Tony Chu is a cop with a secret. A weirdsecret. Tony Chu is Cibopathic, which means he gets psychic impressions from whatever he eats. It also means he’s a hell of a detective, as long as he doesn’t mind nibbling on the corpse of a murder victim to figure out whodunit, and why. It`s a dirty job, and Tony has to eat terrible things in the name of justice. And if that wasn`t bad enough, the government has figured out Tony Chu`s secret. They have plans for him… whether he likes it or not.
Presenting a twisted new series about cops, crooks, cooks, cannibals and clairvoyants, written by JOHN LAYMAN(Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness, House of M: Fantastic Four and PUFFED) with mind-blowing art by ROB GUILLORY.

Unlike a lot of comics that are currently running that are continuing stories of super heros we all know and love(I am looking at you X-whatever-marvel-is-currently-doing-to-the-x-men) or trying to reinvigorate a charactor (Batman, Inc. you know who you are); Chew is a completely new. The concept is fresh and a little bit insane. We are talking bat-shit insane, who would have thought cannibalism would make an awesome super power. I certainly didn’t.

On top of the awesome story and ideas the art by ROB GUILLORY is superb. The attention to detail is given to every panel and the way that even the nastiest food is drawn with love is just wonderful to look at. The style of drawing is a perfect fit for the noir detective story that is going on.

And if my review isn’t enough to get you pumped and excited then I will play my ace in the hole: Sarah enjoyed reading it. That’s right, my wonderful non-comic except for Betty and Veronica reading wife liked the first trade paperback of chew. The third book is supposed to come out on the 24th of November so I would suggest cruising on over to Amazon.com and ordering Book 1 and Book 2. That way you can read and savor books one and two before book 3 comes out.

Table of contents for Harry Potter 7

1. Harry-est Potter ever

As many others have mentioned, Harry Potter 7 comes out this weekend. This is a sad day for me, since I look forward so much to these books coming out and am wondering what I am going to wait for now.

I figured since there is a couple days until it comes out I would lay out what I think is going to happen and why. Then once I (and Sarah) have finished the book I will see how right I was. If you read and finish it before I post about it again, please do not spoil because that would make me cry. Also I will make sure that I post a spoiler warning before following up on this post.

Who will die?

In my opinion I think that it will Ron Weasley out of the core group who dies. I say this because he doesn’t really have an obvious partner to fight in the BIG BATTLE that has to happen. Harry has Voldermort, Hermione has Malfoy(you know the whole mudblood pureblood battler) and even Neville has Snape to battle(I think anyway)

Is Dumbledore really dead?

I think so, though I want him not to be. A couple reasons I think that he isn’t dead is that when he was hit with the killing curse he flew backwards off of the castle. When ever anyone else in the books gets killed with the Killing Curse the just crumple where they are (Cedric Diggory and the Spider that the fake Mam-Eye Moody kills in book 4).

Is Snape really bad?

I think that Snape is an opportunist. He is not bad or good, he just aims to be on the winning side. I think that in the end, if Neville dosen’t kick his butt, Snape will end up killing Voldemort for Harry so Harry can still be good.

Is Harry a Horcrux?

I hope so. I think that the best way for J.K. Rowling to not be pressured to write anymore Harry Potter books is to have Harry have to die in order for Voldemort to be defeated. I am thinking something along the lines of Ginny having to kill the one she loves(Harry) in order for good to triumph over evil. Classic tragedy.

Other thoughts:

I think that Draco will try to become good and be killed by Voldemort in the end. Also that Neville will play a much bigger role in the book and the fighting of Voldemort. I think that Hagrid will die saving Harry and Co from a group of giants. Lupin will probably be killed by good wizards because he is a WareWolf. Crookshanks will turn out to be more then just a cat. Also Wormtail will try to save Harry and be killed for it.

Oh and Aunt Petunia is a squib, that is why she hates magic, because she can’t do it. I don’t really remember them ever saying that Lily Potter came from a muggle family, just that their parents where pleased to have a witch in the family.

Comments, Agreements, Disagreements? Bring it!

Table of contents for Ultimate Fantasy Book

1. Ultimate Fantasy Book
2. More Ultimate Fantasy Book

Here is part two of the Ultimate Fantasy Book Series, which I am sure you have all been waiting for.

I find that within fantasy books there is very little inventive thinking that has gone into creating new weapons or armor technology, let alone a new tech that isn’t magic based. The best use of Tech in a book I have read has to be the Gnomes in the Dragonlance series. They where always coming up with all sorts of good stuff, while most of it wasn’t importatn to the story, that added just a little extra awesome to the books. Sci-fi writers come up with all sorts of good stuff that they just expect the reader to go along wit, without explaining the new tech fully, so why not in fantasy.

Technology: don’y be afraid to come up with something new and exciting. Even making up a new material or type of armor would be great.

I am a fan of magic when it suits the story and is done in such a way that it doesn’t create super characters. I also like the way Robin Hobb did the Wit and the Skill. I think that having two branches of magic that where quite untraditional is awesome. Steven Brust did somthing simalar with the sorcery and witch craft in the Vlad books, though I find that certain characters in those books to be to powerful.

Magic: Make it balanced, so a fighter has a chance against a magic user, not just because the magic user gets tired. Don’t make it so magic can do it all.

There is nothing I like more then a series of books. My only problem is that authors sometimes get stuck in a series slump and make their books unaccesable to people who havev’t read the previous entries. Since I get a lot of my books at the Library and can’t always get the immeadiate next book, I like to be able to jump around in a series and know what is going on. Perfect examples of people who do this well are Bujold and Brust. Both have written a large quantity of books about a central character, you can pick up any of the books in the series and be able to follow the story.

Series: Do it all out of order.

There you have it, the list of important things to have when you are writing a fantasy novel. If anyone knows of a good fantasy book I should read that fits these criteria or not, let me know.

Last week I have ordered a book interlibrary loan style. That basically means that the local library system didn’t have it so they had to borrow it from another districts libraries. It went off without a hitch and I was allowed to borrow it until July 5th or there would be crazy $1.00 a day late fees.

When I received the book there was a pink piece of paper wrapped around the front cover which I took off and used as a bookmark. once I finished the book I took out the bookmark(pink slip) and threw it away prior to returning the book to the library.

Apparently you have to keep that piece of paper on the book when it is an interlibrary loan. Since I didn’t do this I have been assessed a $1.00 fine for the book, even though I turned it in two weeks early.

So apparently that pink paper is more expensive then the check-out receipt I normally use as a bookmark. I told the librarian that I was un-aware of the needing to keep the pink slip part of interlibrary loans and no one mentioned it when I checked out the book or that there would be a fine if it was missing.

She didn’t care. At all. So I punched her. In the nose. Real hard. She cried. Just kidding.

Table of contents for Ultimate Fantasy Book

1. Ultimate Fantasy Book
2. More Ultimate Fantasy Book

I have decided to put down my criteria for the ultimate fantasy book down in writing and see if anyone knows of any books that fit the criteria. I will start with races.

I personally either love or hate the fantasy races that are usually around in fantasy universes. I tend to hate the typical ones like elves and dwarves, but I like ones created for the specific universe like the Kender from Dragonlance books or the Tines from A Deepness in the Sky. I tend to enjoy books that the races are more modified humans then fantastical creatures. A prime example of this is David Eddings books, he has been criticized for basing his races of people on historical civilizations. Each race is a stereotype, but within each race there are exceptions. I think that this is a great way to introduce races with out having to explain the different ends and outs of their society. By using visual clues about the way their architecture is and how they fight, it automatically gets a certain civilization into your head allowing you to understand motivations.

Races: Need to either be all human based or if fantasy based there needs to be one or two really well thought out new races.

I also really like the characters to have flaws. I really enjoy it when characters are not the best at everything or undefeatable. I rather enjoy it when Vlad Taltos gets killed or when Raistlen has to stop casting incredible spells because of the physical limitations of his body. One of the greatest “flaws” I have found in a fantasy series is Drizzt from the Dark Elf Trilogy. He, unlike his fellow dark elves” isn’t evil and wants nothing more then to be accepted somewhere. Unfortunately for him the Dark Elves are quite evil and hated by pretty much all other races. R.A. Salvatore does a great job of making you love Drizzt and root for him as the ultimate underdog.

Characters: The main heroes need to have flaws that actually effect the outcome of the story.

Another thing that all fantasy novels seem to have is a pantheon system. I have seen these systems over done to the point of the gods themselves fighting alongside the heroes to the gods remaining aloof and only acting through the hero’s. I truly enjoy the Vlad Taltos series since the gods are not necessarily ultimate beings, they are instead just another “race” that occupies the world. This gives the gods a more down to earth character and makes them more enjoyable to read about. The rare exception seems to be the books that have gods much like the real world, people prey to said gods and the gods may or may not do anything, it is more about interpretation then actual action.

Gods: If they are aloof or a non-entity I tend to like it better, though a really well thought out system can be appealing.

A lot of fantasy novels seem to focus so much on combat that I lose interest pretty quick. I enjoy a good battle every now and then, but I do not need a graphic description of how someone’s face melted off. Just say that their face melted off. My imagination can do the rest. I really enjoy books that give you the basics and provide for your mind to do the rest. The same goes for sex. I really don’t need porn in the middle of my book. A little sex is fine but when it starts to border on a romance novel my brain shuts down and I stop caring.

Fighting and Sex: Nice and easy, let my mind do the work.

I recently read the Liveship Traders series and I really enjoy sailing in books. What can I say I like pirates…a lot. I am not saying that I need pirates in every book I read, I just enjoy the idea and most pirate characters. However, if someone can’t write about ship board life I don’t want to read a really boring uninspired account of what life might have been like.

Boats: Use them if you can, if not leave them alone.

Dragons. I love dragons as much as the next person. I however don’t really like the dragons that are nice and understanding and don’t secretly wish to enslave all humanity or use them to further their own ends. Dragons to me are the ultimate villains. They represent evil, greed and are basically badasses. On the plus side they are also quite pompous and seem to get destroyed by their belief that nothing can defeat them.

Dragons: Make them evil or at least selfish. They should only help if they see the benefit to them.

I will cover technology and magic later this week

The depiction of shipboard life is quite fun and a nice change from the typical fantasy books that I read. I also found the idea of the live ships and where the wizard wood comes from to be quite interesting ideas and very well executed.

I am hoping to finish these books this week so I can start on a new series next week. Overall I would suggest these books to anyone who enjoyed Robin Hobbs previous books.

I decided to reread them. Unfortunately since it is a five book series that involved a lot of hunting in my parent’s house and I could only find 2 of the 5. So I instead went and bought the complete collection that is included in two volumes.

These books start out following the formula the Joseph Campbell talks about in the Power of Myth. Basically there is the main Character, Garion, who has a call to power which he refuses and then accepts to complete the goal of defeating the evil.

The books are not the simple but you get the idea. Along the way he encounters all sorts of well developed and colorful characters that you will defiantly enjoy. My favorite is Silk, mostly because he is closest to the thief\assassin characters that I love in all of the fantasy books I read.

I would recommend this series to anyone who likes fantasy; it has all of the important parts of a good fantasy novel, including court intrigue and evil sorcerers