been studying. The two boys of course stow away. Like Chim Chim and Spraddle on Speed Racer.But they stow away because they hear their father mention Roman Arcades. They think it is video arcades and want to go. Damn I miss real video arcades,not those Dave and Buster style bar-cades.

The boys get in trouble and Doc has to go save them.As per normal in this series,Marty runs into one of Biff's ancestors. And gets challenged to a chariot race.

Doc lets Marty know that he has to lose the race. If he doesn't lose to Biff ,then Caligula won't become Emperor. So Doc outfits Marty's chariot with all kinds of gadgets. Kind of strange for the writer to pick Caligula out of all the Roman leaders.

Back to the Future issue 04

Writer Dwayne McDuffire,and again adapted from an episode of the cartoon.
Cover by Gil Kane
Art by Nelson Dewey

It is April Fools Day and the boys are prepping lots of pranks for their father.Whatever they did to Doc Brown's brain wave analyzer causes it to think he has used up most of his brain.

So Doc leaves the home and tries to find something that doesn't require him to think. After a few misadventures he gets a job at a pizza place. Which should be perfect. Doesn't take that much heavy thinking to make pizza. Or so I am told.

Since that doesn't work Doc goes back to live with cavemen. And Marty gets ready for his band's concert. He had borrowed Doc's weather machine to use for special FX during the concert.Doc quickly realizes that living in the Stone actually causes him to think more often. So he returns to the present.

The boys explain to their Dad how they messed with his brain wave machine. He doesn't believe them. But we see that they also pranked Doc's weather machine. So when Marty turns it on a super storm hits the concert. Doc quickly comes up with a solution. Thus seeing that he hasn't used up most of his brain.

 There is a variant edition of the first issue. Seems it was a giveaway comic. I got a foggy memory of getting a free Back to the Future comic from Kaybee Toys in the early 90s. But I might be remembering it wrong.Besides it is missing most of the ads,the only real difference between the two versions is the cover.

For what it is Back to the Future is a decent comic. It is better written than most kids comics of that era. The covers by Gil Kane are a nice touch. No clue how hard these are to find I checked the online comic shop I sometimes use and they had no copies. If you find these for 2 bucks or less an issue they are worth grabbing for a Back to the Future fan. Now I am wishing the cartoon was out on DVD.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 018 The Tick The Complete Edlund

BOOK TITLE-The Tick The Complete Edlund
AUTHOR-Ben Edlund
FORMAT-Trade paperback
FIRST TIME READING-No
COST-Free

I have been a customer of Instocktrades.com since they opened. So once they added a wishlist feature I created one.For my birthday a few years back I got this along with about 5 other trades.

The book reprints all the Edlund written and drawn Tick stuff. So the appearances in the NEC newsletter,issues 1-12 of the original series and some sketches. That right there makes this trade a must own. But they added something extra. Sometime after I had quit reading the Tick,so after both The Tick&Arthur and The Tick Heroes of the City got cancelled,NEC published issue 13 of the original Tick run.

What makes that so special is the last full issue of the Tick Edlund wrote ends on a cliffhanger. That had never been resolved. All Tick stories published after issue 12 take place after it. And there has been tiny hints of what happened. NEC got a writer to use these hints and what Edlund done previous to create this kind of lost piece of the Tick mythos.

If you loved the Tick cartoon or live action series and have never read the comic this is the place to start.Some of the stories in this thick trade,as it says on the cover 400 PAGES!,got adapted for either series. Plus you got great storylines like Tick's arrival in the city and skirmish with Clark Oppenheimer. The Million Billion Ninjas storyline that introduces Oedipus and Paul the Samurai.Then my favorite,Tick and Arthur's cross country trip. So much great stuff in just 12 issues. Makes me wish that Edlund would return and do more Tick stuff.

The Tick The Complete Edlund gets a 4.80 outta 5.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 017 Succulent Prey

2015 Reading Challenge 017 Succulent Prey by Wrath James White

BOOK TITLE-Succulent Prey
AUTHOR-Wrath James White
FORMAT-paperback book
READ FIRST TIME-NO
COST-75 cents

Before buying this novel I had heard of Mr White but had never read any of his fiction. I was down in Diberville Mississippi. Where there is this great antique mall. Which has in the back corner of the building  a great used bookstore. Where most paperbacks are $1.50 each or even cheaper the more you buy.The guy who owns that store happened to be there that day. And he noticed I already had my arms full of books and still had at least 5 more shelves to look at. "Hey sir,when ever you are ready to check out come find me. If you buy all those books you got in your arms I will cut you a deal." I asked what the deal was,and it boiled down to I would get the normal sized paperbacks for 75 cents,oversized paperbacks for a buck and any hardcovers I wanted for $1.50. Armed with the knowledge of cheap books I spent over an hour looking at the shelves I hadn't checked out yet.This was happening around the time Leisure fiction was declaring bankruptcy and rumors I kept hearing was lots of my favorite horror authors,who worked for Leisure,were gonna have huge chunks of their books going out of print. And they had no idea when they would get the rights back so they could put them back into print. So I was grabbing any horror fiction from Leisure that either I liked the author but didn't own the book. Or if it was an author I had heard lots of good about.

I had heard so  much about Wrath James White. All about how his books captured the feel of the late 80's/early 90s splatterpunk movement in horror fiction. And how he refused to censor himself. Which might be the reason why most of his books are published by tiny publishers. Who want to charge 15 bucks for a 200 page paperback. Then the book quickly goes out of print and now it is $40 or more for that thin ass book.

I saw the familiar Leisure horror logo on the spine of the book. Looked closer and saw the author was Mr White and I knew I had to have it.

Succulent Prey is about a college student. All seems normal with him. He is popular and handsome.Makes good grades and has his choice of most of the females on the college campus. He though has a darkside that he keeps hidden. He has since he was very young had an urge to eat human flesh. So far he has kept this urge under control. Then he finds an online message board all about cannibalism. After this he starts having erection issues. In that he can't keep his penis hard unless he is fantasizing about eatting which ever woman he has in his bed room.

He finds a local sex club and for a short while engaging in the various BDSM activities helps keep his taste for "long pig" at bay. Then he meets the woman of his dreams. She is very smart and pretty. Plus has a thick body. With lots of meat in all the right places. The first time they have sex he ends up biting her fairly hard on her breast,which causes him to instantly have an intense orgasm. But it also triggers a memory of his father and something that was kept hidden in the family basement.

So our protagenist along with his woman head out to track down his father. But our leads taste for human flesh keeps getting stronger. And Wrath James White goes into great detail about what all our lead wants to do to his woman and most other people he encounters on his journey to find his father.

Now I have a strong stomach. It is really rare that a piece of fiction upsets my stomach. This novel almost made me throw up 3 different times. Even after that I have now read the book 3 times. And plan on getting ahold of some more books from Mr White
Succulent Prey gets a 4 outta 5.