A bad decision

Just before the holidays, I decided to bring my home into the satellite radio age. I'd been tempted for a long time. Commercial-free radio, and the opportunity to listen to any type of music you want. I checked out both XM and Sirius and chose XM. I was so happy with it after listening to a trial online, that I bought a car receiver and a boombox for the house.

Only a few months later, it looks a lot like wasted money. Earlier this week, I got into the car, flipped on one of my favorite channels, XMLM, to find that they had taken it off the air to make room for more baseball. (For me, there are few worse things they could have cancelled it for.)

Now, I'll be the first to admit that I didn't think XMLM was perfect. As a matter of fact, I dissed song selection in my last entry. I thought the station focused too much on the death/grindcore aspect of metal and ignored a lot of heavy bands that deserved some play. Still, I did listen to it regularly, and its loss leaves a huge void for metal fans in XM's programming.

Now your options are the Boneyard, which plays a lot of the more commercial hard rock from the 1980s, and Squizz, which plays a lot of the more commercial hard rock from today. While I do like those channels, if you want anything underground or really heavy, you're out of luck. (Oh, they give one of the XMLM DJs three hours on Squizz during the day, when no one with a job can listen; and of course, you can pay an extra $3.99 per month to listen to the 64kbps online version -- sorry, but there are a lot of FREE online metal stations that I really like.)

The great thing about satellite radio in the beginning was that it provided a place for bands that aren't going to get exposure on regular radio to be heard. It was a place where listeners who were into musical genres that don't get airplay could find new music. But, as with everything in the music business, the corporate machine gets to it sooner or later. I fully expect that one day, satellite radio will be just as generic and boring as standard radio, all of the promise lost. It's already on its way.

My advice, if you're a metal fan thinking about satellite radio, go with Sirius. At least they still have a metal channel ... for now.

Where did all the singers go?

That's the question I ask myself every week when I watch Headbanger's Ball. I grew up with guys like Bruce Dickinson, Jon Oliva, Ronnie James Dio. All undeniably metal, but all guys that can really wail. It's what I find missing in most of the metal I hear today. Most of the bands out there now seem convinced that in order to be heavy, it has to sound like your singer's voice box is about to fly out and smack into the opposite wall. It's just not true.

Black Sabbath practically invented metal without screaming at all.

Let me qualify this so you know I'm not just some old geezer that can't handle the new sound. There are a lot of newer bands out there that I really like. In fact, I'm more excited about what's going on in metal right now than I've been in a long time. Bands like Shadows Fall, God Forbid, Diecast and Soilwork are producing some of the best music I've heard in a long time (and yes, most of them are screamers.)

What annoys me when I watch Headbanger's Ball now is that so many of the bands sound exactly the same. I feel like I'm hearing the same song 8 or 10 times during the course of a two-hour show. I grew up on thrash -- Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, Testament, Overkill, etc. They all played the same style of music but they all had their own sound. When you heard a song, you could tell immediately who it was. I don't hear that now. I was listening to Liquid Metal on XM Radio last night. They played three songs in a row, and I couldn't tell where one song ended and the next began. Three different bands, and it was so cookie cutter that I couldn't even tell when the song changed, much less tell the bands apart.

Maybe it's insecurity. Metal fans have a long history of ridiculing bands they don't consider "true metal." Maybe these guys are afraid of seeming weak. But singing doesn't mean sounding like the pretty boys in the hair bands. Look at guys like Zakk Wylde or John Bush. Both sing, and both have very masculine voices. Black Label Society's "Stronger than Death" is a great heavy album, and it doesn't lose an ounce of power because Zakk's singing instead of screaming. Or take Pantera as an example. Sure, Phil did more than his share of screaming, but he could also sing when the piece called for it. Is "I'm Broken" any less heavy for the singing? Would you give up a song like "Floods" just because it's not played 90 miles an hour with blast beats?

I understand that everyone has different tastes, and to each his own. There's obviously a market for that sound, so if they like it and can make money doing it more power to them. But would somebody, anybody, please give me a singer?

Welcome

Welcome to the new and improved Hall of the Mountain King site. I started this site in the late 1990s with grand intentions (or perhaps illusions) to make it something of a portal site for people interested in fantasy and science fiction or heavy metal. That didn't quite work out for me, and at some point in 2000, I just let it go.

For almost five years, the site sat here, an aging ruin in the ever-changing world of the Internet. A couple of weeks ago, I decided the time had come to undertake a major renovation of the old site, and I've been putting in a lot of hours during that time to try to redesign the site and get five years worth of reviews posted. Needless to say, the job was bigger than I thought when I started, and there are still many areas of the site under construction. My hope is to have everything active within the next two weeks. In the meantime, I thank you for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy the new look of the site and the content that's available.

I've resisted this blogging trend for a couple of years now for a couple of reasons, but it seems that I need a good place to muse and rant, and what better place? In this journal, I'll record general thoughts or interesting tidbits I pick up on music, books, movies or whatever else comes to mind. I welcome differing opinions, but ask only that you take a moment to think before replying to a post. I want the discussion to be intelligent and not devolve into name-calling and personal insults. Beyond that, anything goes.

Review: "The Charnel Prince" by Greg Keyes

Epic fantasy can be a tough nut to crack.

Between the classic high fantasy of J.R.R. Tolkien and the gritty, more modern fantasy of George R.R. Martin, there's plenty of fertile ground for writers, but there is also a lot of land that's been leached of its resources through overuse. That's why picking up the latest epic can be an iffy proposition, but when you get a good one, the fantasy subgenre is hard to beat.

Greg Keyes has planted the seeds for an excellent epic tale with the first books of his "Kingdom of Thorn and Bone" series. The second installment, "The Charnel Prince" ($23.95, Del Rey) delivers exactly what the first book, "The Briar King," promised - an action-packed thrill ride that keeps readers intrigued and turning pages.

Keyes' style blends the best of both worlds of epic fantasy. The action is more akin to Martin's darkly violent style, with no punches pulled. The tone and world of the story are closer to Tolkien's magical realm, filled with great wonder.

In "The Charnel Prince," the legendary Briar King walks the world again, and with him, he's brought beasts and monsters that most people considered only myths. Then again, a lot of the people of Keyes' world once considered the Briar King a myth.

Meanwhile, a civil war is brewing in Crotheny following the murder of the king and most of his family, and the surrounding nations are positioning themselves to capitalize. Queen Murielle has kept a shaky grip on the throne with her mentally disabled son Charles, but unless her daughter and only other surviving family member, Anne Dare, is found, all may be lost.

If you missed "The Briar King," you might want to pick it up in paperback ($7.50, Del Rey) before you get started on this one. Otherwise, you'll be a little lost in the story, and you may not get a full appreciation for some of the characters, which were more fully introduced in the first volume.

Since Keyes weaves so many storylines together, the chapters of the book hop from character to character, and the author usually leaves readers in a cliffhanger ending to each chapter. I've heard some complaints from other readers about this style, but personally, I love it. I think it's one of the things that makes the book so hard to put down. I've just got to see what happens next.

Another appealing thing about this book is that Keyes wastes little time on the lengthy, distracting, purple-prose descriptions you'll find in other epic fantasy novels. He tells the reader only what you need to know and keeps the plot moving forward.

I'm always a little nervous about recommending a series like this because I've seen a lot of promising epic series come to a bad ending (usually by never ending). The concise way that Keyes has structured the first two books gives me hope that he can tell the story in the promised four books.

Keyes is off to a fantastic start with a series that could rank among the best the genre has to offer.

Review: "Blood Rites" by Jim Butcher

Chicago's only wizard-for-hire, Harry Dresden is back, and not surprisingly, he's in hot water again in "Blood Rites" ($6.99, Roc), the latest in Jim Butcher's "Dresden Files" series.

Harry's trying to make a living while laying low. The vampire courts still have a price on his head. Then he gets a job offer from an interesting source. Thomas, a white court vampire that Harry has worked with in the past, asks him to take on the job of finding out who has put on entropy curse on his producer friend Arturo Genosa. Of course, Harry gets more than he bargained for when Genosa turns out to be an "adult" movie director with three ex-wives who were stars in his movies.

Harry soon finds out that the plot is thicker than a couple of spurned exes, and he finds himself in the last place he wants to be - in the middle of vampire politics.

"Blood Rites" is the sixth installment of the "Dresden Files," and though a number of very good authors have tried the ghosts and ghouls in the real world formula, Butcher's is the only series that's been able to keep me consistently entertained through this many books. It's due in part to the focus on action and humor and his avoidance of the overwrought emotional introspection that comes along with most of these tales.

Though Harry Dresden is certainly a prime candidate for that kind of over-the-top tortured hero treatment, Butcher bypasses the wallowing-in-misery thought sequences and keeps the story moving. He packs so much in that I often wonder if he'll run out of story line possibilities soon. I hope not because thus far, the Dresden books have been incredibly entertaining.

If you haven't read the past tales in the series, though, "Blood Rites" is probably not the place to start. Most of the characters in the book have been introduced before and have backstories with Harry that are alluded to, but not addressed directly here. You might find yourself a little lost, and you'll certainly miss some of the references to previous stories.

Butcher also does a good job of setting up future installments of the series, dropping a few possibilities into the mix with a stowaway puppy from a supernatural rescue mission and a revelation about Harry's past. Here's to the continuing adventures of Chicago's premier wizard.

Interview: Andrew Fox

Andrew Fox's novels have been described by reviewers as a cross between Anne Rice and John Kennedy Toole's "A Confederacy of Dunces." It's an odd mix, but it suits Fox just fine.

"I've always been a big fan of vampires in pop culture - vampire comic books, vampire movies," said Fox, who works with the Louisiana Commodity Supplement Food Program. "I also really, really love `A Confederacy of Dunces' by John Kennedy Toole. I think it's probably one of the funniest books ever written in English and does comic dialogue better than just about any book I've ever come across."

Readers of Fox's debut novel "Fat White Vampire Blues" ($13.95, Ballantine) will see a lot of nods to Toole's famous novel. The book follows the story of New Orleans vampire Jules Duchon, who after feeding on the people who enjoy the New Orleans cuisine for 80 years, has ballooned up to 450 pounds and faces some serious problems in trapping his prey.

The premise was inspired by a series of articles Fox read that said New Orleans was America's fattest city.

"I started thinking, vampires live an awfully long time," he said. "What would happen to a vampire that spent 100-150 years drinking the blood of people who eat the typical New Orleans diet - all of that fried, sugar-coated, cream-covered high cholesterol food? After a few decades, they wouldn't look much like Tom Cruise."

But his weight isn't the only challenge Jules is up against. In the first novel, he runs into a younger, stronger black vampire who forbids him to feed on the black citizens of the city. In Fox's latest, "Bride of the Fat White Vampire" ($14.95, Ballantine), Jules is recruited by an aristocratic group of vampires to find out who has been kidnapping and mutilating the group's members. In these ways, he uses the books to make some social commentary, without beating readers over the head with it.

"I definitely wanted to do it in a very light, humorous kind of way," he said. "The same way John Kennedy Toole did in `A Confederacy of Dunces.' He had plenty of social commentary in there, but you hardly notice it because you're laughing so hard."

One of the biggest characters in Fox's novels is not a vampire at all. It's the city itself.

"I think one of the main characters is the city of New Orleans itself," he said. "I have a lot of fun gently satirizing the classs and race relations in the city, and I have a lot of fun with local icons and local institutions."

If you see someone you think you recognize in Fox's books, you may. He said one of the characters in "Bride of Fat White Vampire" is based heavily on Popeye's Fried Chicken founder Al Copeland. He also has characters based on Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and the city's most famous vampire writer, Rice.

"Certainly you couldn't write a book about vampires in New Orleans without having some kind of Anne Rice figure," he said.

Fox has another Jules Duchon book in the works, called "Ghost of the Fat White Vampire," should his publisher want it. In the meantime, he's currently shopping a book that pays tribute to another literary icon, Ray Bradbury.

It's called "Calorie 3501," and begins with a play on "Fahrenheit 451." Instead of firemen who burn books, Fox's novel features Good Humor men driving around in ice cream trucks and confiscating banned high calorie foods.

"From there, the book spins off in all kinds of wild directions, never foreseen by Ray Bradbury," he said. "I'm a big, big admirer of Ray Bradbury, so I start the book off with a strong nod in his direction."

Review: "A Hat Full of Sky" by Terry Pratchett

Vanity kills. That's the lesson that witch-in-training Tiffany Aching learns in Terry Pratchett's "A Hat Full of Sky" ($16.99, HarperCollins).

Well ... sort of.

Since she doesn't have a good mirror at home, Tiffany accidentally learns to project herself out of her body so that she can see herself. What she doesn't know is that when she does it, she's leaving her body open for anything to take it over. In this case, it's a mysterious creature called a hiver, which invades Tiffany and begins to abuse her powers by using them to intimidate and threaten people.

With the help of the a band of small, blue "pictsies" called the Nac Mac Feegle, her new teacher Miss Level and the legendary witch Granny Weatherwax, Tiffany has to cast the creature out and make everything right again.

This is Pratchett's third book for young readers set on the Discworld, which has been the site of more than 30 of his adult novels. Pratchett imbues these books with the same whimsy and bits of satire as his adult books, and they're just as entertaining.

Many of the gags are a bit different than Pratchett's usual to make them a little more accessible to younger readers, but there's still plenty for adults to appreciate.

I don't usually miss a new Pratchett book, but somehow I overlooked the first book in this series, "The Wee Free Men." Apparently, in that book, Tiffany casts out the evil Queen who oppressed the Nac Mac Feegle, thus earning their loyalty. The events of that book are important to "A Hat Full of Sky," but Pratchett provides enough detail that readers will have a sense of what happened even if they haven't read the first book. You still might want to pick that one up first, though.

Interview: Ron White

They call him Tater Salad.

But Ron White, one of the stars of "The Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie," has no problem with being confused with his most popular joke. In fact, he revels in it. His Web site is www.tatersalad.com and his concert T-shirts proudly proclaim, "I caught the Tater."

"I embrace any kind of notoriety," he said. "That's not the way I wanted it to happen. I didn't see myself being known for that particular joke, but however it happens, that's fine with me."

Like Lynyrd Skynyrd fans who begin yelling out "Freebird" as soon as the band takes the stage, many of White's fans begin to yell "Tater Salad," wanting the joke that tells the story of his being thrown out of a bar in New York and his subsequent arrest for being drunk in public. But White said fans only think they want to hear the seven-minute joke again. Still he performs it every night.

"Anyone who knows my career well enough to buy a ticket, they know that joke inside and out," he said. "That's really one of the only things I do off the `Blue Collar' thing because it's not like a song you love; it's a joke you know. There's a big difference right there."

White's career has taken off in the past couple of years with "The Blue Collar Comedy Tour" and his specials on Comedy Central, but it's been a long haul for the comedian. He's been doing standup for more than 18 years and said he has performed more than 10,000 live shows.

"I was a prominent headliner in comedy clubs forever - the best comedy clubs in the country," he said. "But that really doesn't make you famous. It doesn't really matter what you do in Omaha, even if you kill every night, because not enough people see you for it to matter."

The movie and television specials changed that. White's new DVD, "They Call Me Tater Salad," is the No. 1 comedy DVD in the country. His album "Drunk in Public," released in November 2003, is usually No. 2, behind fellow "Blue Collar" alum Larry, the Cable Guy. ("I've never passed him, but I don't care. He's my buddy," White said.) Is the newfound notoriety gratifying for White?

"You have no idea, my friend," he said. "It's (Jeff) Foxworthy that really believed in it, and it was Foxworthy's goal a long time ago to make me a star. He's not very good at it, I'll tell you that, because it took him forever to do it."

Jokes aside, White is thankful for the help of Foxworthy and his management company Parallel Entertainment, for getting him to this point. He brags about selling out an 1,800 seat theater in Green Bay, Wis., in one day and then selling 1,000 tickets for a second performance on the next day. ("It's a little bitty town," he said. "I know they have a sports franchise, but their phone book is not an inch thick.") A Ticketmaster search on Wednesday morning showed that his Monroe date was almost sold out. Only a few scattered seats remain.

"I never thought this would happen; Foxworthy did and my management company did, but I never saw it coming," White said. "Foxworthy's generosity, and his undying belief that I'm as funny as it gets is what did it. Actually, I've been the one trying to sabotage it for all these years. I'm famous despite me."

While some of his stories are pretty wild, White said they all have a grain of truth to them. He said to be a successful comedian, you have to be true to your nature. He said he's not a very good writer, which is why he takes stories from real life.

"What I'm good at is, I can watch a car wreck and tell you about it, and you'll laugh," he said. "If I have a gift, that's what it is. Most of it's just dead-on truth, and that's why it's funny."

Aside from his touring, there's a lot going on in White's life right now. He was recently married to his girlfriend of three years, Barbara, who was also the designer of Foxworthy's home. ("Our whole thing is real incestuous," White jokes.) The comedy group, which includes Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy, also filmed a second "Blue Collar" movie last week. White expects it will be out by the end of the year. He will also be making some appearances on the WB's "Blue Collar TV."

For his part, White's sitting back and enjoying the ride.

"It's a party every night with me on stage," he said. "Right before I go on, I always pour myself a nice Scotch, pick myself a nice cigar and go out and play with the people. It's fun."

Interview: Bill Engvall

Even if you're not familiar with Bill Engvall, you may think of him every time someone asks a stupid question. If you've ever heard the phrase "Here's your sign," you've heard Engvall's most famous joke.

"That was amazing," Engvall said of the success of his "here's your sign" jokes. "It literally became the `Where's the beef?' of the '90s. It's a neat thing to think that you added a little piece to Americana."

Even Engvall himself isn't immune to the catchphrase, as he relates on his album "Dorkfish." In one of the jokes, he says he came out of the mall to see the guy parked next to him with a coat hanger in his window.

"I couldn't stop myself," Engvall says. "I said, `Did you lock your keys in your car?' He goes, `No, just washed it, gonna hang it up to dry. Here's your sign.'"

In addition to his latest album "Here's Your Sign … Reloaded," released late last year, and his new DVD "Here's Your Sign Live," released this week, Engvall is excited about a new project with fellow "Blue Collar Comedy Tour" members Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy. It's called "Blue Collar TV," and it debuted last week on the WB. The show, which airs on Thursday nights, is by the producers of "Mad TV," and Engvall thinks fans will be pleasantly surprised.

"They really tapped into who we were and who our audience was," he said. "I compare it a lot to the old `Carol Burnett Show.' There are a couple of sketches, and then at the end we come out and do some stuff together, kind of like we did on the `Blue Collar' movie."

"Blue Collar" alum Ron White will also make a few guest appearances on the show.

Engvall and Foxworthy have both done TV before, but their counterparts, White and Larry, are a little rougher around the collar. Is TV really ready for those guys?

"That's a good question," Engvall said. "Larry - I'd love to tell you that's just a character, but it ain't."

Like it or not, Engvall is now connected with the three other guys through the "Blue Collar Comedy Tour," and its sequel which was just filmed last week. Fortunately for him, he enjoys it.

"The four of us together are just a blast," he said. "You couldn't ask for anything better. It's four friends working together. How much better does it get than that?"

Engvall was once well on his way to becoming a teacher when he and a friend went to a new comedy club that had just opened in Dallas.

"A buddy of mine and I went up there to watch amateur night one night," he said. "I ended up going up there, and the next thing I knew, I was doing this for a living."

Engvall said being funny was a necessity for a kid whose family moved around a lot.

"I've always had the ability to make people laugh," he said. "We moved around quite a bit, and that was the way you made friends quick. You could either make them laugh or you end up hanging out by yourself. It helped me out a lot in life as far as being able to move into new situations and excel in those situations."

Though, like his "Blue Collar" counterparts, he's known as a country comedian, Engvall has actually lived in the city for a while now. Though, he said, if you walked into his Los Angeles home, you wouldn't know you were in the city.

"I've still got my country roots," he said. "That's the way I want to keep it."

Though he lives in the city, he's never bought into the Hollywood star attitude.

"Noooo," he said. "As soon as you do, you're dead. It just doesn't fit me, and I don't think it ever will."

One thing the four "Blue Collar" comedians share is that they're close with their fans - sometimes too close.

"People will walk up to you and tell you crazy things," he said. "You look at them like, why are you telling me this. I don't want to know that."

Still, Engvall said he is appreciative of the people who buy his albums and come to his shows, and he often hangs around after the show to sign autographs.

"They've supported me at this level for 10 years," he said. "I've got the best fans in the world."

Review: "Dead to the World" by Charlaine Harris

After a rough year, Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress in the small town of Bon Temps, just wants to rest. In the past year, she's hooked up and broken up with a vampire boyfriend, her brother has been accused of murder, she's been sent to Dallas to investigate a vampire kidnapped by a group of humans and she's had to rescue her vampire boyfriend from torture at the hands of his maker.

As the new year turns, she resolves not to get beaten up. Now, only a couple of days into the new year, she's about to break that resolution - big time.

"Dead to the World" ($19.95, Ace) is Charlaine Harris' fourth book about the supernatural community of Bon Temps, a fictional small town somewhere between Monroe and Shreveport, and it's about time she got a hardcover title.

The latest installment brings back a lot of familiar characters: telepathic Sookie, her shapeshifter boss who turns into a collie, her ne'er-do-well brother Jason, her vampire ex-boyfriend Bill, werewolf Alcide Hervaux and the vampires of the Shreveport bar Fangtasia. She also introduces new characters, including a strange group of folks from an outlying area named Hotshot.

The adventures begin when Eric, the sheriff of the local vampire community, shows up on Sookie's drive home with a serious case of amnesia. When she calls the other Shreveport vamps, she somehow ends up as his protector.

Meanwhile, her brother goes missing, leaving only a blood stain and a strange print on his pier. Then there's the coven of shape-shifting, vampire blood-addicted witches that seem to be moving in on the vampires' territory, and their leader has a vendetta against Shreveport's supernatural community.

As with the other three books in the series, "Dead to the World" is great fun. It's light and fast-paced - no long, woe-is-me philosophical passages for Harris' vampires, just action from start to finish.

Harris strikes a style that's much more fun than Anne Rice and less sexually charged than Laurell K. Hamilton. She tells the story with a down-home flavor that's not often found in the horror or fantasy sections of the bookstore.

I was a little disappointed that I was able to figure out the mystery of her brother's disappearance so early, but it didn't spoil the book. If you haven't checked out Harris' Southern vampire series yet, you should. It's great fun, particularly for folks who live in this neck of the woods.

Review: "The Swords of Night and Day" by David Gemmell

With "The Swords of Night and Day" ($24.95, Del Rey), David Gemmell returns to the story of a fan favorite, but with a twist.

It's been a thousand years since the death of the legendary swordsman Skilgannon the Damned when he wakes up in a strange room and a strange body. It's his own body, but without the familiar aches and pains of age and old wounds he remembers. It's a young, fit body - that of the swordsman in his prime.

Skilgannon soon finds out why he's here when he meets Landis Khan, the man that used a combination of technology and magic to create a new body from bones found in Skilgannon's tomb and bring his soul back from where it was lost in the Void, the in-between world. Now he expects the swordsman to take up the cursed Swords of Night and Day that he laid aside more than a millienium ago and fulfill an ancient prophecy of the priestess Ustarte by bringing an end to the tyrannical reign of the Eternal.

But there are more surprises waiting for Skilgannon. He's not the only reborn in the picture. Though they lack the souls of the original heroes, there are duplicates of several legendary figures roaming the landscape, including a direct descendent of Skilgannon, with just as much skill and a lot less sanity. But the biggest blow of all comes in the identity of the Eternal herself - Skilgannon's greatest love and worst enemy.

Unlike a lot of fantasy writers who deal in series, Gemmell knows how to do it right. Even when he returns to familiar characters, there's always a twist, and in this book, it's a big one.

Not only does the story put Skilgannon in a new light, it puts the entire world of the Drenai in a new light. As expected from Gemmell, "The Swords of Night and Day" is a rousing adventure story with plenty of action and swordplay. But this book has a more subtle subplot that puts a science fiction spin on the story.

While the main story is fun, readers will find themselves wondering about other elements of the story and the ancient past of the Drenai world. The technology represented in recreating people from bones will sound eerily familiar to recent headlines on cloning. Portions of the prophecy regarding the golden shield and the silver eagle that travels the stars and communicates with the magicians will also hit home.

Though I've been a fan of the Drenai series from the beginning, this book is the first time I've thought about that world in these terms. The possibilities are almost more interesting than the story, which is quite good in its own right.

If you haven't read Gemmell before, now is the time to give him a shot. You're missing out on one of the best fantasists in the business.

Review: "Time of the Twins" by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman; "Homeland" by R.A. Salvatore

It's always nice to take a walk down memory lane, and I got that opportunity thanks to a couple of recent releases of hardcover editions of some of my favorite books from junior high and high school.

"Time of the Twins" by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman ($24.95, Wizards of the Coast) and "Homeland" by R.A. Salvatore ($25.95, Wizards of the Coast) took me back to days when Dungeons & Dragons was as much a part of my life as friends and schoolwork. It's the first offering of both books in a stand-alone hardcover edition, and a cool opportunity for collectors.

If you had asked me when "Time of the Twins" came out, Weis and Hickman would have ranked just below Edgar Allan Poe and J.R.R. Tolkien on my list of favorites. While that's no longer the case, the main character in the book, the wizard Raistlin Majere, still ranks as one of my favorites.

This second Dragonlance trilogy, "Legends," offered a much darker tale than the original "Chronicles" trilogy. Raistlin, now a black-robed mage, has taken over the cursed Tower of High Sorcery in Palanthas. He's grown more and more powerful and slipped farther into darkness. Raistlin has hatched a plan to enter the Abyss and challenge the gods themselves.

The only person that can stop him is his loyal brother Caramon, who he's tossed aside. To ease the pain of his twin's scorn, the once-proud warrior has retreated into the bottle and become fat and lazy. Caramon combines his efforts with the seemingly ever-present kender Tasslehoff to try to reign in his brother's lust for power.

In "Homeland," readers first learn the origins of Salvatore's drow hero Drizzt Do'Urden. "Homeland" delves into the twisted society of the drow by showing Drizzt in the drow home city of Menzoberranzan. Sickened by the cruelty of his kinsmen, Drizzt rebels against the matron mother of House Do'Urden, and will, in the next two books of the series, make his way alone through the caverns of the Underdark and eventually to the surface world.

"Time of the Twins" and "Homeland" have more than a few things in common. They're both the opening book of a second series about familiar heroes, and they're both much better than the original tales of those heroes. The reason is that they break with the normal D&D storyline, where a ragtag group of "unlikely heroes" are thrown together in a quest for some object of power to save the world. Reading Weis and Hickman's "Chronicles" trilogy and Salvatore's "Icewind Dale" trilogy is fun, but you can almost hear the dice clicking in the background in those stories.

These books - particularly "Homeland" - focus more on the individual and take a deeper look at the inner workings of their characters. These stories are more about the people than the quest.

Besides that, they look very good on your bookshelf, if you're a fan. The new packaging for "Homeland" is gorgeous, but I do have a few quibbles with the artwork for "Time of the Twins." I loved the original Larry Elmore artwork for this book - in fact, it's one of my favorite book covers ever. Wizards of the Coast opted to go with newer artwork by Matthew Stawicki, which appeared on the recent paperback editions. It's nice work, but I would have preferred the original art. I guess it's because I grew up looking at the Elmore cover.

Still, this package, which matches Weis and Hickman's recent "War of Souls" trilogy and the hardcover re-releases of the "Chronicles" trilogy, is still a worthy addition to my library.

While my days of living in the D&D worlds are long past, I still enjoy an occasional visit, and these classic tales from those worlds fit the bill perfectly.

Review: "Troll Fell" by Katherine Langrish

Katherine Langrish's "Troll Fell" ($15.99, HarperCollins) starts the way so many books geared for children begin - with the death of a parent and adoption by cruel relatives.

In this case, Peer Ulfsson is snatched away while his father's funeral pyre is literally still burning by his two brutish uncles, Grim and Baldur Grimsson. He's taken to their mill near Troll Fell - the same mill his father ran away from as a young man - and put to work. Peer's uncles smack him around, make him do all the work, feed him very little and entertain themselves by threatening to have their monstrous dog, the appropriately named Grendel, eat Peer's dog Loki.

The only thing that brightens Peer's time at the mill is stolen moments with Hilde, the girl who lives up the hill. But he has to be careful. His uncles and Hilde's family have a bitter rivalry, and if he gets caught talking to her, there's sure to be swift and terrible punishment.

The uncles have other plans for Peer as well. The trolls in Troll Fell are planning a big wedding, and the Gaffer has offered the Grimsson brothers some of his famed troll treasure in return for a human servant that his daughter can present as a gift to her husband-to-be. When the troll ceremony becomes a double wedding and the Gaffer makes another demand of the Grimssons, things get really interesting.

Langrish's book probably won't have the crossover appeal for kids and parents that other series, like "Harry Potter," have. The story is a bit too cut and dried, and perhaps a bit predictable for adults, though there are a few interesting twists. Then again, it's not intended for adults. For the younger crowd, it's probably just what they're looking for.

The action begins with the opening sequence and doesn't stop until the end. Wonderful and strange creatures fill the book - wicked Granny Green-Teeth who lives at the bottom of the mill pond, trolls of all shapes and sizes and the Nis, which reminds me a lot of Dobby the house elf.

Though Langrish makes clever use of Norse mythology in the story, as you can tell by the names, the tale is not dependent on it in any way.

Langrish's debut novel is a simple tale, but it's still a lot of fun. "Troll Fell" is also a great way to keep young readers occupied until the next installment of a certain wizard's tale arrives.

Review: "The Dragon Quintet"

When you mention fantasy, one of the first images that pops into people's minds is probably the dragon. There's no other single element that better represents the genre. Unfortunately, there's also no element that has become quite as cliché.

For that reason, in recent years, the population of dragons has been steadily declining in the various worlds of fantasy. These days, if there's mention of a dragon, it's often a whispered legend of great creatures that died out long ago. That's bad news for us fans of the dragon.

But there's good news, too. "The Dragon Quintet," ($24.95, Tor) brings together five of the biggest names in fantasy to weave tales of the great magical beasts. Those tapped to bring dragons back to the worlds of fantasy include Orson Scott Card, Mercedes Lackey, Tanith Lee, Elizabeth Moon and Michael Swanwick. Their dragons couldn't be more different, either.

Card is undeniably a master of science fiction, having delivered, in my opinion, one of the greatest stories of the genre, "Ender's Game." But he's also an accomplished fantasist too, as he illustrates in the opening story, "In the Dragon's House." It tells the tale of a young man who has come to live in a very strange house with his great aunt and uncle. Curious about the attic room where no one is allowed to go, he sneaks in to discover that there's another, secret inhabitant of the house. The dragon seems benevolent, but he has his own agenda.

Moon is probably best known for writing military science fiction, about the farthest you can get from dragons in the speculative genres. But she's also no stranger to fantasy. Her dragon in "Judgment" is more along the lines of what has become the norm in fantasy, a nearly all-powerful and all-wise being that has the ability to appear in human form. The story begins when a young man and his future father-in-law find some strange rocks near their village. The rocks turn out to be dragon eggs, each containing thousands of young dragons and a whole lot of trouble.

A master of dark and macabre stories, Lee has regularly used dragons in her stories. In "Love in the Time of Dragons," a knight sets out with a village girl in tow to slay the dragon in the nearby mountains. The surprise is all his, though.

Lackey's Valdemar is one of the most familiar worlds in fantasy, and her story "Joust" was the basis for her 2003 novel of the same name. Lackey's dragons are more companion animals than the typical fantasy dragon. They're highly intelligent, but don't have the magical properties that other writers ascribe to them. In "Joust," a young serf is taken on by a dragon rider to tend his beast, but sees freedom within his grasp when he steals an egg from the clutch of a dragon that has been accidentally bred.

In his classic "The Iron Dragon's Daughter," Swanwick took the conventions of fantasy and turned them on their heads. He does it again in this collection with "King Dragon." If you've read the earlier work of Swanwick, it's no surprise that his dragons are malicious metal monsters, made of both magic and technology. In this story, an injured dragon crawls into a local village after a battle and takes over, setting himself up as king.

These five excellent tales from five of the top writers in the genre show just how diverse these stories and the dragons that populate them can be. They prove that there are still good dragon stories out there.

Review: "The Last Light of the Sun" by Guy Gavriel Kay

Guy Gavriel Kay is, at once, the most fascinating writer in fantasy and one of the most frustrating. When he's on, there's no better writer in the genre. When he's not, drying paint can be more exciting.

Thankfully, he hits the mark more often than not. His latest, "The Last Light of the Sun" ($24.95, Roc), may be one of his best. The book takes readers back to the world of Sarantium and Al-Rassan, but focuses on a part of the world that he hasn't explored yet.

Like so much of Kay's work, the world and people are based on cultures and time periods from our own world. His writings are equal parts fantasy, historical fiction and literary fiction.

"The Last Light of the Sun" is based largely on Norse, English and Celtic cultures, and the book shows a great deal of research on Kay's part. Perhaps more familiar to the average fantasy fan than the medieval Italian world Kay chose for his excellent "Tigana," this world is no less fascinating.

The book begins with a series of seemingly random events that offer no clue to where the story will take the reader. But when the large cast of characters begins to come together, the pattern of Kay's well-laid plan becomes clear. Kay takes the seemingly unrelated threads and weaves them into a masterpiece.

Another nice touch in this book is the change in Kay's style. His normally flamboyant and flowing writing style gives way to a shorter, simpler and perhaps even a bit choppy approach. Fans of Kay's usual eloquence may not be sure what to think of it, but I think it's very effective. This is a book dealing with simpler, more barbaric cultures than the sophisticated ones that David Gemmell has worked with in the past, and the writing style reflects that well.

After the disappointing "Sarantine Mosaic," it's nice to see Kay hitting his stride again. "The Last Light of the Sun" probably won't be remembered as Kay's best novel, but it's still an outstanding read. It has a faster pace than his previous work, and it further builds on a world where the cultural interactions are just beginning to emerge. It's easily one of the best books I've read so far this year.

Review: "Seduced by Moonlight" by Laurell K. Hamilton

In "Seduced by Moonlight" ($23.95, Ballantine), Laurell K. Hamilton returns to the tale of Merry Gentry, also known as Princess Meredith NicEssus of the Unseelie Court of the sidhe (pronounced shee for those not up on their Irish folklore.)

Merry, who is half human and therefore mortal, lives in Los Angeles, exiled from her immortal fey relatives by necessity. She has many enemies at court, and the violence of their court isn't safe for someone who can actually die from her wounds.

But she's been given the chance to return home not as a tainted half-human, but as queen of the Unseelie Court. In order to do that, she has to give her people a rare gift - a child. Her aunt, Queen Andais, has decreed that if she can conceive a child before her cruel cousin Cel, she will inherit the throne.

Hamilton's first novel in the Merry Gentry series, "A Kiss of Shadows," was absolutely incredible, a dark and moody work with just a bit of sensuality. The third book, "Seduced by Moonlight," is not her strongest work.

I have to agree with much of the criticism I've seen from other fans. This book is long on sex and a little short on plot development - at least in the early going. In fact, in the first 150 pages or so, it seems at times that the story is just an excuse to get Merry from one sex scene to the next.

That said, the book still isn't too bad. It hits its stride about midway through and gets back to the story at hand. It also features some very interesting developments, both in Merry's character and in the story.

Hamilton's writing is as strong as ever, rife with new wonders and interesting ideas. Characterization has always been a strong point for Hamilton, and her characters in this series truly shine. You won't find an odder cast this side of a Terry Pratchett novel, but you'll also never question for a second that her characters are truly real despite their odd appearances, mannerisms and magic. It's the characters that keep you interested.

Though "Seduced by Moonlight" doesn't advance Merry's story as much as I would like, it still lays some intriguing groundwork for future installments. Here's hoping that Hamilton gets her focus back on the story and doesn't let Merry's story devolve into a string of meaningless sex scenes. She's too good a writer and this is too good a story for that.

Review: "The Burning Land" by Victoria Strauss

Victoria Strauss' "The Arm of the Stone" and "The Garden of the Stone" were two of the finest fantasy novels to come out of the 1990s, and also two of the most overlooked.

Strauss' two tales about a segregated world where magic and technology were at odds with each other took an old idea and gave it a surprisingly original spin, announcing the arrival of a big new talent. Then she seemed to disappear for a while.

Now, almost five years after the publication of "Garden," Strauss returns with her first hardcover (if you don't count the now out-of-print children's books she wrote before "Arm"), "The Burning Land" ($24.95, Avon EOS). I'm happy to report that she hasn't lost anything during the layoff.

In theme, "The Burning Land" will remind readers of her earlier two books - two beliefs at war with each other and the people caught in the middle - but when it comes to offering insight on human nature and emotion, this book is very much superior.

"The Burning Land" tells the story of a land that has survived 75 years of war between the traditional religious leaders, the Aratists, and the atheist Caryaxists. The Aratists have just been returned to power and now seek to bring back the followers of Arata who were exiled.

A young Aratist named Gyalo is chosen to lead an expedition into the Burning Land, the inhospitable sacred resting place of the god Arata, to bring back a group of refugees who are suspected of having survived by breaking their vows to the church and using their Shaper magic to create a home in the unforgiving desert. What Gyalo finds in the city of Refuge in the center of the Burning Land will rock the Aratist faith to its very foundations - if he can make the church's leaders accept its truth and move beyond their own fears.

Like Strauss' "Arm of the Stone," this book starts slowly, with the telling of a traditional tale from her world. Strauss eschews the "rule" that says you have to start your story by putting the reader in the middle of the action, and she gets away with it because of her compelling writing style.

In addition to being an intriguing story, Strauss offers some thought-provoking nuggets about religion, blind faith and the fallibility of the humans who wield the power in most religions. In a lot of ways, it's a very timely story that parallels some current issues in our own world.

"The Burning Land" works well on two levels - as its own story and as an intriguing setup for a future tale. The book leaves many more questions than it answers and makes me look forward to the follow-up.

After reading her first two books, I was disappointed that Strauss didn't ascend to the top ranks of the fantasy field. Maybe this tale will put her there.

Review: "Fool's Fate" by Robin Hobb

Reading "Fool's Fate" by Robin Hobb ($24.95, Bantam Spectra) was a bittersweet exercise for me. Like Hobb's other tales of FitzChivalry Farseer, I found it enthralling and entertaining, but at the same time, it was like saying goodbye to an old friend.

Back in the mid-1990s, I picked up a copy of the first tale of FitzChivalry Farseer, "Assassin's Apprentice," and immediately became a fan of the author, who also writes as Megan Lindholm. That first series, "The Farseer Trilogy," was the best fantasy series of the 1990s as far as I'm concerned. Though "Fool's Fate" leaves a few questions unanswered, the close of the book has an air of finality, and Hobb has said she doesn't think there are any more stories to tell about Fitz and the Fool.

Though I have often chastised authors in my reviews for sticking with familiar characters long after their story is over, I find myself on the other side of the argument this time. I think I'd really like to read a few more tales about Fitz, if they were done as well as these first two trilogies.

Since most of the world thinks he's dead, this tale finds Fitz still masquerading as Tom Badgerlock and quietly helping prepare Prince Dutiful for the biggest challenge of his young life. To win the hand of Elliania, the Narcheska of the Out Islands, and unite the enemy kingdoms, he must first meet her challenge - to travel to the remote island of Aslevjal and bring her the head of the dragon Icefyre, which legend says is encased in the glacier that covers the island.

The White Prophet - the man that Fitz has known most of his life as the Fool and lately as Lord Golden - has foreseen his own death on the journey. In order to protect his old friend, Fitz arranges for him to be left behind, but the Fool has other plans.

As if those things weren't enough for Fitz to deal with, he's also given command of the prince's Skill magic coterie, which includes Fitz's assassin mentor Chade and a slow, but powerful, youngster named Thick. He's sworn to protect and teach the runaway son of Burrich, the man who raised Fitz. He's being courted by a leader of the Wit magic - the ability to bond with animals, which is feared and despised - who wants to teach him to better use his gift. Finally, Fitz's biggest secret is about to be revealed when his daughter, adopted by Burrich after Fitz was believed dead, is threatened because of his mission.

There are a lot of threads to weave together, but Hobb does it deftly, leading the reader on a breathtaking ride from beginning to end.

The most striking development in this book is the transformation of Fitz himself. After six books, the self-pitying, tortured soul is finally coming to grips with himself and accepting who and what he is. Though always fascinating, he becomes a much more likeable character through the course of "Fool's Fate."

As always, Hobb is masterful when it comes to intrigue, both in the court at Buckkeep, among friends and in the hidden agendas of the Outislanders. She uses it to twist the story in ways the reader doesn't expect and also paints shadows in corners where there are none to create a sense of unease and distrust throughout the book.

If, in the future, Fitz finds himself in another situation worthy of a story, I'll look forward to it. If not, Hobb has provided a fitting (if perhaps a bit happier than expected) end to his tale.

Review: "New Spring" by Robert Jordan

It's no secret that I haven't been the biggest fan of Robert Jordan's last few books. When I read "The Eye of the World" more than a decade ago, it floored me. I proclaimed Jordan the next Tolkien and tried to convince everyone I knew to read his books.

But as the seemingly never-ending Wheel of Time has spun out of control, I've become more and more frustrated with it, so I was understandably reluctant to pick up Jordan's latest, "New Spring" ($22.95, Tor). Its small size (less than 350 pages), the fact that it wasn't a new installment in the Wheel of Time and those fond memories of "Eye of the World" finally convinced me to give it a shot, and I was pleasantly surprised.

"New Spring," which is an extended version of Jordan's novella in the first "Legends" collection, takes readers back before the events of "The Eye of the World." When the book opens, Moiraine Damodred and Siuan Sanche still wear the dress of Accepted, struggling to attain the shawl of Aes Sedai. Lan Mandragoran, the heir to a dead kingdom, is a soldier protecting Tar Valon from an Aiel invasion. He wants nothing to do with Aes Sedai, much less to be bonded to one as a Warder.

The story follows Moiraine and Siuan's ascent to the shawl of Aes Sedai. When they witness a foretelling that the Dragon Reborn, the man who will sunder the world and save it, has been born on the slopes of Dragonmount, they become obsessed with being the ones who find him. But the Tower has other plans. When the Amirlyn, Tamra, dies mysteriously, Moiraine seems to be bound for the throne of Cairhien, to which she has a claim. But rather than make that claim, she flees the Tower to search for the child.

Her search leads her to the Borderlands, where she and Lan meet, and the rest of the story, readers of the Wheel of Time are already familiar with. (Well, most of it. Word is that Jordan plans two more of these prequels.)

"New Spring" is nice for fans of the Wheel of Time, in that it gives them a chance to see a foolish and fun side of Moiraine, one not often seen in the other series. It also provides some background information on several characters that are important to the series.

For those like myself, who have been turned off by the direction the series has taken, it's a chance to remember what you liked about Jordan's work in the first place.

The detail is still perhaps a bit heavy-handed - like the 3-plus page description of Tar Valon as Moiraine and Siuan ride out for the first time as Accepted. But that's always been Jordan's style. Sometimes it works to put the reader closer to the story; others it doesn't.

"New Spring" doesn't have the same sense of adventure that the early Wheel of Time books had, but that's probably because we already know where it's headed. It's a problem shared by any prequel, and one easily overlooked once you get into the story.

Has "New Spring" convinced me to give the next Wheel of Time volume a shot? Probably not. At the pace that story has moved forward in the last several books, I don't think I'll miss much if I wait for the last volume and just see how it all turns out. But I will check out the other two prequel volumes, and I'll look forward to whatever Jordan does once that unwieldy saga is ended.

Review: "Down the Crawfish Hole" by Wes Thomas

It's an old tradition in children's books. Take a familiar, beloved story and alter it to put it in surroundings and add characters that relate to the local region. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Luckily for Wes Thomas, it works in "Down the Crawfish Hole" ($15.95, Pelican Publishing Co.).

In this book for the preschool set, a young boy named Maurice happens across an interesting blue crawfish that claims to be late for a meeting with the Frog Queen. On the way, the crawfish drops his watch. Intrigued, Maurice picks up the watch and follows the crawfish into a crawfish hole, where he arrives in a strange world populated by talking armadillos and opossum, and a friendly Cajun and his alligator buddy. Oh, and of course, the frogs and their queen.

If it all sounds a little familiar, it should. "Down the Crawfish Hole" is simply a Cajun-ized (and abridged) version of Lewis Carroll's classic "Alice in Wonderland."

Since this book was written for preschoolers, it's very short and moves quite quickly. In fact, too quickly for me, from the adult perspective. It was well enough done that I wanted to see it expanded and see how other elements from Carroll's classic would have translated into a Cajun world.

The drawings in the book are lively and should engage children, and the characters are just as colorful as Carroll's, even if they don't get the same face time as the originals.

Of course, when you're dealing with a classic like "Alice in Wonderland," there's really no way you can improve on it. But for a younger set, who perhaps don't have the reading skills to tackle Carroll's story yet, it will certainly get them interested in the book it's based on.