John W. Campbell's "Who Goes There?"

I love a good monster story, and John W. Campbell's "Who Goes There?" is a really good monster story.  The novella is the basis for the movies "The Thing from Another World" (1957), "The Thing" (1982) and "The Thing" (2011).

I loved the 1982 version.  Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley (back before his dia-beet-us days), and Donald Moffatt (who had one of the best lines in the movie).

The book was surprisingly good, especially considering it was written in 1938.

"Who Goes There?" tells the story of a group of scientists at a remote Antarctic station who discover a disabled spaceship frozen in the ice and recover a vicious-looking, red-eyed alien from the crash site.

Over the dire warnings of one of the scientists, they decide to thaw it out.  Well, you can pretty much guess what happens next.  Lots of blood and death.

The alien can dissolve living tissue and absorb it, then become a new version of the person or animal that it absorbed.  And as it accumulates more mass, it can become more things - sled dogs, cows, people.  Left unchecked, it could replace all life on Earth.

The scientists defeat the creature in the end, just as it was about to use its advanced technology to escape the base.

I really enjoyed this one.  Clever, well-written, and just the right length.  The pacing was fast and suspenseful.  Just a really good read.

When doing some background research on the book, I came across a short story written by Peter Watts that takes Campbell's premise, and retells it from the monster's point of view.  Very clever, and a remarkably good read itself.  I suggest reading both.  Watt's story, "The Things," is available online at the Clarkesworld Magazine site.

I checked out Peter Watts' website, and am very impressed.  First, it's a cool design.  And even better, many of his novels and short stories are available to download for free.  I love authors (and musicians and artists…) who do that.  Getting to know them and their writing through free downloads makes me more likely to purchase their work.  Once I'm hooked, I'm hooked.

Found books - "The Power of Now," "Juicing for Life," and "Emotional Cuisine"

In the lobby of my building, there is a small table that has become, much to our landlord's dismay, ground zero in a building-wide swap meet.  Anytime someone has an item that they no longer want, it gets put on that table.  Sure it can look a little junky at times - recently one of our neighbors put four bags of clothes and one bag of shoes - but it's a great way to get rid of stuff that you no longer need, but still has some life left in it.

I've gotten some great scores there - some lovely scarves that I'm going to give to my niece for her birthday, some kitchen utensils, and a few hundred dollars worth of Waterford crystal wine glasses (seriously, who throws those away!?).

But mostly, I get books.

The latest ones are "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle, "Juicing for Life" by Cherie Calbom and Maureen Keane, and "Emotional Cuisine" a book and accompanying CD by Marriott Marquis chefs Armando Monterroso and Steve Evetts (the book is signed by both chefs and features stunning photos of their creations).

The goal for the books that I get from the swap table is to read them, then pass them on (though I'll keep the signed one).  "The Power of Now" will probably go to my mom, who is really into these kinds of books right now, for whatever reason.  "Juicing for Life" will go to my trainer, who collects any kind of nutrition books that he can.

All in all, not a bad haul.  I'm especially looking forward to the Eckhart Tolle book.  I've never read any of his books, but good Lord, you can't help but see tons of his quotes on Facebook.






There is no Amazon link for "Emotional Cuisine," but here is  a great article on the travel site LandLopers that talks about the book and has a few of the amazing recipes.

New purchase - "Daily Rituals: How Artists Work" by Mason Currey

Today's purchase.  I read an article about the daily habits of a number of artists that was pulled from this book.  Sounded like a good (and hopefully inspirational) read.  Here's the review from The Guardian.  I don't know when I'll get around to reading this book, but I look forward to it.

DCW "Bar Full of Poets" on Thursday, April 17th

Drunken! Careening! Writers! 

"Bar Full of Poets"

Featuring:

Guillermo Filice Castro 

Ron Drummond 

Carol Rosenfeld
with your hostess, Kathleen Warnock

Guillermo Filice Castro is a recipient of the 2013 "Emerge-Surface-Be" fellowship from the Poetry Project. His work appears in journals such as Assaracus, Barrow Street, The Bellevue Literary Review, The Brooklyn Rail, Court Green, Fogged Clarity, Hinchas de Poesia, LaFovea.org, Quarterly West, among others, as well as the anthologies Rabbit Ears, Flicker and Spark, Divining Divas, Saints of Hysteria, and more. His translations of Olga Orozco, in collaboration with Ron Drummond, are featured in Guernica, Terra Incognita, U.S. Latino Review, and Visions. In 2012 he was a finalist for the Andrés Montoya prize.

Ron Drummond's first collection of poems is the prize-winning Why I Kick at Night. His poetry also appears in the Penguin textbook Literature as Meaning, and in the anthologies Poetry Nation, Poetry After 9/11, This New Breed, and Saints of Hysteria. His translations, in collaboration with the talented and muy guapo Guillermo Filice Castro, have appeared in U.S. Latino Review, Terra Incognita and Guernica. He has been awarded fellowships from Ragdale, VCCA, and Blue Mountain Center, and is a member of the Macondo Writers Workshop. Ron received honorable mention for the latest Pushcart Prize and has poems forthcoming in DUCTS and Ocean State Review.

Carol Rosenfeld is excited and proud that the fabulous team at Bywater Books will publish her novel, The One that Got Away, in spring/summer 2015. “Not too shabby for a 60-year old New York City-based writer and poet. Now when people annoy me I (silently) think, ‘F—k you, I’m having a novel published.’ It helps! I blog occasionally at http://crosenyc.wordpress.com./”

Drunken! Careening! Writers! is a reading series based on the proposition that all readings should be by: 1) Good Writers; 2) Who read their work well; 3) Something in it makes people laugh (nervous laughter counts).

...and 15 minutes tops.

Careening since 2004!

For more info: careeningwriters@aol.com

KGB Bar

85 E. 4th Street

Thursday, April 17th

7:00-8:30 PM

Reading - Michael Nava, Tim Seibles and Janlori Goldman

I'm a huge fan of Michael Nava's Henry Rios mysteries, and can't wait for the opportunity to hear him read from his new novel, City of Palaces.  I am not familiar with poets Tim Seibles or Janlori Goldman, but look forward to hearing their work.

More info at Bloomreadings.org.

For more info on the authors, visit Michael Nava's Amazon page, Tim Seibles' Amazon page and Janlori Goldman's YouTube channel.

John Wyndham's "The Midwich Cuckoos"

While I was familiar with the screen versions of "Village of the Damned" (I haven't seen the original in its entirety, but I did see the fairly awful John Carpenter version from the mid-'90s), I didn't realize they were based on a John Wyndham book "The Midwich Cuckoos."

I read the book this week, and frankly thought it was not very good.  The concept of the story was interesting - an entire English village goes unconscious for a day, and anyone who tries to enter the village passes out as well.  Photos taken from above the village show some sort of UFO... or I suppose a UO, since it isn't actually flying, just sitting on the ground.  When the UO disappears (presumably becoming a UFO at that point), the town wakes up.  A few weeks later, all the women of childbearing age find out they are pregnant.

What spins out is a pretty standard invasion story (though not, I suppose, for the time in which it was written, the late '50s).  The children begin to show signs of being parts of a greater alien entity, they look all look alike, they have powers of mind control, etc.  When hurt, they lash out with extreme violence toward the people who hurt them, and eventually hold the village hostage.

It is discovered that this happened in a number of places around the world, and that each society acted against the children in a different way.

The book deals with the philosophical questions behind dealing with the unknown and alien, and whether a modern, democratic society can adequately combat a genuine threat like an alien invasion.

And that's the downfall of the book for me.  It is basically set up as a memoir, with one character Richard Gayford writing his reminiscences of the Midwich affair.  This leads to a fairly dry narrative in which events are described by the narrator, rather than experienced by the reader.  And the philosophical discussions, while interesting, brought what little action was in the book to a screeching halt.

I did like the idea of an alien made up of individuals with a group mind, and the children who were born through xenogenesis (with the biological mother really being little more than a host, and not sharing any genetic link with the offspring).  But overall, the book didn't really do much for me.


The Midwich Cuckoos (RosettaBooks into Film)

John Leguizamo's "Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas, and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends: My Life"

Today's purchase.  Currently on sale at Amazon for $1.99 (Kindle edition).

I've seen a couple of Leguizamo's shows on Broadway and really enjoyed them.  His stories are hilarious, and he is such a manic performer.  It's incredible to see how much energy he puts into his performances.  I'm looking forward to seeing if his humor works as well in book form.



Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas, and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends: My Life

Here are his Broadway shows I've seen.  I hope he decides to bring another show to Broadway soon.

Spic-O-Rama : A Dysfunctional Comedy