Thursday, January 10, 2008

Wish list

Recent events will keep us cash strapped for a while, but just to have all these in one place:

Mark Evanier's forthcoming book on Jack Kirby
-- this looks like a must read for Kirby fans.

OMAC (the REAL one)!!!! Can't wait to grab this up. I think there are at least two issues I still haven't read yet.

And rounding out my Must Have -- SOON list, the latest volume of Last Boy On Earth -- in COLOR, no less. I'd buy a KAMANDI SHOWCASE edition, mind you, but if I can get all the Kirby stuff reprinted in big glossy color, that's all right with me.

If you don't understand why I want all this stuff so much, never mind, because you never will. Either you dig Kirby (and especially OMAC and Kamandi) or it's all just beyond your grasp. I suppose it helps to read these things for the first time in early adolescence, though.

In addition, I'm going to be looking into acquiring the following at some point:

Steve Stirling's new book will doubtless be as good as its predecessors in the Emberverse.

This Kim Newman volume looks interesting
, as well.

And then there's this, which I'd love to read -- Snyder's BLACK AND BLUE MAGIC is a childhood favorite of mine (I now own a copy after many many years of wanting one thanks to the wonderfulness of SuperWife) and this trilogy sounds fabulous.

The last of the Fall of Il-Rien trilogy by Barbara "Martha Wells" Hambly (I know, nobody else in the world believes Wells is a pseud of Hambly's, but I know it's true, dammit)...

Lois McMaster Bujold has several (I think, like, at least seven) gothic romance/fantasies out that someday I'll want to read (romance fantasies don't bother me; Anne McCaffrey's RESTOREE is a pretty blatant Harlequin Romance In Space, and it's probably my favorite book by her ever), but there's no rush. Now, if she'd ever write another Vorkosigan book, I'd wade through hot lava to get it, but I don't feel that kind of urgency for anything else she puts out.

Also, there's this collection of the JLA half of the recent Lightning Saga. Oddly, I can't find the JSA half anywhere, but I want that too, probably even more than the JLA volume.

And then there's The Sinestro War, Volumes 1 and 2

There is also apparently something by Ron Marz called TALES OF THE SINESTRO CORPS which I would most likely use one corner of to blind myself with before I'd ever read the frickin thing. As a general rule, anything that says 'Ron Marz' on it anywhere is not something I'd ever want to own, unless I badly badly need fuel to start a bonfire with.

I can't believe I have no real interest in this. I suppose it's just fear. If anyone could make KINGDOM COME work well, it would be Johns, and I don't think I'm ready for that. More than that, though, I just can't stand the thought of Johns' JSA interacting with that godawful Waid concept. Bleeeaaaaahhhhh.

In other news, George R.R. Martin told us a year ago that the next time he updated his ICE AND FIRE UPDATE page, it would be to tell us the book was done. So a few weeks ago I checked it, expecting nothing, and sonofabitch, he'd updated it. Dare I hope..? Noooooooo. As with all other assurances, Martin proves faithless on this one as well. He just HAD to do another update, and in this one, he sez he's hoping to have A DANCE WITH DRAGONS done by the end of the summer. Ah ha ho ha ha ho ha hee! That's rich. To show his bonafides, he's finally posted a new preview chapter... this one featuring Jon Snow. And it's tasty indeed. But anyone who thinks this series is ever going to be finished is seriously delusional. And I still mean what I said before; Martin has jacked me around too much for me to ever be willing to give him another penny of my money, ever again. Should another Ice and Fire installment ever come out, I will read it... after I get it out of the library.

And that's the facts, jack.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:47 AM

    if she'd ever write another Vorkosigan book, I'd wade through hot lava to get it

    As I understand it, Bujold's difficulty on that front is that, if she advances the timeline any further, she's going to have to write Aral's death, which is apparently not a thing she's ready to do just yet.

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  2. C.S.,

    Nice to see you again.

    First, Bujold doesn't have to write anything she doesn't want to write. Aral is a tough old bird. If she feels it is necessary to do that 'passing of the torch' type book, though, my suggestion would be that she write one last glorious adventure for Aral and Cordelia, much like O'Donnell gave to Modesty and Willie in COBRA TRAP.

    Beyond that, I certainly don't insist that she 'advance the timeline', as I am not wild about the current Mrs. Naismith (preferring pretty much every other romantic interest Miles ever had, including I Was A Teenage Werewolf Girl) and I intensely dislike the concept of a Miles Vorkosigan that does not include Naismith or the Dendarii Mercenaries. And she never used to be hung up on linear time; half the series consists of books detailing adventures from Miles' past. I'd like one or two or seven or eight more of those.

    It just adds insult to injury for me that instead of giving us anything new, Baen keeps repackaging Bujold's previously published Miles material under new omnibus titles, and it ups the original injury at least a few notches for me that because of this policy of repackaging old stuff instead of trying to publish new stuff, Baen sends me rejection letters stating things like "our publishing schedule is limited and we do not have the resources to include every otherwise acceptable submission within our catalog every year". That REALLY pisses me off.

    Going back to Bujold and Miles for a moment -- an adventure in which Vorkosigan and Naismith had to team up, with Mark playing one part so that Miles could portray the other, would be utterly cool. Maybe Aral and Cordelia get captured by Cetagandans, or, better, some old enemy of both Naismith's and Barrayar's (who was that guy with the evil little bitch who kidnapped Gregor? Are they still alive?) and for some reason the best rescue attempt needs both Barrayaran diplomacy AND the Dendarii Mercenaries...

    Hey, that would be cool.

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  3. Anonymous12:14 PM

    Also, there's this collection of the JLA half of the recent Lightning Saga. Oddly, I can't find the JSA half anywhere, but I want that too, probably even more than the JLA volume.

    And then there's The Sinestro War, Volumes 1 and 2
    ..

    I can't believe I have no real interest in this.


    Okay, I just have to ask...exactly how many titles is Geoff John's writing these days anyhow? TEEN TITANS, GREEN LANTERN, JSA... is DC employing any other writers right now? :)

    Me, I'm still waiting on the final volume of 52...

    Baen keeps repackaging Bujold's previously published Miles material under new omnibus titles

    This is annoying because it's not always clear that these are, in fact, old stories, until after I go "cool! A new Vorkosigan book", and so I am disappointed. This obviously does not hold a candle to the disappointment produced by a rejection letter of course. Maybe you should just write that Vorkosigan story yourself... :)

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