Hello everyone

As the title says we’re going to be at New York Anime Festival this weekend, so if you’re going to be there stop by and say hello, we’re going to be at table NYAFA9

Now onto the books:

First we have, Creatures of Light and Darkness, by Roger Zelazny. Now many of you may not know this author and it’s a shame and it’s probably due to the fact that Mr. Zelazny passed away in 1995. Roger Zelazny, along with H.P. Lovecraft, Frank Herbert, Clive Barker, and Denis L. McKiernan, are some of the greatest influences on me as a writer outside of comics. For years I would go to bookstores weekly and just peruse the isles looking for something interesting to read, and I would usually walk out of the store with a new book or two, usually paperbacks. Now I did this every week looking forward to seeing one name, and that was Roger Zelazny’s on the cover of a book, and I knew at least once a year I would run across his name, and when I did I would buy his book, go home and devour it in a couple of days and then I would be upset because I would now have to wait another year to see a new book. Once I heard that Mr. Zelazny had passed away so did this weekly ritual, and it had a lot to do with me being heart broken at the loss of a man whom I had never met, spoken to or even knew what he looked like until I recently saw a pic of him on Wikipidia. I only knew him through his words and imaginings and I consider him to be a literary father figure to me (now ain’t that some highfalutin bs, lol) Needless to say he’s important to me and I always thought that I had read a good portion of his work, and I happily say that I was wrong, there are still several books and a bunch of shorts that he’s written that I have yet to read. One of these was, Creatures of Light and Darkness, it’s a book about gods, immortals and the fate of humanity as they battle for power. Is it one of his best books, no, is it a good book, yes. Roger Zelazny, puts together some of the craziest metaphysical battles and concepts I’ve ever seen. And one has to remember that this book was released in 1969 so if you read this book and say big deal I’ve seen read and heard of this sort of thing before, yea, maybe, but probably not before 1969. A great starter series for Roger is his Amber series, it’s how I got started, and I can’t recommend it enough.

Next is Girl Genius Omnibus edition vol. 1, Written by Phil and Kaja Foglio, Illustrated by Phill Foglio

I picked this book up a few years ago at what I’m sure was NYCC at Phill Foglio’s booth. The one thing I regret was that I never got him to sign it. I got to the table when he was away and I never had a chance to go back and get it signed, oh well. At least I got a good book out of the situation. Girl Genius is a fun book that took a little bit to take off for me, but once it did, it was a really fun ride. I’m looking forward to seeing vol. 2 when ever he gets to putting it out. Phill produces this book as a webcomic, so if you want to check it out that’s the easiest way to do it and I suggest you go do that.

Next on the list is Legendary Talespinners trade paperback vol. 1 Written by James Kuhoric, Illustrated by Grant Bond

Legendary Talespinners is a fun book that runs along the lines of Bill Willingham’s Fables, a mishmash of re-imagining of old fairy tales. This is a fun book that has me concerned not because of the quality of the book, but rather because of its future. I go through Previews every month and I haven’t seen any other issues of this book being offered and I think that the 3 issues that are in this trade are all that we’re going to see of this series and it’s sad because the creators looked like they were having some real fun with this book and the characters involved. It’s a fun book and if you’re interested in this kind of fantasy, it’s definitely worth looking into.

That’s it for now and I would like to just say thanks to all of those who’re voting for Oswald, and for those of you who aren’t, please vote

Thanks and keep on dreaming.

JD Calderon