• 892 and counting …

    Finished Neptune Noir: Unauthorized Investigations into Veronica Mars, edited by Rob Thomas. This is a book of academic essays that looks at various aspect of the VM television show. I won it last year over at Diana Peterfreund’s blog. She too is a die-hard VM fan.

    I don’t read a lot of academic or non-fiction, mainly since I had to slog through so much of it in college, along with all those so-called fiction classics. Blech. When I read, I want to be entertained, plain and simple. I want fun. Give me action, adventure, explosions, and a love story, and I’m satisfied. No deeper meaning or deconstruction is required. So I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this book, which is decidedly academic. But I was pleasantly surprised.

    The book features several essays, each of which looks at a different aspect of the television show. The essays cover everything from Veronica as a vigilante; to how the characters’ cars reflect their personality; to analyzing justice and the depiction of law enforcement officials in Neptune. VM really is deep, once you think about it.

    My favorite essay was the one on Logan and Veronica’s ever-evolving, love-hate relationship. For me, the chemistry between L&V totally made the show. The essay author points out that despite Logan’s so-called jackassery, you always wanted to see more of him. Couldn’t agree more. Duncan was so boring, so wishy-washy, so vanilla. He just didn’t have much personality. I never really thought Duncan and Veronica could be happy together.

    The essay author also points out that Duncan just wasn’t strong enough to keep up with Veronica, but that Logan was. This is so true, if you think about it. Logan was the one who heard Veronica was in trouble and came to rescue her at the hotel. Logan was the one who grabbed Veronica’s hand during his surprise party and announced to everyone they were a couple. Logan was the one who was there on the rooftop with her and Cassidy. Even when he was being an ass, you knew that Logan cared about Veronica.

    Duncan? Well, he pretended like he hadn’t slept with Veronica, making her think she’d been raped, and pretty much ignored her after Lilly’s death. He also neglected to mention to her that they might be brother and sister. And he also gets his current girlfriend, Veronica, to help him kidnap his daughter by his old girlfriend, Meg. What a prince.

    Another interesting essay talked about Lilly and Veronica’s relationship. I have to admit I never liked Lilly. I thought she was spoiled, selfish, and not a nice person. She slept with her boyfriend’s father, for crying out loud, and was going to expose their relationship with no thought about how it would hurt Logan or anyone else.

    Basically, the essay talks about how Lilly’s murder froze her in Veronica’s mind and helped make their relationship this idealistic dream Veronica holds onto. The author wonders what Veronica would have done if she’d found out about Lilly sleeping with Aaron before Lilly died. Me too. I like to think that would have made Veronica see the person Lilly really was.

    Since this is an academic book, some of the essays are a little dry and out-there, like the one analyzing why conservatives like VM. Seriously, why bring politics into it? VM is a smart, funny show with a strong, female heroine. Isn’t that reason enough for folks to love it?

    But I enjoyed this book very, very much. Thumbs up. If you’re a big VM fan, do yourself a favor and get this one.

    In fact, I liked this book so much I’m thinking of trying some of the other BenBella pop culture books. (I’m also going to do another post about how the VM book made me think about my own writing. But that’s for later on.)

    Up next: Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman or something else from the TBR pile.

    Books in my TBR pile: About 16.

  • ·

    Hot Mama once more …

    mama_rough.jpgSybil and the other folks over at The Good, the Bad, and the Unread have been kind enough to do a fresh review of Hot Mama, in anticipation of the mass market paperback release on Aug. 5 — this upcoming Tuesday. Can you believe it?

    It seems like just yesterday the trade paperback version was coming out. But here we are, several months later already. Kids are already going back to school in my part of the woods, which means summer is almost over. Shaking head.

    In other news, there will be some excerpts from Jinx and some other info posted on TGTBTU sometime soon. So keep an eye out for that.

    And if you missed Hot Mama the first time around, I hope you can check it and the other books out — and get sucked into the zany, campy world of Bigtime, N.Y. :ww:

  • Cool books on pop culture …

    3 Comments

    Right now, I’m reading Neptune Noir: Unauthorized Investigations into Veronica Mars.

    It’s a book of essays about the television show, Veronica Mars, published by BenBella Books. The company has an offshoot that does pop culture books, like the aforemention VM title. Why am I mentioning this? Because there’s everything from a James Bond book to one on Joss Whedon to Buffy and Serenity titles.

    I thought some of you guys might be interested in some of the books. Hope you can check it out! :ww:

  • Bonding again …

    3 Comments

    This James Bond tidbit is courtesy my friend Super Librarian Amy:

    Alicia Keys and Jack White will sing the theme song for the upcoming Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. The song will be called Another Way to Die. There’s a little more info here on CNN.

    Thanks for the heads-up, Amy! 😎

    This is an interesting musical pairing, and I’m curious as to what the song will sound like — and if it will actually have the words quantum of solace in it. I’m guessing no. Hard to rhyme something with solace.

    Of course, the best Bond theme song is the James Bond Theme. A close second is Nobody Does It Better by Carly Simon. I also like Diamonds Are Forever by Shirley Baasey, For Your Eyes Only by Sheena Easton, and The World Is Not Enough by Garbage. Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is cool too, although technically it’s not a theme song (it’s from the movie Thunderball).

    After that, well, some of the songs get downright ridiculous, like the aforementioned Thunderball. I have no idea what that song is supposed to be about, but Tom Jones does an impressive job holding the last note for what seems like forever. 

    What about you? What’s your favorite Bond song or movie? Share in the comments.

  • Fall events and more …

    I thought I’d take a minute to update you guys on the various book events I’m doing this fall and a couple of others set for 2009:

    Sept. 19-21: Lora Leigh’s RAW (Reader Appreciation Weekend) in Huntington, W.Va. I’ll be schmoozing with authors and readers all weekend long. There’s a booksigning from noon-4 p.m. Saturday for conference folks, then another one from noon-4 p.m. Sunday that’s open to the public. I’ll probably cut out of the public signing about 2 p.m., though, since I’ll have to drive back home and go back to the day job on Monday.

    October: I don’t have a firm date yet, but I’ll be signing books for a couple of hours one Saturday at Mountain Empire Comics in Bristol, Tenn., during their anniversary weekend. More details to come.

    Oct. 17-18: I’ll be at the Women’s Expo in Kingsport, Tenn. There’s going to be a meet-the-authors dinner Friday night at Bays Mountain Park, and then the authors will be signing books throughout the day on Saturday. Some folks will sign on Sunday too. Other authors (tentatively) scheduled to attend include Lora Leigh, Shirley Damsgaard and Julia Quinn (that’s the rumor – I don’t know if this is confirmed yet or not).

    April 2009: I’ll probably be going to the Romantic Times convention in Orlando, Fla., as long as the creeks don’t rise, as my grandma says.

    July 2009: I’m definitely planning on going to RWA Nationals in Washington, D.C. Again, as long as the creeks don’t rise. 😎

    So there’s my schedule for the next few months. Other events and book signings depend on a variety of things. So stay tuned for more! :ww: