2010
03.10

Cage Match 2010: Time’s Running Out!

Look out: A bomb with an hourglass! timebomb.jpg And what, exactly, does that mean? It means that the voting for the Round 1 matches of the first two divisions:
1st Division: Dragon Army 1) The Shrike vs 32) Arthur Dent 16) Kahlan Amnell vs. Drizzt Do'Urden 8) Ged vs. 25) Edward Cullen 9) Aragorn vs. 24) The Wee Free Men 2nd Division: Gryffindor 5) Rand Al'Thor vs. 28) Locke Lamora 12) Harry Dresden vs. 21) Conan the Barbarian 13) Roland Deschain -- The Gunslinger vs 20) Elric 4) Gandalf vs 29) Hiro Protagonist
is coming to a close. In fact, voting closes Thursday (tomorrow), 5 pm EST, so hurry up and make sure your voice is heard. And, of course, keep voting on the second batch of matches (I love "batch of matches")--the voting for those close on Sunday, March 14, 5 pm EST. Hope you're all having fun!
2010
03.10

Warriors Review: And Ministers of Grace by Tad Williams

martin-warriors.jpgTad Williams is one of my favorite authors. He is also arguably the greatest wordsmith of our time. The man simply knows how to bring together a group of words to convey emotion and story. He also uses a lot of words, painting a gorgeous setting or highlighting a character's motivations or enacting a battle sequence. From the first time I read The Dragonbone Chair, I knew Tad to be something special and unique in the fantasy genre. Imagine my curiosity at how Tad would approach a medium where less words is actually more... Tad has written several short stories. I've only read one of them, the story in Legends. It was a long time ago and I do not remember much from that anthology. I was excited to see him included in Warriors, the forthcoming anthology edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, because even though I've forgotten story particulars after all these years, the feeling Tad leaves behind remains. Tad didn't disappoint this time out either. In fact, he overcame all of my expectations for the entire Warriors anthology, with the short story titled And Ministers of Grace. Here's why.
2010
03.10

365 Days of Manga, Day 176: King of Thorn

King of Thorn KING OF THORN (Ibara no Ô, "King of Thorns") (いばらの王) • Yuji Iwahara (story and art) • TokyoPop (2007-ongoing) • Enterbrain (Comic Beam, 2002-2005) • 6 volumes • Science Fiction Horror Action • 16+ (language, graphic violence) When medical science is perplexed by a strange fossilizing disease known as Medusa, a group of victims are placed in cold sleep to await a cure. They awaken to find themselves in an abandoned facility overgrown with thorns and infested by ferocious dinosaur-like creatures, which pick them off one by one, as they try to find a way out and discover the truth of what happened...before they, too, succumb to the disease. Although nominated for a 2006 Seiun (Nebula) Award for Best Science Fiction Manga, this postapocalyptic action movie in manga form most shows the influence of the "survival horror" genre, as typified by Resident Evil and of course, Dino Crisis. Most of the manga is a series of running fight scenes in creepy locations, cute kids in danger, and people arguing with one another. However, the pacing is dramatic, the heroes are sympathetic, and Iwahara's unconventional, American-animation-influenced artwork--using black-and-white shading and crosshatching instead of screentone--gives the manga a bold, unique look. (Review by Jason Thompson and Mark Simmons) smallstar-3.5.png Today's review was written with a little help from my researcher friend Mark Simmons. In addition to looking up the publishing and summary information for "King of Thorn" for me back in 2007, he's also an awesome artist -- check out his website! Today's winner (really last night's winner, since I get the data every evening) is Amber K. of Pennsylvania. I've also received a photo from a past winner, Eric: 26176_100422926662673_100000848981135_9021_6589946_n.jpg Eric, thanks for giving it up (your picture, that is) for 365 Days of Manga. I edited Pretty Face, and it was one of the most fun editing jobs I've ever done... I'd had my eye on that manga ever since 2002, it just took awhile for me to convince Viz to translate it. Definitely one of the best twin-sister-incest tranny/cross-dressing manga ever! Hope you enjoy it!
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