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The crew of the rocketship Vidar head to a desolate world in search of a missing patrol ship and discover a threat that could mean the end of all humanity. That's a short summation but it's a short book. The Shadow Planet is originally a French graphic novel that has been translated and reissued in the US by Image Comics. Author Giovanni Barbieri, who is also a screenwriter, notes that the idea for this book was originally planned as a 'B' movie and I think that's really evident - the 'B'-movie, sci-fi/horror vibes are strong. Think Alien as if made by Roger Corman. The story is ... well, it suffices. There's nothing new here and really no surprises.  That's part of the B movie vibe - you know what's coming, the thrill is in the 'when' and 'how.' That doesn't translate so well in a graphic novel. For the story, this gets only a rating of '2'. What saves this book is the artwork. Gianluca Pagliarani is the talent beh...

I admit it, I was drawn to this book by its cover and title. I've been reading some Michael Moorcock lately - his protagonists are often part of his 'Eternal Champion' arc. And this cover very clearly is inspired by Frazetta and Boris - two fantasy cover artists. So I'm expecting a rip-roaring sword & sorcery style fantasy.  To say I was disappointed would be putting it mildly. Gilad Anni-Padda is the eternal warrior. He's cursed with immortality and is the guardian of humanity, putting himself at the front line against some of the darkest, most unnatural creatures that ever slithered out of the earth. But Gilad has been quiet for a very long time but is drawn back into the daylight to take on his eternal conflict. But he doesn't trust his new allies and his enemies now have his own memories. When I requested this book, I did not know it was based on a comic (from Valiant) - a comic that I am not at all familiar with.  I also had never read anything by autho...

 1891 London and Enola Holmes, the younger (much younger) sister of Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes, is attending the burial ceremony of her former landlady. When she hears the faint sound of a handbell in the in the graveyard, she does what a Holmes would do - she investigates. What she finds is a temporary tombstone at a recent grave site with a bell attached to it. Someone buried inside is pulling a string to ring the bell. Enola quickly takes charge and directs her companions to free the person within. She finds a young girl who remembers almost nothing, including her own name, about how or why she was buried.  Enola takes it upon herself to protect the mysterious girl from an unknown enemy and learns that her brother Sherlock is engaged in a battle with Professor Moriarty and off on a mission that appears to be related to the mysterious girl in Enola's care. When Enola receives terrible news regarding Sherlock's battle, the dynamics of the Holmes family changes and ...

When I first began reviewing books in earnest for my current reviewing situation (as opposed to the late 1980's when I reviewed books for West Coast Review of Books newspaper), I requested a lot of books from a lot of different publishers, trying to get my foot in the door. This book, Hard Road , was one of those early requests. I wasn't much of a Thriller reader at the time, but it looked interesting and I was willing to give it a try. It was also a first book in a proposed series. Who knew, back then, that this would go on to be a a successful, currently fifteen book series?! Jon Reznick is a 'ghost.' He's a black-ops operative who technically doesn't exist. Though he gets a paycheck from the U.S. government, there are very few people who know about him and his orders come from shadowy figures inside governmental walls. Jon gets an order for a high-level hit that needs to look like a suicide. All in a day's work for Reznick. But when he arrives at the cor...

 Being an actor is hard work, especially when the actor doesn't live in an area with a thriving film or stage community. Our main protagonist in Black Bag , by Luke Kennard, is such an actor. He's a big fish in a small pond, generally getting roles in local productions. But that's not enough to sustain the actor - especially when a job falls through. Our unnamed protagonist in question responds to an ad from a university professor, looking for an actor. The job: to wear a giant black bag and attend his lectures, making no sounds. It's a test, of course, to see how the students react. The test is on-going through the semester, and the actor begins to wear the black bag to and from the school, riding the bus and going to tea shops in his black bag. The actor takes his work quite seriously and reflects, himself, on how others react to him as black bag. He even connects with a woman who is turned on by his anonymity in the bag. The bag becomes more than just a job - it is a...

 A small town, deep in the Andes Mountains, has some dark secrets. There is an unexplained death of a woman, Nita, who was well loved by everyone in the community, including a poor, misfit youth named Alberto. Alberto stumbles upon a dead body that resembles Nita. The woman is covered in feathers and Alberto is convinced she is Nita, an angel who has fallen to earth. With no other identity to ascribe to the woman, the small, rural community tends to accept the superstitions and hints of magic and supernatural. Years later and some Americans arrive to town in order to experience the local festival. One of the visitors bears an uncanny resemblance to the still beloved Nita. But the American has a less than positive opinion of the pagan rituals she's observed, which creates a rift between the cultures and sets up a clash between reason and belief. This book was one of my earliest Amazon First Reads selections. The supernatural and mysticism aspects appealed to me and I figured the who...