Movie review: "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines"

I'll admit it. I'm a sucker for a Schwarzenegger action flick. I have been ever since I saw his portrayal of Conan the Barbarian in the early 1980s.

Whether Ah-nuld's swinging a sword at a giant snake that used to be James Earl Jones, tracking down the baddies who kidnapped his daughter or unloading a machine gun on an invisible alien, I've probably seen them all and enjoyed quite a few of them them in a mindless sort of way. (His attempts at comedy are another story altogether.)

That being said, I was still a little leery of a James Cameron-less Terminator movie. But relatively unknown director Jonathan Mostow has done a good job with the third installment.

Ah-nuld is back as the character that turned him into a major action star, and he's been sent through time once again to save John Connor (Nick Stahl) from a new Terminator model that's here to kill him. Sound familiar? If you've seen 1991's "T2: Judgment Day," it should. Still, it's deftly handled, and there's also a nice twist at the end that I won't give away here.

John Connor is now an adult. Judgment Day has been averted thanks to the efforts of Ah-nuld, John and Sarah Connor in "T2," but John's still not convinced that the battle is over. He has no ties to anything that can mark him. He's invisible. Of course, that doesn't stop the new T-X, played to the hilt by Kristanna Loken, from tracking him down. The T-X is actually after his future wife and first lieutenant in the coming war, Kate Brewster (Claire Danes), but she stumbles onto both of them after Kate catches John breaking into the veterinary clinic where she works.

As usual, Ah-nuld arrives right on schedule to whisk the pair out of danger. They then lead the T-X on a merry chase to find Brewster's father - who is in charge of the revamped Skynet program which will bring about Judgment Day - and keep him from sending the system online to fight a virus that seems to be taking over all the computer systems in the world.

As with most action movies, you have to leave logic and reason at the door when you go into the theater. You can't wonder about how the T-X gets buried in the rubble of a wall early in the movie and emerges not only unscathed but without even getting her clothes dirty, but then later in the movie gets buried and emerges without skin or legs. If you stop to consider things like how Kate, John and Ah-nuld get into a top secret government building without being noticed, you'll drive yourself crazy. If you forget about it, shovel some more popcorn into your mouth and enjoy the ride, it's a great summertime movie.

That's another way this movie reflects "T2." It's pure special effects and action fun. While the original "Terminator" was a dark, brooding movie. This one's an excuse for chases, explosions, cool effects and rapid-fire one-liners from Ah-nuld. In fact, I'd venture to say that at least half the fun of a "Terminator" movie is seeing Schwarzenegger deadpan lines as a robot, erm, I mean cybernetic organism. Think of how many have entered the pop culture lexicon - "Hasta la vista, baby," "I'll be back."

You expect the special effects to be great in "T3," and for the most part, they're impressive. Perhaps not as groundbreaking as "T2," but certainly more polished due to advancements in the technology. The T-X character is also an interesting development. The robot skeleton gets a new look and this time, it's covered with a morphing metal that allows it to change into anything it touches. Then there's the handy dandy arm attachment that turns into whatever tool or weapon it needs.

Loken does a remarkable imitation of Schwarzenegger's original character as she stalks across the screen showing no trace of emotion or humanity. It's also kind of fun to watch a 100-pound woman tossing Ah-nuld around like a rag doll.

Outside of one chase scene that goes on far longer than it probably should, and the "I'll be back" jokes that get a little stale by the end of the movie, "T3" is a well-done and entertaining joyride. It's just what you expect from a summer movie, and exactly what you hope for (but don't always get) from a Schwarzenegger flick.

Review: "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" by J.K. Rowling

The cover of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" ($29.99, Scholastic) lets the reader know exactly what to expect inside. It's a dark cover - black and deep shades of blue - appropriate for the troubled state of mind Harry's entering in the fifth volume of J.K. Rowling's series.

Those middle teen years are bad enough for most people, but when you've got an evil wizard plotting to kill you, they're much, much worse. That's what Harry is finding out in "Order of the Phoenix." The problem is, no one seems to believe him. The Ministry of Magic is officially denying the return of You-Know-Who, and with the exception of a few of his friends and teachers, most in the wizarding community consider Harry's story the tall tales of an attention-seeking teenager.

Harry is also dealing with one of the toughest years of school at Hogwarts. The O.W.L. achievement tests, which will likely determine the path of his wizarding life, are coming up. He's dealing with yet another Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher (one who has her own agenda and rivals Snape for sheer malice). Dumbledore seems to be ignoring Harry, Hagrid is missing in action and Sirius is stuck in London in hiding. Add to that a love interest and a particularly nasty house elf (sort of the anti-Dobby), and Harry's an emotional wreck - but he's still got to deal with the return of Lord Voldemort.

I was worried when it was announced that "Order of the Phoenix" would be nearly 900 pages long. "Goblet of Fire," the fourth book in the series, wasn't even that long and it felt uneven and padded in places. But all of the problems of that book have vanished just like Harry's fouled-up potions in Professor Snape's class. "Order of the Phoenix" easily justifies its length and then some.

There's no lengthy recap of what's happened before, just a headlong sprint into the action that takes the reader all the way to the finish line.

For adult readers, "Order of the Phoenix" is perhaps the most satisfying of the five books so far. There's an emotional depth that hasn't been present in the previous novels. Adults who have been there and teens who are currently going through that phase of life will easily relate to Harry's struggles. They're something everyone's been through - even those of us who didn't have a dark wizard trying to kill us.

Some of the subjects may be a little heavy for readers on the younger end of the spectrum, but they can still enjoy the whiz-bang action and engaging characters that have become Rowling's signature.

The ability to evoke strong emotions in a novel is becoming a rarer and rarer commodity. I love a book that can make me cheer for the good guys and absolutely despise the baddies. As with most of Rowling's work, I did both with this book.

Though "Order of the Phoenix" took three years to arrive, it was well worth the wait. It's obvious that Rowling spent that time focusing on quality, and she has delivered the best installment of the series so far.

Review: "People of the Owl" by Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear

Thousands of people visit Poverty Point in northeastern Louisiana every year, but no one's ever seen it in quite the way Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear present it in their latest book, "People of the Owl" ($25.95, Forge).

The book is the latest installment of the Gears' "People" series, which chronicles the prehistory of North America through fiction. In the novel, the familiar Poverty Point is transformed into a thriving hub of Native American life called Sun Town by its inhabitants.

We're introduced to six distinct clans that live in the different sections of the city. For years, the Owl Clan has held the reins of power in the matriarchal city, but the reign is coming to an end.

Wing Heart is the last female of her line but determined to hang on to her power. When her brother dies, she has to rely on her sons to perform the duties of Speaker. Her eldest son, White Bird, is perfect for the role. He's daring and heroic and has just returned from an amazingly successful trading journey far to the north. The other son is less likely to offer any assistance. At 15, Mud Puppy is a dreamer who seems a little slow-witted to most people.

When things go wrong, though, Mud Puppy, now known as Salamander, is thrust into the role of leader with all the political machinations and intrigue that go along with it.

Even though I've visited the Poverty Point site a number of times, the Gears were able to transform it into a new place for me, a much more vibrant place. Several of the ideas they presented in "People of the Owl" were intriguing to me.

One of the biggest battles the Gears say they face is against Native American stereotypes, and I understand that statement a little better after reading the book. There's a tendency to think of Native Americans as the warlike savages of the old Westerns or as an idyllic grand, noble and wise race.

There were certain elements of the book, such as the political backstabbing and intrigue, that I initially had trouble accepting. But the more I read, those things began to make sense. After all, we're not talking about mythical creatures, but people with all of the same virtues and vices that people have always had.

Though the people and events in the book were obviously fictional, I had the feeling that they could have been real. It also helps if you're familiar with the site and can visualize things more vividly than someone who hasn't been there.

It's been a few years since I visited Poverty Point, but after reading "People of the Owl," I'm ready to go back to perhaps sit at the top of the bird mound where Mud Puppy found his spirit guide or imagine the buildings of Sun Town sitting on the ridges.

With "People of the Owl," the Gears have accomplished what they intended. The book delivers what any novel should - an exciting, intriguing story with believable characters the reader can care about. But at the same time, by the end, I felt I understood the original inhabitants of Poverty Point just a little better.

Interview: Kathleen O'Neal Gear

Anyone who has ever visited Poverty Point has probably wondered what life was like at the site 3,500 years ago, but archaeologists Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear took it one step further.

Their latest book, "People of the Owl," is set right here in our back yard and tells a fictional tale of a time of tribulation for the tribes that lived there. It's the 11th book in their series, commonly called the "People" books, that uses fiction to teach about Native American cultures.

"What we are doing in the novels is detailing 15,000 years of North American prehistory," Michael Gear said. "The important thing about doing a novel is that you can put real people there in that time. People can relate to fictional characters in a story better than they can to dry facts in an archaeological report."

Kathleen Gear agreed that fiction can make a powerful teaching tool.

"What we try to do is entertain at the same time we educate about North America's archaeology," she said. "If we have done our jobs well at the end of the book, the people who read this novel will understand Poverty Point culture because they have lived in that time, in that place, with those people."

The Gears said they began writing the series because they thought Americans' knowledge of the continent's past was woefully lacking. With 16 million copies of the books in print worldwide, the Gears may be making some headway in their battle. They're surprised by the popularity of the series, which has now been translated into 18 languages, but they say they still have a long way to go.

"More Americans can name archaeological sites in Cambodia than in their own country," Michael Gear said. "In a sense, it's the world's lost heritage. We don't think of North America as being a lost continent, but its prehistory certainly is."

During their research for "People of the Owl," the Gears went to great lengths to find out all they could about Poverty Point. They spoke with local and national experts, analyzed the archaeological reports and used an ethnographic analogy, which means they studied the social, political and religious structures of other tribes in the region and tried to fill in gaps in the archaeological record.

"Archaeological data is like a shredded black and white photograph," said Kathleen Gear. "We piece it back together as best we can, but there are huge gaps in the information. At the Poverty Point site, for example, only one-half of 1 percent of the site has actually been excavated."

With so little to go on, the Gears say it's tough to try to give an accurate portrayal of what life might have been like at the site. But they do try to back everything in the book up with facts.

"Everything that we speculate on in the book is something that we can support to our academic colleagues," Michael Gear said.

As an example, he points to the fact that there are six clans in the book. The idea is based on geography and culture. He said the layout of the city itself indicates that there were six divisions, and the cultures that are descended from Poverty Point all hold the number six sacred.

One of the things the Gears most enjoyed about the study of Poverty Point was doing research on the Poverty Point objects, which are the clay objects the natives used to regulate the temperature of their ovens.

"We did a study to find out what they were cooking in the earth ovens, and there were a couple of things in there that are still a mystery to us," Kathleen Gear said. "We found spruce cells and sage. There isn't spruce for miles, and the closest sage is in southern Missouri. They must have been importing these things, and we're still not sure what they were using them for."

The Gears say they find Poverty Point fascinating for a variety of reason, the biggest being that it could be the first city in America. Michael Gear points to the massive moundworks, the population of the Macon Bayou area in general and evidence of trade with tribes as far away as current-day Wisconsin.

"We think that we're justified in making the assertion that it's America's first city," he said. "We think that Poverty Point is where a lot of the ideas came together which would create the eastern culture which would terminate in people like the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Tunica, Caddo and Cherokee. It's the place where everything starts."

As for the Gears, they'll keep writing the "People" books, and they have plenty of cultures left to explore.

"All that we've done so far is touch - just barely touch - the most important cultures in North America," Kathleen Gear said. "There are thousands of cultures left to study. We've only surveyed about 4 percent of North America for archaeological sites, which means there is an extraordinary amount out there that we still don't know."

Review: "Club Dead" by Charlaine Harris

A lot of folks might roll their eyes at the mention of a vampire story, but when it happens in your own back yard, it's a different matter. In "Club Dead" ($6.50, Ace Books), Charlaine Harris returns to the fictional northern Louisiana town of Bon Temps and her heroine Sookie Stackhouse.

This time, Sookie's vampire boyfriend Bill Compton disappears while on a secret mission from the vampire queen of Louisiana, who has sent him to treat with the Mississippi faction. The Louisiana vampires can't risk a war with Mississippi by moving openly to find him, so that leaves it up to Sookie and her guide, a suave werewolf named Alcide Herveaux.

But Sookie isn't sure she really wants to find Bill. She's discovered that at least part of the reason he went to Jackson was to meet a former lover, another vampire. In fact, Sookie's not entirely sure that Bill even wants to be found.

Before you roll your eyes at the plotline, know that this isn't your typical vampire novel. If you're imagining a redneck Lestat, think again. Harris' vampires are rougher and less refined than Rice's, and these books don't take themselves too seriously. Unlike many vampire novels with dark, gothic moods, these books are intended to be fun - and they are. Quite a lot of fun, in fact.

While the town of Bon Temps is fictional, there are plenty of local landmarks for readers to associate with. During the course of the stories, action happens in Shreveport, Jackson, Ruston and even right here in Monroe.

Harris, who lives in Magnolia, Ark., is also able to capture the character of our area pretty well. While I did groan at a few stereotypical characterizations, I also had to admit that for the most part, she gets it right.

As an added bonus in "Club Dead," Harris offers a possible explanation for quite a few tabloid stories in the character of Bubba. I won't reveal the secret. I'll leave that to the reader to find out, but it's an original idea that had me rolling with laughter.

"Club Dead" is the third in Harris' "Southern Vampire" series, and it's just as lively and entertaining as the first two. They're part horror and part mystery with a healthy dose of biting (pardon the pun) humor.

If you're looking for darkened corners, melodramatic images and dialogue and "proper" vampires, I'd suggest you find them somewhere else. If you're looking for a fun supernatural romp across a Southern landscape, you won't do much better than Harris' books.

Review: "Mojo: Conjure Stories" by Nalo Hopkinson

When she emerged on the scene through the Warner Aspect First Novel Contest a few years ago, Nalo Hopkinson was hailed as a breath of fresh air in the science fiction and fantasy world. Her first two novels "Brown Girl in the Ring" and "Midnight Robber" and a short story collection "Skin Folk" have earned awards and critical acclaim.

Now Hopkinson tries her hand at editing with the collection "Mojo: Conjure Stories" ($13.95, Warner Aspect.) The good news is that she's just as adept at choosing stories as writing them.

The 19 stories in "Mojo," all focus on the spiritual and magical beliefs of western Africa, the source of the term mojo and much of what it stands for. The book contains a nice mix of well-known authors (Neil Gaiman, Tananarive Due, Barbara Hambly) and relative unknowns who have stories to tell that are just as good, or sometimes better, than their more popular counterparts.

The collection takes the reader on a ride through time from the days of plantations to the present. It also offers insights into a culture that has been largely overlooked and a belief system that has been lost to most of the world.

While many people are aware of these traditions, their knowledge goes no farther than the storied voodoo doll (a stereotypical symbol which "Mojo" happily avoids). While the tales in the book are mostly fantasy and horror, they still manage to break down the image of the wild-eyed old woman sticking needles into a doll.

One of the most haunting stories in the book is "Fate" by Jenise Aminoff, in which a mother has a premonition that her son is about to die. To keep him with her a little longer, she invokes the power of a tricky spirit, which, of course, turns out to be not a very good idea.

The voices in "Mojo" are another real treat. A particular favorite of mine is Andy Duncan's "Daddy Mention and the Monday Skull." A wanderer relates the story of the legendary convict Daddy Mention who, after hearing a musical group formed by prisoners on the radio, tricks a malevolent swamp spirit into giving him singing abilities so he can get out of prison. He gets his wish, with one catch - his singing voice only works on Mondays, the same day the spirit may emerge from the swamp and exact its revenge.

For all its magical leanings, "Mojo" also has appeal to readers of mainstream fiction. Many of the stories tackle real-world issues, and there's also much humor to be found.

The only bad thing about this book is that it didn't include a story by Hopkinson herself. All in all, this is a collection with some powerful mojo.

Review: "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin

In general, books that have the audacity to pronounce themselves "The Fantasy Novel of the Year" on the cover, fall far short of that lofty title. Occasionally, there are exceptions, though. One such came a few years ago, George R.R. Martin's "A Game of Thrones," the debut novel in his "Song of Ice and Fire" series.

At first I scoffed at the title, but Martin's work quickly convinced me.

The book introduced us to a land in turmoil. The ruler of the Seven Kingdoms has been slain and seemingly all of the royal families have a connection to the throne - and each one intends to stake its claim, often brutally. It's a world descending into chaos, with the ominous and ever-present threat in the motto of the Stark family - "Winter is coming." Indeed, a bleak and icy winter from the looks of things.

The two successive volumes, "A Clash of Kings" and the latest, "A Storm of Swords" ($7.99, Bantam Spectra) have built on that story, adding layers of intrigue, action and suspense.

Of the three ambitious, sweeping fantasy epics that came out of the 1990s - Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time," Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" and "A Song of Ice and Fire" - only Martin's continues to achieve the same quality found in the first installment.

Jordan's story has gotten bogged down in near endless subplots that have made the past few volumes practically unreadable. Goodkind's series seems to have lost steam, with many of the story lines seeming contrived just to keep the tale of Richard and Kahlan alive. With his series, Martin has managed to avoid those pitfalls.

Martin has kept a firm focus on the primary storyline of his series. While his story is just as complex as Jordan's, with almost as many subplots, Martin weaves them into a seamless whole that advances the main story at all times.

Though Martin does a lot of head-hopping, dropping in regularly on the numerous characters of the books, he also manages to keep the flow. The drastic shifts are not jarring to the reader, but rather segue smoothly into each other.

The books feature powerful characters - both the kind you want to cheer for and the kind you love to hate. But they're also not all cut-and-dried, good or evil. The shades of gray that exist in real-life are very apparent in Martin's work, and his world is much richer for it.

With any luck, the fourth volume of the series, "A Feast for Crows" will be out in hardcover before the end of the year, but nothing is guaranteed, as Martin is still writing it. As anxious as I am to get my hands on it, I hope he takes his time. I'll wait a few extra months for continued quality.

Review: "Sometimes the Magic Works" by Terry Brooks

Terry Brooks knows a little something about magic. His "Shannara" series has introduced millions of readers to fantasy fiction. Now, in "Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life" ($22.95, Del Rey), Brooks attempts to share the knowledge gained from his success with other would-be writers.

Much like Stephen King's excellent "On Writing" of a couple of years ago, Brooks' book looks at publishing through his own experiences. He illustrates some of the pitfalls and pratfalls of the writing life, and through those stories imparts wisdom to those who hope to follow in his footsteps.

Brooks begins by offering a moving tribute to the people who gave a young writer of Tolkienesque fiction a chance, one of fantasy's most influential couples, Lester and Judi Del Rey. Without the Del Reys, as Brooks points out, there may not be a market for fantasy fiction today.

From there, Brooks covers everything from the incredible success of his first book "The Sword of Shannara," which was the first work of fiction to top the New York Times best-seller list, to the disappointing sales of his attempts to break out of the "Shannara" world 20 years later. He shows aspiring writers that even the most successful fall down sometimes.

One of the most interesting stories in the book deals with his work on movie adaptations. Brooks recounts a nightmarish experience while writing the adaptation of "Hook," in which he was not allowed to see sets, costumes or even talk to key figures involved in the film. He tells of major rewrites as the script of the movie seemed to change on a whim and vowing to never again write a movie adaptation.

Then, of course, came the call from George Lucas, who wanted Brooks to write the novelizaton of "Episode I: The Phantom Menace." Unlike the experience with the former film, Lucas welcomed Brooks into the inner workings of the movie, and even allowed him to change things and write scenes that didn't appear in the big screen version.

Brooks dispels the myths of glamour and fame that some people have about writers when he speaks of book signings where no one shows up. He also tackles the belief that once you write a best-seller, you're set in the publishing world when he talks about having to throw out 375 pages of his second novel and start over from scratch.

Actually, the only place the book gets bogged down is when Brooks begins to discuss tips and techniques. He offers some good advice for aspiring authors, but those two chapters seem to really interrupt the flow of the book.

Besides, the real learning in this book comes not from rote recital of technique, but from watching the progression of Brooks' life. The outlining and characterization is not as important as learning that even a perennial best-seller like Brooks still has frustrations, disappointments and challenges.

In the end, Brooks succinctly captures the spirit of the entire book in two pages. Really, in one line: "If you don't think there is magic in writing, you probably won't write anything magical."

Ultimately, though, the true test of any book on writing is whether or not it inspires. In that, Brooks' book passes with flying colors. In this volume, Brooks' deep love of writing is apparent, as is his appreciation of the talents and success he's been given. That spirit is infectious and should drive any young writer back to the keyboard.

Review: "The Thief Lord" by Cornelia Funke

Over the past couple of years, I think I've seen the words "the next `Harry Potter'" hundreds of times. The phrase is used so often that it's become a cliché.

Still, I've read most of the books that make that claim, and while some were very good reads, none really came close to living up to the billing. I expected a similar reaction to Cornelia Funke's "The Thief Lord" ($16.95, The Chicken House/Scholastic Inc.).

I was surprised to find that, while reading this book, I did think of the boy wizard. "The Thief Lord" captures that same spirit of adventure and sense of wonder that I found in the first "Potter" novel.

After their mother's death, Prosper, 12, and Bo, 5, flee their native Hamburg, Germany, for Venice - a city their mother has often described to them as a magical place. The orphans are running from their aunt and uncle, the totally unlikeable Hartliebs, who only want to adopt Bo and want to send Prosper away to boarding school. ("We'll get Bo a dog and see just how quickly he forgets his brother," snips Esther Hartlieb, when asked about separating the siblings.)

Once in Venice, though, the young brothers have to find a way to support themselves. They're taken in by a group of orphans that live in an abandoned movie theater and are led by Scipio, who calls himself "The Thief Lord." While Prosper has some concerns about Scipio's nefarious activities, their friend has taken care of them well. He breaks into some of the richest houses in town, and they fence the goods to a less-than-reputable merchant.

But that's about to change. The Thief Lord has just been offered a job that will allow all of them to give up thievery.

When the Hartliebs track the brothers to Venice, they hire a detective to find the children. In the course of his investigation, he uncovers a secret that suggests Scipio's exploits are not quite as daring and his life is not quite as adventurous as he claims. This drives a wedge between the other orphans and their one-time leader, but when they attempt the heist without Scipio, they get more than they bargained for - and all the adventure they'd ever want.

While "The Thief Lord" is - at its heart - a fantasy, it's not the kind of witches and wizards fantasy of the "Potter" series. In truth, aside from the unpleasant aunt and uncle, it bears little resemblance to J.K. Rowling's books. It's actually more akin to Dickens.

In spirit, it's a blend of "Oliver Twist" and "Harry Potter," with a dash of "Something Wicked This Way Comes" thrown in for good measure.

For parents who are worried that the book may glorify theft, it's no worse than Dickens' classic. As we read of Scipio's supposed exploits in the beginning, perhaps it does a bit. But as the story unfolds, the children in the tale begin to understand that dishonesty doesn't pay. But Funke isn't heavy-handed with the moral of the story, either.

"The Thief Lord" is one of those rare books that can take a child on a rollicking good adventure or take an adult back to the days when he longed for that same adventure. Just this once, perhaps, dubbing it "the next Harry Potter" isn't overkill.

Review: "Golden Fool" by Robin Hobb

Often the second book in a trilogy is the hardest to slog through. In most cases, trilogies start with a bang and end with a bang, and the middle book is just a bridge between the two. But that's not the case with Robin Hobb's "Golden Fool" ($24.95, Bantam Spectra). If anything, "Golden Fool" is more dynamic and engaging than its predecessor, last year's "Fools Errand."

FitzChivalry Farseer, the illegitimate heir to the throne of the Six Duchies, is believed by most - even his own daughter and her mother - to be dead. But now, Fitz has been thrown back into a world he thought he'd left behind, the courtly intrigue of Buckkeep.

Fitz - masquerading as Tom Badgerlock, servant of Lord Golden - finds himself walking the same secret paths he walked as an apprentice assassin so many years ago and again reporting his findings to his former master Chade Fallstar. He has been asked to teach Prince Dutiful the Skill magic of the Farseer line - an art Fitz knows precious little about himself - and also to teach the prince to control the feared and reviled Wit magic. On top of all of this, he still grieves for the death of Nighteyes, the wolf he was bonded to for so many years, and his adopted son Hap has been caught up in city life and is straying down the wrong path.

Dutiful has been betrothed to an Outislander princess in an effort to make peace with the longtime enemies of the Six Duchies, but the princess' party holds some interesting secrets. At the same time, a strange delegation from Bingtown makes things even more interesting.

Then there's always the issue of the Wit magic. While Kettricken has declared the execution of the Witted illegal, it still continues in some areas. A militant faction of the Witted that call themselves the Piebalds continues to threaten the queen. What's worse, the Piebalds may know two dangerous secrets: that FitzChivalry Farseer still lives and that Dutiful possesses the Wit.

If that sounds like there's a lot going on, well, there is. But Hobb handles it masterfully, just as she always has.

Hobb's "Farseer" trilogy of a few years ago easily ranks among the best fantasy works of the past decade, and "The Tawny Man" is shaping up to be every bit as good.

Hobb is a master of manipulating human emotion. Her characters, particularly Fitz, work so well because it's easy to relate to them. Many of his problems arise from situations the average person has been through (always saying the wrong thing, misjudging others, having everything you do go awry), and you can easily put yourself in his shoes. At times, you want to jump into his head at critical moments so you can help him make the right decision for once.

Just for the record, I do miss Nighteyes. Despite the focus on Fitz in the "Farseer" trilogy, Nighteyes was always the real star in my view. But the loss of the wolf plays into the storyline well, allowing the reader to feel the void left by Nighteyes almost as keenly as Fitz himself does.

It's rare these days that a book keeps me turning pages well past the time I know I should put it down and turn in for the night, but this one did. "Golden Fool" proves again that Hobb is one of the best in the business.

Review: "The Briar King" by Greg Keyes

Greg Keyes' latest book "The Briar King" ($24.95, Del Rey) is just the kind I love - and the kind I've come to dread.

It's a complex story with a number of different threads and some nice twists and turns - epic fantasy at its best. Keyes has promised a four-book cycle, and that's what worries me. These days, the number of promised books tends to grow with the success of the series - witness Robert Jordan's unending mess of a story. And judging by the first installment, this should be a very popular tale. If Keyes can deliver in four books, though, this series, called "Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone," could be one of the best I've come across in several years.

"The Briar King" takes on one of the great mysteries of American history - the lost colony of Roanoke Island. In 1587, more than 100 English colonists settled on the island, the first English settlement in America. Within three years, the colony had vanished without a trace, leaving only the word "Croatoan" carved in a tree.

In this book, Keyes speculates that the colonists were transported to a new world - in the most real sense of the word. There they were enslaved by creatures known as the Skasloi until Virginia Dare (if you've studied the Roanoke Colony, you'll know she was the first English child born in America) led the people in an uprising against their oppressors. But in order to free her people, Dare invoked a power more ancient and dangerous than the Skasloi. Now, generations later, her descendants may have to pay the ultimate price for their freedom. The legendary Briar King, a creature of myth and fable, has awakened to the world.

While "The Briar King" starts a little slow, laying the foundation of the story, about halfway through the action picks up. From there it's a thrill ride to the end with plenty of treachery, revelation and even a few bombshell surprises.

In truth, most of Keyes' characters are fantasy standards - the low-born warrior who gains knighthood through an act of valor, the headstrong (and a bit spoiled) princess who vows to marry for love and not duty, the grizzled woodsman, the foppish swordsman who is about to meet his match, the young monk who is learning that the church isn't as holy as he thought. Fantasy fans have read about these characters a dozen times in a dozen different books, but Keyes manages to take the basic archetypes and breathe new life into them.

He also has a deft hand at weaving together seemingly unconnected threads to form a bigger story, and his cliffhanger style of ending chapters keeps the reader hanging on and wanting to know what happens next. In those ways, "The Briar King" reminds me a great deal of George R.R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" series. That's not to say it's a knock-off, but rather a story as well-crafted and intriguing as Martin's. "The Briar King" offers one of the most promising starts I've seen since Martin's "A Game of Thrones." I hope the follow-up is as good.

Review: "Crossroads of Twilight" by Robert Jordan

Poor gullible me.

Upon finishing Robert Jordan's last book, I threw it across the room and swore I'd never read another volume of "The Wheel of Time." But when "Crossroads of Twilight" ($29.95, Tor) hit shelves last month, I felt like there was some unfinished business between myself and Mr. Jordan. After all, I've spent more than a decade with this series and invested my time into reading the nearly 10,000 pages so far. I really wanted to see how everything turns out. Against my better judgment, I borrowed a copy.

I'd love to offer a plot summary here, but I can't. There isn't one. In fact, the main story of "The Wheel of Time" hasn't moved forward a single inch in four books and nearly 4,000 pages. "Crossroads of Twilight" again gets bogged down in Jordan's out-of-control subplots. The series has turned into a gigantic soap opera, but instead of getting snippets of the myriad subplots daily, Jordan's fans have to wait 1-2 years between installments.

I like complex stories as much as the next reader, but there's a point where complex crosses the line into confounding. Jordan has created so many forks in the road that he can spend precious little time with any of them in nearly 700 pages. I had hoped he'd begin to tie up some of those loose ends in the tenth volume, but no such luck. I believe the truth is that Jordan doesn't have any idea how the story is going to end. I get the feeling he's just buying time until he figures it out.

This is all the more frustrating because the series had such promise. Back when I first picked up "Eye of the World" in the early 1990s, I thought it was the best thing since Tolkien. It was a well-written, intriguing opening to what was supposed to be a five or seven book series. Now, the estimate is 13, but based on the pace of the last four, I'd say that's a generous estimate. At this rate, it may never end.

Once again, Jordan has topped the best seller list, so apparently someone is still interested, but "Crossroads" was one of the most disappointing reads I've ever forced myself through - even worse than I expected. If you haven't picked it up yet, you won't miss much by skipping it and waiting for the next one.

I can only hope that one day someone releases an abridged version that boils the good parts of the story down to that five or seven book series. I'd really like to find out how things turn out, but I don't think I can make it through another volume like "Crossroads."

The only good thing I can say about this book is at least I didn't spend any money on it this time.

Review: "Dragons of Autumn Twilight" by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

When I saw the new hardcover version of "Dragons of Autumn Twilight" by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman ($24.95, Wizards of the Coast), my first reaction was excitement. I didn't have a hardcover version, and this one, designed to match their most recent "War of Souls" trilogy, was gorgeous.

I cut my fantasy teeth on Weis and Hickman's first two Dragonlance trilogies. They were my first foray into the genre after Tolkien, and they hold a special place in my heart.

My next reaction, though, was a little uncertainty. While I read the "Chronicles" trilogy several times and loved them way back when, it's been at least 10 or 12 years since I last picked them up. In that time, I've read a lot of books and discovered some of the best writers the genre has to offer. My perspective is different now, and I was concerned that these books wouldn't live up to the memory I had of them.

But when I opened up "Dragons of Autumn Twilight" and started reading, it was like slipping into an old, worn, comfortable pair of jeans. It was an opportunity to take a stroll with a few old friends that I haven't visited with in quite a while.

Before going their separate ways, a group of companions agrees to meet five years later at the Inn of the Last Home in Solace. When the time comes, they find their way home, but one of their number is missing and all of them are changed.

The world is changing as well. Wild rumors of the old gods, who long ago abandoned the world of Krynn, are flying. Now, the companions are faced with proof that the old gods are returning, in the form of a blue crystal staff carried by a plainswoman whose fate has become intertwined with theirs. But they're not the only ones that know about the staff. They soon find themselves on the run from strange lizard-like creatures called draconians whose mission is to retrieve the staff. But for who?

The most ominous change, though, is the return of a creature of legend - a creature believed by most to be a child's tale. For the first time in ages, dragons again roam the skies of Krynn.

I can still remember how enthralled I was with this book the first time I read it. It grabbed me and sucked me in. I came to love the characters - the irrepressible Tasslehoff, the dour Tanis, the strict Sturm, the gruff Flint, the loyal Caramon, and of course, the frail, acid-tongued wizard Raistlin Majere, who would become one of my favorite characters. They were all like good friends to me.

Reading "Dragons of Autumn Twilight" this time, I recalled that sense of wonder that I first approached the book with in those days when I was taking my first tentative steps into the fantasy genre. I was able to put aside the jaded spotter of clichés that I've somehow become over the years and simply enjoy the tale.

To me, that's a gift, and I look forward to reliving the second leg of the journey with those companions in the near future.

While the Dragonlance Chronicles may not have the depth and scope of some of the other classics of fantasy that I've discovered in the intervening years, when it comes to a pure fantasy adventure tale, it's still hard to beat.

Review: "Insurrection" by Thomas Reid

A few months ago Wizards of the Coast launched an ambitious six-book project called "R.A. Salvatore's War of the Spider Queen" to shake up one of the Forgotten Realms world's most feared races. Now, the story continues with Thomas Reid's "Insurrection" ($24.95, Wizards of the Coast.)

A party from the drow city of Menzoberranzan, which includes high priestess Quenthel Baenre and master wizard Pharaun Mizzrym, has arrived in the neighboring dark elven city of Ched Nasad. The group is looking for answers as to why their goddess, the Spider Queen Lolth, has forsaken them.

They discover that Lolth's absence is universal. Not only has she abandoned the drow of Menzoberranzan and Ched Nasad, but she's also abandoned other races that worship her.

Unfortunately for the drow, the other races that live among them - those they consider the "lesser races" - have also discovered their weakness. But even facing the possibility of rebellion in their cities, the Matron Mothers of Ched Nasad continue their scheming and machinations against each other, further weakening the dark elves' position.

One of the concerns I had going into this series was how it would flow from one book to the next. The advantage to having a different author write each book is that readers can get the series in their hands much more quickly. The disadvantage is that there could be continuity problems.

The first transition, at least, has gone smoothly. While Reid's style differs from that of Richard Lee Byars, who wrote the first novel "Dissolution," the flow of the story is much the same. The two writers seem to have a singular vision of the characters and events, and most readers will hardly notice the difference.

"Insurrection" does its job well as a building block. The story is entertaining on its own, but its real purpose is to add layers to the larger story which takes place over a six-book span. It's a book that adds new questions and answers very few, but that's as it should be.

My only complaint with the book is a relatively small issue. To me, "Insurrection" sometimes doesn't divorce itself enough from the game - especially in regards to magic. Often when Pharaun discusses his magical limitations, the passages read like they came straight from the Dungeons and Dragons manual. The hardcore gamers who want the novels to strictly adhere to the rules will like it. But it may be jarring to those like me, who are looking for a good story that complements a world they've played in, rather than something that sounds like a translation of a gaming session.

For readers unfamiliar with the Forgotten Realms world and drow society, this book isn't the best place to start. It plops the reader down right in the middle of the action and some understanding of how things operate and what has happened before is needed. But for those following the story, it builds nicely toward what could be a very interesting larger story.

Review: "Guitar: A Complete Guide for the Player" by Dave Hunter

Why couldn't I have found a book like this 12 or 14 years ago?

"Guitar: A Complete Guide for the Player" by Dave Hunter ($29.95, Thunder Bay Press) is a must-have book for any beginning guitarist. The publisher bills it as the most comprehensive manual for the guitar player ever produced. That may be a bit of a stretch, but the book comes pretty close.

Aside from the information, it's a gorgeous, oversized book with plenty of color illustrations. But the true strength of the book is its content.

"Guitar: A Complete Guide for the Player" opens with a brief history of acoustic and electric guitars, featuring photos of some of the most popular guitars like the Gibson Les Paul and the Fender Stratocaster, as well as a few oddballs, like the Martin Backpacker, the Burns Bison and the Parker Fly.

From there, it goes through some subjects that a lot of other guitar manuals ignore. One chapter in the book covers basic maintenance of guitars and amplifiers. With detailed illustrations, this chapter describes how to set the bridge of a guitar, change pickups, even fix that annoying short in the pickup selector switch. If you're a guitar player, you know the one I'm talking about.

Another chapter takes a look at effects pedals. It explains the majority of effects available and offers schemes to help you get the best out of your stomp boxes and rack systems.

Only after it has offered a wealth of practical information on choosing and caring for your guitar, does it get to playing. As you'd expect, more than three quarters of the book is devoted to playing. It features lessons and background on a wide variety of guitar styles from classical to country to heavy metal.

The lessons are fairly comprehensive, covering ideas about the styles from theory to rhythm to lead. These are accompanied by chord illustrations and examples in tablature. Most of the examples are based on the works of specific players and are fairly basic so even beginners can pick them up.

About the only thing that could have made this book better would have been an accompanying tape or CD to let readers hear what the lessons should sound like when played properly.

If you're a beginning guitar player, this book will provide you with a solid foundation to build on. If you've been playing for 20 years, it might not be as helpful - but you never know where you can pick up a new trick.

Review: "Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life," by Barnaby Conrad and Monty Schulz

I have to admit that I'm not the biggest fan of "Peanuts." I liked it when I was a kid, but as I grew older, Charlie Brown and his pals lost their luster for me. Most of the time when I turn to the comics page now, my eye skims right over it - with one exception. I love the strips that feature Snoopy's thoughts on writing.

For a while now, I've had a couple of Snoopy comics hanging over my computer at home that sum up the writing experience for me. One features Snoopy writing a letter that I've often wanted to write back to publishers. It reads, "Gentlemen, Regarding the recent rejection slip you sent me. I think there might have been a misunderstanding. What I really wanted was for you to publish my story and send me fifty thousand dollars. Didn't you realize that?" I'm afraid my luck probably wouldn't be any better than Snoopy's, though.

But those thoughts on writing are why I got really excited about "Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life" by Barnaby Conrad and Monte Schulz ($19.99, Writer's Digest Books).

For this book, the authors asked some of the most well-known writers in the world about their favorite "Peanuts" cartoon on writing. Among the contributors are Ray Bradbury, Danielle Steel, Clive Cussler, Sidney Sheldon, Fannie Flagg, Dominick Dunne, William F. Buckley Jr., Sue Grafton, Ed McBain, Julia Child, Elmore Leonard and more.

The bits from the writers are often interesting, sometimes infuriating. Some, like best seller Steel, made me groan. She goes on and on about how tough the writing life is. I wanted to say, "If it's so bad, surely you've made enough money to quit."

But most are a bit more light-hearted. They're funny, humble, even inspiring. Take for instance Flagg's tale of how she became a writer. Her joy in the act of writing shines through the essay. Others, like Bradbury, recount tales of the bumps and potholes on their road to success, and express their gratitude that they're able to make a living at something they love.

But the real star of the book, as we all know, is Snoopy. My favorites are his takes on rejection slips. Anyone who has started a collection of those little multi-colored slips of paper can understand Snoopy's frustration. Those insidious little phrases like "not right for us at this time" or "doesn't meet our present needs," translate to something more like "you stink" in the mind of the aspiring writer.

One particular cartoon - one of the ones that hang on my desk - cuts to the heart of it. It shows Snoopy retrieving a rejection from the mailbox. It reads, "Dear Contributor, Thank you for considering us with your manuscript. Has it ever occurred to you that you may be the worst writer in the history of the world?" I've certainly gotten a couple of letters that made me feel that way.

It works the other way too, though. There's one strip where Snoopy gets an acceptance, of a sort. It says, "Dear Contributor, Thank you for not sending us anything lately. It suits our present needs." I know there are a few editors out there who have wanted to send me that one.

I was disappointed that I didn't see one of my favorites in this book. It's the final one of the three next to my computer. Snoopy receives a letter that reads, "Dear Son, Thank you for considering us with your letter. We regret, however, that it does not suit our present needs. Sincerely, Mother." The final frame shows Snoopy sitting dejectedly on a rock, thinking, "Even my letters home get rejected."

"Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life" provides a fun break for any writer or "Peanuts" fan. But now, it's time to get the nose back to the grindstone and start writing again. Let's see ... how should I start? Oh, I know.

It was a dark and stormy night...

Review: "Night Watch," by Terry Pratchett

In "Night Watch," Terry Pratchett treats fans to a fun trip into the history of the city of Ankh-Morpork through the eyes of everyone's favorite City Watch captain Samuel Vimes.

When Vimes pursues a criminal named Carcer, accused of killing two coppers, they find themselves locked in a fight atop Unseen University, the school for wizards. As a storm rages around the two combatants, a freak accident sends Vimes through the roof of the school and into darkness.

When he wakes, things are a little strange. He soon finds that he's been transported back in time to his very first days as a copper. He takes on the identity of John Keel, a watchman who took Vimes under his wing in those days. And indeed, Vimes meets the younger version of himself in Lance Constable Samuel Vimes.

The times are turbulent ones for the city of Ankh-Morpork. The current patrician is completely insane, and the man plotting a revolution to take his place isn't much better. The streets are about to erupt in violence, and the results are one of the last things Vimes wants to relive. Unfortunately, it appears he's going to have to, despite his best efforts to change history.

What's worse is that Vimes discovers Carcer has come through with him, and he has a plan to change history himself - by killing one of Vimes' selves.

If my count is correct, "Night Watch" is Pratchett's 28th novel set on his whimsical Discworld, and in all those books, neither the place nor the characters have lost their charm.

The story itself is perhaps not as funny as some of the previous tales of the City Watch, but there are still plenty of laugh-out-loud funny moments.

The real fun of this installment is getting a chance to see how things were before Vetinari took over as patrician and before Vimes overhauled the City Watch. Readers caught glimpses of it in Pratchett's first novels about Vimes, but never knew the whole story.

In "Night Watch," readers get to see younger versions of watchmen Fred Colon and Nobby Nobbs, a Vimes who isn't nearly as savvy and cunning as the current version, watchman Reginald Shoe - before the unfortunate accident that made him a zombie - and a young, but skilled assassin named Havelock Vetinari. Oh, and there's also the birth of a legend, Ankh-Morpork's greatest salesman, "Cut Me Own Throat" Dibbler, who we find out actually got his catch line from Vimes - at least in this timeline.

Time travel stories can be tricky when writers let themselves get bogged down in the "rules." Fortunately, Pratchett throws all that nonsense out the window and just has fun with it. Of course, that's been Pratchett's trademark all along. He approaches everything about the Discworld with an anything goes attitude, and perhaps that's why the series has lasted so long without becoming stale.

Movie review: "The Two Towers"

Being a huge fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's books, it was with more than a little apprehension that I entered the theater this time last year to see the first installment of Peter Jackson's silver screen version of "The Lord of the Rings." But "The Fellowship of the Ring" was so impressive that when I lined up for the opening of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" on Wednesday, I had nothing but excitement and anticipation.


Apparently I wasn't the only one. After what seemed an interminable wait for the lights to go down, the packed house broke into applause as the trailers began to play. After that, it was off to Tolkien's magical land of Middle-Earth.

For those worried that this one can't live up to the hype, forget about it. If anything, "The Two Towers" outshines its predecessor. It has all of the amazing effects and gorgeous settings, but it injects a healthy dose of action into the mix. The most hardcore Tolkien purists may be disappointed a bit by the trumped-up battle scenes, but no one else will. They're fantastic eye candy and make for some compelling dramatic moments.

Jackson does take a few liberties with the story, but the changes are primarily cosmetic - a slight tweaking of the timing, a few minor scenes removed, a brief continuation of the Arwen/Aragorn thread and the delay of a couple of scenes for the third film due next Christmas. All in all, there was nothing that I really missed, and I'm pretty picky about that sort of thing.

If you haven't read the books or seen the first movie, you might want to check it out before going. Like the books, the film version of "The Two Towers" dives right into the action without any backstory, and there's a good chance you could be lost if you're not familiar with the tale.

The movie opens by telling the story of Gandalf's fall from the bridge over Khazad-dum and his ensuing battle with the Balrog. The effects are stunning as the wizard and the computer-generated demon battle while plummeting through the center of the mountain. It also prepares viewers for one of the key twists in the movie, (the wizard's transformation into Gandalf the White.)

From there, the story continues its march to the final showdown with Mordor. With Gollum as guide, Frodo and Sam move along on their journey to Mount Doom with the one ring becoming a greater burden, while battle is joined in the rest of the world. Saruman's forces move against the kingdom of Rohan, while Sauron's armies converge on Gondor in an attempt to crush the human lands between them. The elves are boarding the ships that will take them to the Grey Havens and the dwarves are locked in their mountain halls. It's a bleak picture for the world of Middle-Earth, but despite that there are strong threads of hope and determination running through the movie.

Overall, "The Two Towers" is a very intense film, but Jackson also knows where to provide viewers with a laugh from the dwarf Gimli or one of the hobbits to break the tension.

Jackson's casting continues to be picture perfect, with the choice of Bernard Hill as Theoden, Miranda Otto as Eowyn and Brad Dourif as Grima Wormtongue. Despite the excellent casting, it's a computer-generated character that really steals the show.

Viewers became acquainted with Gollum briefly in "The Fellowship of the Ring," but he takes a larger role in "The Two Towers." We learn that he was once named Smeagol, and there's a particularly impressive sequence as the two distinct personalities emerge and battle for control over the creature. Gollum/Smeagol is the most fully-realized and believable computer-generated character that I've seen, and he was able to draw a wide range of emotions from the packed house in the theater - laughter, pity, disgust and even perhaps a bit of fear.

Of course, there's always a character or creature to look forward to. In "The Fellowship of the Ring," it was the Balrog. In "The Two Towers," it's Treebeard and the Ents. I had nightmares of the great tree-herders looking like the talking trees from "The Wizard of Oz," but Jackson has done a magnificent job of bringing them to life. They're not exactly what I imagined while reading the books, but they're still very impressive.

In truth, there are times in the movie when the viewer knows everything on the screen is computer generated, but it hardly seems to matter. You get caught up in the swirl of the story, and everything is completely believable.

With his version of the second installment of Tolkien's trilogy, Jackson ratchets up the drama and excitement for the conclusion, "Return of the King," which promises to be the best of the three films. The only downside I can see in "The Two Towers" is that we have to wait another year to see the conclusion.

Review: "The Thousand Orcs," by R.A. Salvatore

After nearly a decade and a half of tales about the dark elf Drizzt Do'Urden, the story has come full circle in R.A. Salvatore's latest, "The Thousand Orcs" ($25.95, Wizards of the Coast).


The book marks a new beginning for Drizzt and his companions, opening a chapter that promises to bring the series back to its adventurous roots, while still retaining some of the introspective aspects of more recent volumes.

As the book opens, Drizzt and his companions are once again on the road to Mithral Hall, only this time to stay. The old dwarven king Gandalug has died, and Drizzt's friend Bruenor Battlehammer, the dwarf responsible for the retaking of the ancient dwarven home, has been named the new king.

But Bruenor is reluctant to chain himself to the throne of the dwarven kingdom. He still longs for the freedom and adventure of the road. A chance meeting with a pair of dwarves from a neighboring stronghold who had been attacked by orcs on the road, provides the perfect opportunity for him to duck his duties for a little while longer. In the process of tracking the band of orcs, the companions uncover a more sinister plot. Someone has united the orcs with the frost giants of the north and given them direction and a mission - to capture Mithral Hall and kill Bruenor and his companions.

There are also problems on the political front for Bruenor. Since the reopening of Mithral Hall, Bruenor's kin have been taking business from the metalsmiths of Mirabar, a mixed community of dwarves and humans. A visit by Bruenor breeds discontent between the two races, ultimately leading to a confrontation that threatens to rip the community apart and shift the balance of power in the region to Mithral Hall.

In an interview earlier this year with The News-Star, Salvatore said he was more excited about the new tales of Drizzt Do'Urden than he's ever been. This volume should have the same effect on Salvatore's fans.

For them, reading "The Thousand Orcs" may be a little like jumping on a time travel machine and dialing up the late 1980s. The book captures the spirit of Salvatore's "Icewind Dale" trilogy, the tales that began the story of the dark elven ranger.

Like "Icewind Dale," it's a tale of the companions, free and for the most part happy, on the road to adventure. But at the same time, there's a bit more depth than the original trilogy. The political maneuverings between Mirabar and Mithral Hall are a nice touch and promise to make things interesting over the course of the next two stories.

There's also a much darker feel to this story than the first books. Salvatore promised to shake up the lives of his characters in this latest chapter, and he certainly has. Without giving away any of the twists and turns, I'll just say the ending should leave long time fans more excited about this series than they've been in a long time.

"The Thousand Orcs" shows Salvatore fully recovered from the lull his "Forgotten Realms" books went through in the mid- to late 1990s. The book kicks off the "Hunter's Blades" trilogy which promises to revitalize characters that are in need of some change. I can't wait to see what happens next.

Review: "Bradbury, An Illustrated Life," by Jerry Weist

Like his famous Illustrated Man, the images in "Bradbury, an Illustrated Life: A Journey to Far Metaphor" (William Morrow, $34.95) tell a lot of stories.

The coffee-table biography written by Jerry Weist does tell the tale of Ray Bradbury's life, but it could just as well have been billed as an overview of science fiction and fantasy in the 20th century. Few writers, if any, have had the kind of impact on the genres as Bradbury has. From his earliest publications in the 1930s to his current works, Bradbury has consistently set a high standard for other writers to follow.

Following the introduction by Bradbury himself, the book opens on photos from the 1934 World's Fair's 1,000,000 B.C. exhibit, which was perhaps the inspiration for one of Bradbury's most famous stories "A Sound of Thunder." At any rate, the exhibit certainly left an impression on him and helped set him on his path.

The first chapter of "Bradbury, An Illustrated Life" is a treasure trove for lovers of classic fantasy and science fiction. As we read about the things that shaped Bradbury's life and his love of all things weird, we can enjoy classic covers and illustrations from H.G. Wells, Jules Verne and Amazing Stories magazine, as well as early comic strips and stills from classic horror films.

Over the next 100 pages or so, the book takes us on a trip through Bradbury's most prolific years. From covers of Weird Tales where his stories ran alongside luminaries like H.P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, to his numerous novels, they're all represented. There is an extensive collection of illustrations that have accompanied Bradbury's stories in magazines, as well as the various incarnations of the covers of some of his most famous books.

On the pages dedicated to books like "Fahrenheit 451" and "The October Country," you can follow the trends in the publishing industry from the stark covers of the 1950s to the funky '60s and '70s versions and the slick covers of the '80s and '90s.

Later, we're introduced to images from the silver screen, small screen and even stage adaptations of Bradbury's work.

But it's not all about the writer's considerable legacy. We also get to steal a few glimpses of the real man behind the typewriter. Images of Bradbury enjoying himself on classic movie sets at the Los Angeles Film Society or at his cluttered desk or surrounded by friends are scattered throughout the book. Particularly interesting are the drawings and correspondences by Bradbury that are sprinkled throughout. More than anything else, these offer insight into the real man.

"Bradbury, an Illustrated Life" is a gorgeous and informative tribute to the true master of the speculative genres. If you've got a Bradbury fan on your Christmas list, this volume would be the perfect gift.