Awesome book cover Friday: Can’t Catch a Butterfly

This week’s selection is Can’t Catch a Butterfly, a 2008 children’s book by Michelle Zimmerman.

I love the texture of this cover and how much it resembles a little kid’s drawing!

Reading the game: all about Batman: Arkham City

I recently took to the sprawling streets and city structures of Batman: Arkham City, a game that came out for PS3 (what I played on), Xbox 360, and PC last year. It’s the follow-up to the widely praised Batman: Arkham Asylum, which I beat twice in its opening weekend … you know, back when I had actual free time.

Arkham City features an overarching narrative that’s broken up by side missions and other sandbox-style attractions, but what makes the game truly special are its cameos. Spotlighting recognizable characters is a trick you can’t do in a lot of games because they don’t have years and years of established cannon. But since Batman lives outside of video games in comics and movies and television shows, the developers were able to give fans a bit more.

Below are a few books that make excellent companions to Batman: Arkham City.

Missed my previous “Reading the Game” features? Check out Mortal Kombat and Uncharted.

Batman: Knightfall, Vol. 1 by Chuck Dixon and Doug Moench
Publisher: DC Comics
Paperback: 640 pages
Publication Date: April 25, 2012

Peppering Arkham City with cameos emphasizes just how much responsibility has fallen onto Batman’s shoulders. He’s playing clean-up all across town. We see the same kind of complex chaos in Batman: Knightfall, in which the rogues break out of Arkham, leaving the Caped Crusader to round them up one by one. The Knightfall storyline is famous for Bane, a villain who bided his time until Batman was exhausted and then threw him off a rooftop, breaking his back.

DC Comics published a brand new edition of the 1993 original in April, no doubt because of Bane’s resurgence in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film, The Dark Knight Rises, which hits theaters on July 20.

The Starman Omnibus, Vol. 3 by James Robinson (writer) and Tony Harris (artist)
Publisher: DC Comics
Hardcover: 432 pages
Publication Date: June 17, 2009

One thing that disappointed me about Batman: Arkham City was its treatment of Solomon Grundy, who’s chocked up to little more than a violent monster—a zombie. The fascinating adventures of modern day Starman Jack Knight taught me otherwise. Grundy’s actually been known to be a gentle and emotional creature, as seen in the early Starman omnibuses and the third volume, in which Knight teams up with Batman to save Grundy’s life.

A proper Solomon Grundy education is a must for every Arkham City player.

Batman: Mad Love and Other Stories by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm
Publisher: DC Comics
Hardcover: 208 pages
Publication Date: August 31, 2011

Most fans threw a fit when they learned voice actress Tara Strong would be replacing Arleen Sorkin, who helped define and popularize the character Harley Quinn. I was upset at first, too, but honestly, halfway through the game I didn’t even care—or notice the difference.

Harley herself plays a big role in Arkham City through the new DLC, “Harley Quinn’s Revenge.” If you want to learn more about the former psychiatrist and how she fell head over heels for her “puddin’” the Joker, read Mad Love and Other Stories. The comic recaptures some classic episodes from the highly regarded Batman: The Animated Series television show and pays particular attention to Harley and her adoration for the Joker.

What books would you recommend?

Awesome book cover Friday: Black Beauty

Happy Friday! This week’s pick is Black Beauty, published in 1877 and written by Anna Sewell. This Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition is sleek and beautiful.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

A little T&R!

Midnight update!

Whoa, it’s been busy around here. I’ll have another fancy book cover for you tomorrow, and another comic book pick soon. But I wanted to take a second and share a piece I’ve been working on for what feels like ages. It took awhile to put this editorial together because of the interviews, but two wonderful volunteers stepped up and helped put a lock on this thing when no one else could (or would).

Maybe you’ve heard of Tomb Raider—the video games, the movies, the comics, etc. Or maybe you’ve always favored Indiana Jones and want to know more about his legacy and the characters he’s inspired. Then again, you could have a burning crush on Nathan Drake of Uncharted. Whatever your preference, kindly take a moment to read my first submission for GamesBeat, the gaming division of VentureBeat. You might just learn something about your favorite characters.

And thanks so much to Hal Barwood and Stellalune (who mentioned me on her site’s blog, Twitter, Facebook, and elsewhere) for lending their voices to the article. It wouldn’t have been half as good to read without their input.

I hope you enjoy, and let me know what you think!

The perfect pet: a review of The Caline Conspiracy

His arms were outflung and his mouth was a wide, lipless—no, his mouth was closed, it was his throat that gaped in a ragged, cheerless grin.

Last week Margaret Yang and Harry R. Campion, who write together as M. H. Mead, got in touch and offered me a review copy of their latest book. By the sounds of it, The Caline Conspiracy wasn’t something I’d normally pick up, and the cover screamed the nineties, but I agreed to give the book a shot. Sometimes we need to step out of our comfort zones.

As silly as the plot felt at times—it’s a murder mystery in which a genetically enhanced pet (a “caline”) is the only suspect—the writing was, well, good. Nothing ground-breaking, but better than a lot of the books I’m handed to read on assignment. I didn’t have to parse the prose to discover the kernel of worth within it. The Caline Conspiracy is written by two clearly talented people.

Of course, M. H. Mead might be writing about the perfect pets (and the not-so-perfect pets), but that doesn’t mean their book is flawless. The writers brush on a futuristic gloss at will, rather than building a believable sci-fi world from the ground up. You can’t have your character make tea or order pizza and then have her use some sort of holo-vid system without making readers wonder if maybe the science fiction part wasn’t a high priority after all. If you’re going to set your story in the future, you have to simulate the future down to the very last detail. Or at least have a robot ringing the doorbell with a steaming pie.

The story held my interest regardless of its slips, but I have to wonder about the scene with Aidra, Edo, and the perficats. The grand realization that occurs then doesn’t seem to have much purpose overall, other than to maybe foreshadow how crazy meddlesome scientists are with things that shouldn’t be meddled in.

I’m not sure I entirely believe a few other plot threads, either: Aidra’s totally lax, “cool mom” treatment of her son had me cringing; and the explanation for their new family member at the end was surprising but not entirely convincing.The backstory about their old dog Nutmeg gave the characters and story some valuable context, but it was never explored as much as I would have liked. A few minor characters could have used more attention after their biggest scenes—like Quinn’s unexpected trip to the hospital and Freddy and his wife. These characters deserve more than a passing role.

These failings in plot aren’t as extreme as they might sound—the only parts I was rolling my eyes at were the one near sex scene that didn’t belong and the aforementioned introduction of Aidra’s son Jon. I can’t recommend The Caline Conspiracy to everyone, but if you like the suspense of mysteries or you’re just a huge animal enthusiast, then you’ll likely find enjoyment in its story.

Thanks to the authors for reaching out and providing a review copy!

Awesome book cover Friday: 8: All True: Unbelievable

Today’s pick is 8: All True: Unbelievable, a memoir by Amy Fusselman about childhood, marriage, and motherhood.

I think the cover is soft and elegant. What about you?

Winter is coming: a review of A Game of Thrones

How small the difference between victory and defeat, between life and death.

Not all books muster up to the hype surrounding them. The Night Circus was one such example—a beautiful debut, but unpolished in many ways. George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones, the first entry in his A Song of Ice and Fire series, meets its praise full-on.

To be frank, I didn’t know what to expect from A Game of Thrones. I knew Martin had developed a reputation as a merciless writer, so I avoided reviews as usual to keep spoilers and impressions at bay. I also understood the HBO series was popular, but fantasy shows aren’t always made of the best stuff.

Reading the first book was an interesting experience because my boyfriend was starting a different fantasy series at the same time. Every complaint he had about the unrealistic writing, and every silly sentence I would see overloaded with Great Things in Capital Letters and Goofy Names, were refreshingly absent in Martin’s book. Where the other series lacked believable character motivations, A Game of Thrones gave me them in excess. These characters are so clearly positioned in opposition to one another, or conversely in alliance, that betrayals and back-stabbings are the only natural courses to take.

The first chapter perfectly demonstrates Martin’s skill as a fantasy writer: He knows how to use the world and, more importantly, the environment at hand. He crafts descriptions that feel authentic to the characters’ surroundings, and through them gives credibility to events. The whispered things that dwell outside the Wall are fit for the trees and cold and dark that they call home.

Martin also has a talent for bringing importance to every chapter, and he never fails to remind us of the misogynistic, war-hardened land and its brutal politics. That’s where the book takes its title from, after all: the different ruling classes and their endless games.

A Game of Thrones is a grounded, convincing tale because Martin introduces fantastic elements little by little, rather than all at once. There’s no magical prophecies or chosen ones, but there is a direwolf with a stag antler pierced through its body—an evil omen if one ever existed.

The writing never grows dull, although the middle does bend under its own weight as the author leads us toward the final act. He doesn’t make the mistake of focusing too heavily on the ending, so as to sacrifice story, but he could have cut a couple hundred pages.

The book itself bridges the divide between adult and children’s fantasy, focusing on explicit scenes of sex and violence in one chapter and the squabbles and pride of youth in another, and its presence in both worlds makes it all the more interesting.

Martin, a careful and wise writer who tends to characters as closely as plot, writes the beginnings of a tale not meant for the weak of heart. Characters suffer. You’ll dread the consequences … much like those tangled up in the war themselves.

Homemade pizza might surprise you

I admit. I’ve always been skeptical of homemade pizza. I know the pounds of grease dripping off pies from restaurants and even grocery store frozen food sections are bad for you, but somehow they always added to the taste. Gross, I know.

On a whim this past weekend, my boyfriend and I decided we wanted to make our own—hold the grease, please. So I whipped out my pizza issue of Bon Appetit (thanks, Sarah!) and read about the basics of homemade pizza-making. We didn’t have the time (or desire) to bake our own dough, but we did learn a little thing about cheeses: Pick two soft—mozzarella, stracciatella, ricotta, Robiola, etc.—and one hard, like Parmesan. As for toppings, variety matters.

To save money, we chose only one soft (mozzarella) and settled on Parmesan for our hard cheese. We selected the best pre-packaged pizza crust we could find (about $6—not cheap!) and bought a quarter pound of pepperoni from the deli (it was less expensive and more practical that way). We picked out Classico traditional pizza sauce, a smart decision, and used what we had sitting in the fridge for additional toppings.

We laid down the crust, added the entire small jar of sauce (leaving a border for the crust), mixed a generous amount of shredded mozzarella and Parmesan together, and added chopped pepperoni slices at will. We then broke up pieces of mushroom, cut up bacon (about 4-5 half slices) and ham (1-2 pieces of ham off the bone from the deli), and finally sprinkled a little more Parmesan on top to pack it all in.

All ovens are different, but we set ours on 410 degrees for 16 minutes. The result? Let’s just say I have a new all-time favorite.