Books

The MONTY PYTHON FAQ: ALL THAT'S LEFT TO KNOW ABOUT SPAM, GRAILS, SPAM, NUDGING, BRUCES AND SPAM, written by Chris Barsanti, Brian Cogan, and Jeff Massey, is one of a series FAQ books from Applause Theater and Cinema Books.

When I first heard about the book, I thought, "Wow! A book that answers the most frequently asked questions about Monty Python!" After all, that is what the acronym “FAQ” stands for. But upon opening it to read, it is actually something completely different…in a good way!

One might say that writer W. Bruce Cameron has gone to the dogs -- and the author probably couldn't be happier. The writer of several best-selling novels such as 8 SIMPLE RULES FOR DATING MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER and A DOG'S PURPOSE has recently released a new touching novel about canines and the people they care about with A DOG'S JOURNEY.

We were fortunate to have a few moments to sit down with Cameron to discuss the titles he writes, the movies that have been made, and even some of the unexpected controversy thrown his way.

1. Looking at your title history, things seem to fall into either of two categories: "Dads" and "Dogs." What's the connection there?

Well, you know, if you're the father to some children, and you're the father to some dogs, there's a very clear emotional connection between the two.

In this fun new rhyming picture book, Walter and the Wallet by Billy Bloom (illustrated by Tanya Leonello), 9-year-old Walter Collingsworth is having an awful day – until he finds a wallet on the ground, filled with cash. Walter’s day goes from gloomy to great when he starts picturing all the fun things he could buy with his new money. But when he overhears a devastated old man who is the wallet’s rightful owner, will Walter keep the cash or turn it in?

Image: The Oliver Twins via Facebook

Molly Ostertag's THE WITCH BOY is a less-than-subtle parable on gender and the accepted roles that go along with it.

The titular witch boy is Aster, who lives in a secluded village of magic users behind an enchanted barrier. The men grow up to become shape changers, guided by their spirit animals, who go out and hunt demons. The women learn magic spells for protection and healing. Aster has not been contacted by any spirit animals yet, and it's far past time for most boys to have had that experience. What's more, he perpetually hides where he can overhear the lessons taught to the girls so he can learn magic, even though this is knowledge that is forbidden to him.

As we count down the days to “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” perhaps you’re itching for something to help fill the void. Never fear - cue up “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and pull out this Star Wars Even More Crochet kit, by Lucy Collin.

The kit is a “sequel” to Collin’s Star Wars Crochet, and comes with nearly everything you need to create two projects – a Jawa and BB-8:

• yarn
• size 3.5mm/E-4 metal crochet hook
• plastic safety eyes
• fiberfill stuffing
• a tapestry needle
• instruction book

I say “nearly everything” because you also need a stitch marker to keep your place between rounds. A regular safety pin works well for this purpose.

The chillmeister behind the insanely successful GOOSEBUMPS franchise adds another entry to the kid lit shelves next August, and while it's not superficially scary, one might be horrified if one reads it too often and tries to make it political. Which is exactly what I'm going to attempt to do, so be prepared to be "woke" as the hip kids are saying these days.

MARY MCSCARY, illustrated by Marc Brown, is all about the titular little girl who lives to scare. Well, if your name was Mary McScary, wouldn't you? She scares her parents. She scares her pets. And she has access to the most amazing things to use for scaring, including (apparently) an entire zoo of wild animals at her disposal.

The game is afoot in the latest entry into post-Doyle Holmesiana. Daughter/father team Anna Elliott and Charles Veley migrate Veley's former Sherlock Holmes endeavors, expanding the Holmes and Watson force by one -- American-born actress Lucy James. And before you get all in a huff about how Sherlock would never let a young lady work with him on important cases, let me assure you he has a good reason for keeping Lucy close, and it's not a romantic one.

With just a few scant hours until the release of SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING, it behooves us to look back on the man, without whom, there would arguably be no Marvel Universe for a Marvel Cinematic Universe to have come. Stan Lee is sometimes a polarizing figure in the comic book industry, but no one can deny the influence he had on the direction it has taken.

And while there are several books and numerous convention tall tales told about the man, Bob Batchelor has set out to provide yet another perspective on the multi-faceted man behind THE FANTASTIC FOUR, THE AVENGERS, and, of course, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. We sat down for a discussion with the author of the forthcoming book, STAN LEE: THE MAND BEHIND MARVEL (September 2017, Rowman & Littlefield) to get some more of his perspective on the living legend.

I wanted to open this article with "It was twenty years ago today..." but every time I did so, Paul McCartney began to scream in my ear. Perhaps I could start with "One score and zero years ago," without raising zombie Lincoln, but it just seems awkward.

Was it really twenty years ago that I sat down with this unassuming title, selected with little fanfare and to which I quickly became hooked? That would have made me thirty years old. Which reminds me, I hate math.

But it was twenty years, and the Internet is happily buzzing with Pottermania once more. It's a testament to the storytelling that it is remembered this far out, and is still selling to a new generation of readers.

The newest addition to the adult coloring book craze comes in the form of THE LITTLE MERMAID: A COLORING BOOK. However, don’t go into this looking for Flounder, Sebastian, and Ursula; this coloring book is based on the original story by Hans Christian Andersen, not the popular Disney movie. The illustrations seem to have been drawn by several different artists, and you can find the names associated with each page at the back of the book.

The Little Mermaid Coloring Book features full page (and many two-page spread) images to color. There are also colorable quotes from the original fairytale that make it look like a picture book. However it is not a complete story; think of it as a coloring book with random, eye-catching quotes from the original fairytale.

"If you had a magic button that could kill anyone or destroy any place, would you use it?"

Whenever Stephen King has a new book out, it’s a pretty big deal for me.  Thanks to my mom, I have been a huge King fan since I was way too young to appreciate his books.  Not knowing much about Richard Chizmar, I was a little hesitant to pick this one up.  But, I have enjoyed King’s collaborations in the past with authors like Peter Straub, Stewart O'Nan, and Joe Hill. Besides, unlike some other authors (looking at you, James Patterson), King isn't inclined to just throw his name on a book.  If it says he co-wrote it, then he co-wrote it.

MORBID HEARTS is the first book in the Dead Hearts series of novels by Susan L. Lambdin. Having read the second book in the series first, you may be thinking to yourselves, “Why would you read the first book now?” Well, that is a fair question that I will answer like this: Knowing what happens in the sequel lets me look at the first novel in a different light than reading it first. I get to look at it from the perspective of: How well does the author set things up for the sequel? How well does she develop the characters personalities in the first book, and did they carry over into the second book so that they did not appear as different people?

That, to me, is a refreshing look when reading a series of novels that I don’t get when reading them in series order.

BLACK LIGHT EXPRESS is the sequel to Philip Reeve’s critically acclaimed (and much loved by this reader) RAILHEAD novel. It picks up after that novel’s climactic finale with our hero and heroine, Zen Starling and Nova, now in a new world that they never knew existed -- and shouldn’t exist, for that matter. But their story is only half the tale, for back in The Great Network, plans are unfolding between the Prell and the Noons, the outcome of which will bring together old friends and enemies, along with some new characters and new trains, not to mention a Guardian or two, those “beings/caretakers/gods” in the great Data Sea who have more to lose than either Starling, the Noons or the Prell.

For those of you who have not read the first book, not to worry: you can pick up the gist as the book moves along; and to help out, Reeve’s includes a glossary of terms that will bring you up to speed on the important things you will come across to help you better understand things.

Seth and Kendra Sorenson are back, and the world is a better place for it.

The teenaged siblings who captured our hearts and imaginations in Brandon Mull's FABLEHAVEN series return in an all new adventure, DRAGONWATCH, and the dangers continue to mount. After having defeated the demons with the aid of the dragons, the dragons have decided they want more. They are no longer happy being confined to magical preserves, and are testing their limits. The wizard Agad comes to Grandpa Sorenson for assistance in finding caretakers for Wyrmroost, a dragon sanctuary where the caretaker duties are split between the wizard Marat and the dragon king, Celebrant. But the defenses of Wyrmroost have been weakening during this partnership, and Celebrant is probing those mystical defenses that would allow him to obliterate the walls of Blackwell Keep and release all the dragons of Wyrmroost upon the world, free once more.

According to the website Winter is Coming, George R.R. Martin is releasing an anthology-style book titled BOOK OF SWORDS to give fans a pacifier as they anxiously await the next installment of the on-going A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE series.

Martin's inability to finish a novel, in a reasonable amount of time, has infuriated fans over the years. This news will be met with both excitement and frustration.

Of the 16 stories included in BOOK OF SWORDS, Martin's is compiled from unused notes he wrote for THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE. Titled "Sons of the Dragon" and will tell the history of Aenys I Targaryen and Maegor the Cruel (the second and third Targaryen Kings that ruled from the Iron Throne).

When the hero gets his calling, he has no choice but to answer it and commence to adventuring.

But it's not that easy when the calling comes after the hero is in his forties. That's the dilemma of Angst, the hero of David J. Pedersen's fantasy series chronicling "a midlife crisis in medieval times."

Now you have a shot at winning the first four books in the series, autographed by Pedersen. All you have to do is...

...well, why don't we just let David's Dangerous Muses explain what you've got to do. Watch the video below for instructions.

Take it away, ladies!

CHESTER RACCOON AND THE ALMOST PERFECT SLEEPOVER (written by Audrey Penn and illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson) is the tenth picture book in the #1 New York Times bestselling THE KISSING HAND series. 

Chester Raccoon can't wait to attend his friend Pepper Opossum's "overday" sleepover, with several other nocturnal friends. Not even Sassafras Skunk's "stinky puffs" can ruin the fun when Pepper Opossum, Stanley Squirrel, Sassafras Skunk, Amber Porcupine, and Chester play darts (using Amber's quills, of course), hang upside-down, skip stones across the creek, play follow the leader, and eat tasty rotten fruit and dead bugs (yum!). But when everyone gets sleepy and starts heading to bed, Chester feels homesick and misses his mom. 

FORSAKEN HEARTS is the second book in the DEAD HEARTS novels by Susanne L. Lambdin, which takes place somewhere in the upper western portion of the United States a year or so after a devastating virus has destroyed most of humanity turning them into zombies and other creatures. The small pockets of normal humans left are trying to survive against the obvious threats, but also new and emerging ones as the virus continues to mutate.

It also takes place after a pivotal battle at Pike’s Peak in the first novel.

Now, admittedly, not having read the first novel, I was not sure how I was going to catch on to things--the characters, places, continuing story lines--but I will say Susanne did a very good job here of referencing just enough to the first book throughout the story to give the reader enough information to gain an understanding of what is going, on but not so much that the story would become a rehashing of the first book.

I'm a sucker for a remade fairy tale. Throw in that it's going to be a take on Lewis Carroll's Alice characters, and I'm going to be a first-in-line reader.

So when I saw that Wendy Spinale was going to follow-up her steampunk fantasy, EVERLAND, which put J.M. Barrie's characters through a dystopian steampunk adventure, with UMBERLAND, I knew I had to do more than just read the book -- I had to get inside the author's head and share some time with those characters.

Alas, I couldn't fit, so I settled for asking her questions instead.

How did it first occur to you to put these Victorian characters through the Steampunk engine?