X-Men: The End Book One: Dreamers And Demons

Book Description

It's the epic finale to the story of the Children of the Atom as renowned X-Men scribe Chris Claremont joins with star artist Sean Chen for a trilogy in the style of the Lord of the Rings movies, one that spans the length and breadth of the X-Men canon and brings the saga of Marvel's mutants to a climax!

Customer Reviews:

A mixed bag of good, bad & ugly.......2007-03-08

The good thing about the series is the overwhelming tsunami of action that will keep hearts jackhammering in the chests of true X-fans. While "The End" doesn't always bring about a true conclusion in some books in the Marvel series, the X-Men are certainly getting hit where it hurts from beginning to end -- and fans must be prepared to watch their favorites fall in a variety of horrible ways.

It's all-out war on mutants, generated largely because of a conflict among alien races the X-Men and other mutant groups have confronted over the years. And that means pulling out all the stops, with overwhelming forces that simply cannot be halted with fisticuffs and a quick quip. Deaths range from the personal level -- for instance, the heroic final seconds of Rahne "Wolfsbane" Sinclair as she's engulfed in a fireball -- to the widescale destruction when the Xavier school is destroyed in a huge explosion that leaves scores of mutants dead.

It's certainly a different face on comics, where regular readers know their favorite characters are never in any real danger. (Actual deaths are rare, after all, and are almost always foreshadowed far in advance as "events" that usually aren't permanent anyway.)

But there's badness here, too, particularly for those of us who aren't diehard X-readers. Sometimes it feels like this is a "cast of thousands" production and, often, I found myself wondering who the heck some of these characters were. It's hard to get wrapped up in the fates of strangers, and the absence of much real backstory on them makes for bewildering reading. While I understand there was no practical way to squeeze hero biographies into the flow of story, I can't help but think a couple "cast of characters" pages at the beginning of the first volume would have helped immeasurably.

Even worse, however, is the pace with which "X-Men: The End" unfolds. While nonstop action -- filled with major developments, sudden twists and tragic deaths, no less -- can be a very entertaining storytelling technique, there are some limits that must be observed. In this case, things happen so quickly that readers don't have much time to digest one turn of events before they're on to the next. Writer Chris Claremont juggles numerous threads so wildly that it's easy to get confused, and the potential impact of the big stuff is diminished accordingly. Did someone just die? Oh well, I'll worry about it later.

Among the various bad guys at work here, however, the prominent use of Charles Xavier's evil twin -- yes, you read that right, his evil twin -- is a weak choice. And, by story's end, some readers might feel the tone is getting a little too preachy, as X-books are prone to do, as Xavier's "why can't we all just get along and leave in peace?" agenda is pushed.

by Tom Knapp, Rambles.(n e t) editor

Nice to see some old faces.......2006-01-24

I didn;t read this with alot of expectation. It's an interesting idea, but not alot of substance. Things seem to rushed in order to fit in more characters, and the point of the story kind of gets muddled. I really wished Claremont didn't constantly resurrect the Phoenix everytime he pens a story arc.
That being said, its nice to see some old faces mixed in with newer characters. The art was very good. The premise was interesting and challenging to long-time fans.

Bleeeccch. Don't bother. This will mark the end of your comic collecting........2005-11-29

If you are an X-Men completist, then look for a used, cheap copy of this TPB. I hated it, and unfortunately I bought it new at my local bookstore, full price. I am still kicking myself.

Sean Chen's pencils are amateurish, and the colorist and inker rely on making all of the metallic costumes look "extra shiny" to make it more dynamic. That doesn't disguise how poorly drawn this book is.

I am unsure of why there is a "The End" story needed here, unless Marvel is getting tired of producing all of the X-titles.

Basic synopsis: Someone has it in for the X-Men (again). Hint: Could be Sinister. Could be Apocalypse. Could be the Shi'ar. Question: Do we really care? I sure didn't after reading this. X-Men: The End pulls in characters from the entire X-Men canon (that was the selling point listed on the back cover), but it never fleshes out any of them to my satisfaction. Too many mutants spoil the broth here. You can't tell if the story is supposed to follow the current Earth 616 timeline, or any number of alternate timelines (i.e., Cable's, Rachel's, any of the Phoenix's timelines, etc.).

There are odd couplings: Kurt ends up with Kymri, a character introduced in Excalibur that only made appearances in two issues. Cyclops is still with the White Queen, which just chaps my hide. Emma also has an unexplained (and out of character) friendship with Rogue. Characters that have been killed before get killed again in this one (I think Claremont must just hate Northstar, frankly...).

Overabused plots resurface, as well as overused villains (Technarx, the Brood, Super-Skrulls).

Costumes are poorly rendered. Madelyne Pryor's black suit looks horrible, even on the splash page.

Characters that were supposed to have been killed prior to this story never offer any explanation as to their demise. (i.e. Havok and Annie)

This book was just a mess. The sequel, Heroes and Martyrs, isn't any better; the only thing it offers is some insight to Gambit's ongoing dealings with Sinister. But it still made me want to swat myself over the head with a rolled-up copy of it after I finished reading it.

Overtly confusing, but still a joy for hard-core/long-time fans.......2005-11-08

Synopsis: The X-Men have enjoied relative peace for a good long while, but this sense of security rests on tentative soil as a myriad of forces conspire to exploit a breed of X-Men no longer as militant as previous incarnations. A cadre of X-Men defend the now massive Xaviar institute, under the leadership of Cyclops in the field and Wolfsbane in the classroom. The XSE, headed by former-foe Vargas that works for the US Government and fills the role of mutant strike-force. X-Force fills the role of cannon-fodder, and when Cable isn't busy fighting for freedom he seems to be romantic with... Apocolypse? Sinister plots, and Phoenix is back from the dead... again.

Artwork: Pretty good, clean and in a realism style that should satisfy the main-stream comics fan. The near-future renditions of the characters stay thankfully true to form, which helps aleviate the difficult to follow story.
Story: Extremely confusing, even to a hard-core fan who has nearly every issue from waay back to Uncanny X-Men #94 up to current issues, yet still X-Men the End panders to the delight of long-time fans.

Cons: The only severe point of contention I have with the story is the lack of explination, quite a lot is going on and far too many "foot-note" characters show up with no quick reference as to who the frick these people are or why villians have become heroes or heroes villians, or on one page an X-Man is a villan then a few pages later is a hero again with no explanation as to why (read-Tessa/Sage). However, the confusion with the over-all plot is mostly cleared up with the second story-arc in the series. Also, Magneto is probably in about one or two pannels of the whole series thus far (he is not in the second series at all), and Xaviar appeares only slightly more often than Magnus. If this truly is the End for the X-Men, the two individuals most responsible for the shaping of the whole X-Universe should be given at least as much attention as, say, the Skrulls, who are really more Fantastic Four villans than X-Men foes.

Pros: Despite all of this, the story is a fun read and as I said above very rewarding to long-time readers in its scope. I appriciate how the story is not so much of a rehashing of reoccuring major story-lines of past X-Men sagas but still throwing hints of these milestones into the fray. The main opposition to the X-Men comes in three forms: alien (Shi'ar, Khan, Skrulls, and Brood- as a fan of Marvel's sci-fi this element is what sold me), Mr. Sinister, and the X-Men allowing themselves to settle in too comfortably with their mostly non-"super-hero" lives and thus their slip-up in vigilance opens the door for their enemies to hit harder than they should have. The old threats of Phoenix, Apocolypse, and human disdain for mutants lurk omniously behind the more overt threats of alien assassins and Sinister's minions, thus keeping true to the previous major-arcana of threats to mutantkind with out seeming like just the latest rehashing of classic stories from the X-Men's publishing past.

THE END.......2005-03-26

This is a gripping and harsh beginning of the end for the X-Men. Nobody is safe, you never know who is real or a shapeshifter someone is trying to take out the X-Men and is playing dirty to end it all.

Average customer rating:

Beautiful Dreamer: A Novel
Christopher Bigsby
Manufacturer: Thomas Dunne Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0312355831
Release Date: 2006-08-22

Book Description

Beautiful Dreamer brings a unique viewpoint to the American past, dealing with issues of race, perspective, and simple human nature in the startlingly real voices of early-twentieth-century Tennessee. Bigsby gives a remarkable edge to the claustrophobia, unease, and suspense as the characters race through forests, rivers and along railroads as time closes in on the novels surprising and dramatic showdown. Dark and gritty, Beautiful Dreamer traces the struggle between reluctant good and dedicated evil, where morality is a matter of life or death and the choices made have consequences as lasting as they are unexpected.

Someday's Dreamers: Spellbound Volume 2 (Someday's Dreamers)

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Someday's Dreamers: Spellbound Volume 2 (Someday's Dreamers)
Norie Yamada , and Kumichi Yoshizuki
Manufacturer: TokyoPop
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase Volume 7 (Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase)

ASIN: 1598166433
Release Date: 2007-04-03

Book Description

Summer break is here, and Ryutaro ventures to Yokohama--his mother passed away a year ago, and he has returned to pay his respects to the dearly departed. But the experience takes an unexpected turn when he encounters an old friend, who makes him reflect on his life... In the new world of Someday's Dreamers, love is brewing, and Ryutaro's uncertain future begins to come into focus!

Average customer rating:

Very goodD
Very goodD
Very goodD
Very goodD
Walking a mile in his shoes.

Dreamer: A Novel
Charles Johnson
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Middle Passage
King Vol. 1 (King)
King, Vol. 2
King Volume 3
Oxherding Tale: A Novel

ASIN: 0684854430

Amazon.com

At the center of National Book Award winner Charles Johnson's novel Dreamer are three remarkable men: Martin Luther King Jr.; his aide, Matthew Bishop, an African American philosophy student; and Chaym Smith, a man who is a dead ringer for the civil rights leader. Not only does Smith resemble King, but he also shares his intellectual voracity, widely read in both Eastern and Western philosophy, proficient in Sanskrit and martial arts, and a talented painter. But where King is deeply spiritual, Smith is a cynic; where King has the full force of his strong beliefs and his strong family heritage, Smith has nothing but a lifetime of misfortune to shape his attitudes. When he offers to become King's stand-in, Johnson creates an ideal situation in which to explore issues long at the heart of the "race issue" in America: the inequality between black and white, even between black and black.

As the novel moves forward in time toward that fateful day in Memphis, Johnson concentrates on the relationship between Bishop--the narrator--and Smith, a man who, with better luck, might have been as great as King. Periodically, the author also lets us in on King's own meditations on his life and faith, and the movement to which he has given them. All in all, Dreamer is the kind of novel Charles Johnson does so well: a book about a big subject, chock full of ideas and populated by characters articulate enough to argue them.

Book Description

Set against the tensions of Civil Rights era America, Dreamer is a remarkable fictional excursion into the last two years of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life, when the political and personal pressures on this country's most preeminent moral leader were the greatest. While in Chicago for his first northern campaign against poverty and inequality, King encounters Chaym Smith, whose startling physical resemblance to King wins him the job of official stand-in. Matthew Bishop, a civil rights worker and loyal follower of King, is given the task of training the smart and deeply cynical Smith for the job. In doing so, Bishop must face the issue of what makes one man great while another man can only stand in for greatness. Provocative, heartfelt, and masterfully rendered, Charles Johnson confirms yet again that he is one of the great treasures of modern American literature.

Customer Reviews:

Very goodD.......2001-12-01

Dreamer is the story of Dr. Martin Luther King, Chaym Smith, and Matthew Bishop. Chaym Smith is a young guy who's had a lot of misfortuntes in life, plus he look's just like Dr. King, which he isn't to proud of. Matthew hires him to potray Dr. King when he is needed, like right after King gives a speech. Dr. King appears in the book, only in deep throught about situations, and what his next step must be. Matthew is a unsecure young man, who help's Dr. King. Matthew wishes he could love the Lord like Dr. king, but secretly blames God for not letting his mother live. I throught the storyline was very good, but couldn't tell if the author was trying to give credit for Dr. King's speeches to other philospher, that he had copied.

Very goodD.......2001-12-01

Walking a mile in his shoes........2001-05-18

DREAMER held a lot of promise and was a very deep read. The story involves Chaym Smith, who offers himself as a decoy/stand-in to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., because he bears too familiar a resemblence to the good Doctor. Told from the perspectives of Dr. King and one of his aides, Matthew Bishop, the novel took us from marches to meetings involving heads of state to the breakdown of Chaym's personality, which was a complete 360 degrees from that of man he was hired to impersonate. The author was able to structure the personalities of the players involved and made the fictional charaters of Matthew and Chaym convincing and compelling. However, the book was so weighed down with thoughts and agendas that were so complex in context, that it was a little hard to get back on track, especially when you have forgotten where you left off, and you are still reading the book. A good read for those wanting something different and four-dimensional.

Average customer rating:

fine debut
Dream a little Dream
The Dream held civilization together...
Interesting first novel combining space opera and dreams
AuthorZone.Com Book Review

Dreamers: A Novel of the Silent Empire
Steven Harper
Manufacturer: Roc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0451458435
Release Date: 2001-09-05

Book Description

THE DREAM
...is a plateau of mental existence where people are able to communicate by the power of their thoughts alone.

The Silent
These people-known as the Silent-find that the Dream is threatened by a powerful Silent capable of seizing control of other people's bodies against their will...and may be causing tremors within the Dream itself.

THE RISK
And if the "normals" learn of this, they will do anything to capture the Silent for use as a weapon - and the Dream itself may be shattered forever...

Customer Reviews:

fine debut.......2006-03-10

I guess I should stop reading SF just because it involves gay main characters. It was never my genre, I generally find it too depressing, as it is the case with this book.

This is a fine book indeed: the author's lack of experience is clear only because of some clumsy character descriptions. The writing is already satisfying, the pacing good and the characters finely drawn and consistent.

It is the setting which is depressing: the world... well the universe we are given here is complex, believable, complete... just depressing: plenty of worlds where the law of the strongest is the only law, corruption, slavery, abuse are the unhappy rules. No way we can escape our own grim reality because we find it here, finely pictured, incredibly cruel.

The idea of the "Dream" I found extremely interesting, new and original. I think that just that makes the reading of this book worthwhile.

As mentioned above the two main characters are explicitly gay: sensitive reader should not shudder, though: there is no explicit sex, just a bit of believable, "manly" romance.

Dream a little Dream.......2005-01-12

The Dream is a place in the collective subconsciousness of The Empire, an uncountable number of souls strewn across a universe. It is how interplantary governments and corporations communicate.

The Silent are a small percentage of beings who can interact with the Dream. They are the messengers in this vast network, the ones who send and receive the information from planet to planet. Some regard them as a commodity, others as gods.

Kendi Weaver is one of The Silent. He has been a commodity, and now he wants to rescue other Silent from the same life. The only way to find them is through the Dream, but something is destroying the Dream.

Sejal is Silent. He is neither Commodity nor God, but a free citizen, and he wants to stay that way. Fortunately, Nature provided a way for him to keep his talent hidden. Unfortunately, he may be part of the key to what is destroying the Dream.

If the Dream dies, so will The Empire.

Steven Harper's story will keep your attention riveted on reading the story fromt he first page to the last.

The Dream held civilization together..........2004-06-26

It was a plane of existence that only the Silent could reach - a plane that allowed them to talk to, to reach other Silent Ones, no matter how far away, whether they were across the sea or across the galaxy. Aliens taught mankind about the Dream and soon they too are using it. It kept empires together. It allowed for interplanetary trade and helped corporations to function. Slipspace may allow ships to move about at faster-than-light travel, but the Dream allowed people to communicate and allowed civilization to exist.
So the Silent were important to have, but it was also important to keep them under control. So when a boy is found to be a super-Silent at the same time the Dream is starting to break apart, fear starts to overwhelm reason. Governments will kill to have him. They're even willing to go to war for him.
Somebody better do something fast, before the Dream is lost and civilization is lost with it!

Interesting first novel combining space opera and dreams.......2004-03-11

Dreamer, by Steven Harper

Players in my games and acquainted with my RPG characters know that dreams are a theme I enjoy. Dreamer is unusual in that it is a melding of space opera and these themes and many of the ideas that I employ in my games are coincidentally mirrored here. All sentient minds are connected to a plane of existence called the Dream, and a few individuals can access this plane for communication, and sometimes more.

The plot revolves around twin axes...the story of a young powerful dream sought by various sides, and a blight on the Dream itself. Interesting characterization and intriguing characters add to the unusual locales, both in and out of the Dream. In our time of tumult about such things, I was pleasantly surprised at the tenderness of a same-sex relationship as depicted in the book.

There are problems with pacing, its clearly the first book in a series, and some of the action of the book feels padded, and the ending clearly is ready to ramp up to sequels. These structural difficulties, while noticeable, do not greatly impact the enjoyment of the novel. The ideas, worlds and milieu carry the novel successfully.

Recommended.

AuthorZone.Com Book Review.......2003-07-24

A VERY complex but easy to follow fantacy/mystery.
The author is brilliant. His characters well developed and the enviornment well depicted.

Someday's Dreamers Volume 1 (Someday's Dreamers)

Average customer rating:

Very nice manga
Mistranslation makes readers tired and exhausted.
About a girl who's name is a dream

Someday's Dreamers Volume 1 (Someday's Dreamers)
Kumichi Yoshizuki , and Norie Yamada
Manufacturer: TokyoPop
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1598161784

Book Description

Yume desperately wants to follow in her mother's footsteps and become a magic user in the worst way! She innocently practices using magic to help the people she encounters: struggling soccer players, the wrongly incarcerated, and a student who wants to show his moon-loving teacher a lunar eclipse on a cloudy evening. On this coming-of-age journey filled with genuine imagination and a passionate sense of awe, follow Yume as she learns that the true magic in life can take place right inside her own heart.For the first time in the U.S., TOKYOPOP presents the manga series that influenced the popular anime, which Amazon.com describes as, "A cross between Harry Potter and Sailor Moon!"

Customer Reviews:

Very nice manga.......2006-12-07

I enjoyed reading this manga. It's about a young girl, Yume, who is a magic user. Now that she is of age, she has to move to Tokyo to earn official certification. She moves in with her male teacher, and the lessons begin. Yume gets into a bit of trouble at first for using magic the wrong way. There are some hard lessons to be learned regarding that. But she always has the bast interests in mind for the people she helps, so you can't really blame her for that.

The artwork is nice, and the story is nicely paced. The magic used isn't over-the-top, which was another plus.

Mistranslation makes readers tired and exhausted........2006-08-03

There can be no argument that the original version is an impressive manga.

But this English version has a bunch of mistakes in English translation. Some key words have been transformed into totally wrong meaning.

To ignore that, I should not have read it in Japanese. But these wrong translations have already degraded this manga's value. Some of them actually make no sense. There are so many vital mistakes that I cannot raise an example!

That's why, I cannot recommend you to read this. You should learn reading Japanese and buy the original version, which is totally really cool!

About a girl who's name is a dream.......2006-06-18

Seeing Someday's Dreamers described as a cross between Harry Potter and Sailor Moon made me want to pick it up, and given the gentle-looking drawing of Yume Kikuchi, I figured the heroine had to be something of a shy romantic, and I was right. And yume is Japanese for dream, apt considering how romantics are dreamers.

Fresh from Tono, Iwate-ken, which is in north Honshu (the main island of Japan), the magically gifted Yume travels to Tokyo to get magic training from Masami Oyamada. He tells her how his agency does contracts for the government, industry, and private individuals, but that even magic is limited, as it cannot be used to transform others, replace body parts, etc. However, "when a magic user grants a wish, it will only work if the wish is defined. A magic user aligns herself [or himself] with the desire of the other person and grants their wish by channeling that desire."

Yume meets a few people with whom she interacts with in order to make that wish come true. In some cases, it's a virtual sensation, like a dream. Zennosuke wanted to be a soccer player, but lost a leg in an accident, thus losing his dream, and also, his kindness. Yume grants him a virtual dream where he is at a soccer championship, with both his legs, and scores the winning goal. Another job, that has a heartbreaking aftermath, involves returning an old woman to memories of herself when she was 35, so she could relive her moment with Kana, a daughter who was studying music in Vienna and died in a traffic accident. To that effect, Yume becomes Kana, playing the violin, trying on a dress, in the dream.

For others, Yume learns a lesson in what people actually want. She confuses the desire of a woman to be reunited with her falsely-jailed lover with money won from a lottery so he'll read about her in the news. However, when she helps a boy doing weeding with a fork by making the weeds vanish, she is scolded, as the boy had to do weeding as a punishment. And she has to fight perceptions that magic is used for sneaky things, and that those who use magic are tarred with that brush.

The whole point is how one uses magic. Creating money is a no-no, as is doing evil, but using it for good and making people happy is the aim of Oyadama's agency. Despite the bumps in the road, Yume decides to "be a beacon of hope in a world that still struggles to appreciate magic." A good start to a promising series, originally titled in Japanese as Mahou Tsukai ni taisetsu na koto, or Treasured Things for a Using Magic.

This spawned an anime series that had The Indigo doing the theme song "Under the Blue Sky"

A Dreamer & A Visionary: H. P. Lovecraft in His Time

Average customer rating:

Lovecraft -- A Recluse, yet a Literary Savior!
Stunning
An outstanding biography of an important horror writer.
A Providence Gentleman...

A Dreamer & A Visionary: H. P. Lovecraft in His Time
S.T. Joshi
Manufacturer: Liverpool University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0853239460

Book Description

H. P. Lovecraft has come to be recognized as the leading author of supernatural fiction in the twentieth century. But how did a man who died in poverty, with no book of his stories published in his lifetime, become such an icon in horror literature? S. T. Joshi, the leading authority on Lovecraft, traces in detail the course of Lovecraft’s life and shows how Lovecraft was engaged in the political, economic, social and intellectual currents of his time.

Customer Reviews:

Lovecraft -- A Recluse, yet a Literary Savior!.......2004-09-03

S.T. Joshi reigns as the No. 1 Lovecraft biographer! He details Lovecraft's life: from birth to death, every family member, every friend, proteges, what came of them, every story and poem (well almost every) he wrote, his first kiss, his marriage, the downsides and tremendous upsides to Howard, etc. Everyone has a flaw, and that Joshi details, but he fairly notes at least one honorable aspect of the worst people in Lovecraft's life. The epilogue made me weep invisible tears for him! I couldn't stand reading the last two chapters because I knew Lovecraft was inevitably bound to die! I couldn't bear it! For any, and EVERY, Lovecraft fanatic out there who wants to learn so much more about Lovecraft, this is a book to find! I feel zero regrets. I feel, though, that the editor should have caught the rather few conventional errors here and there, but completely aside from that--this is a biography totally worth reading. How many fans out there know the groundwork to Lovecraft's secret racism? The vast numbers of writers he alone inspired to become kings of the science fiction genre? His leagues of controversy that spanned across his life--from criticism, to astrology, to poetry, to literature, and to politics? Where did the Night-Gaunts ACTUALLY come from (oh yeah it's in there!)? You can feel Lovecraft's emotions through his letters in these sharp moments: when he's returning to his hometown after 2 full years away, screaming in English on his letter: "PROVIDENCE!!!!"

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was this soul that we all, in some shape or form buried in our collective unconscious, are so wonderfully obliged to feel this affinity for, whether logically racist or not. His imagination reverberates across our hearts from the feeling and tone in his letters, through Joshi's intense yet oh so subtle descriptions of what Lovecraft was trying to say and thinking throughout those moments. What it's like to lose your home at such a young and impressionable age, losing your marriage, wishing for that book to read your name on it to finally hit the book store shelves (but happens only once...), finding your favorite cat dead and writing an elegy about it, and how he must have felt when he transcended from this five-year-long hermit to become the most famous amateur journalist in America! Him and "the boys," his elite crew of writers, touring the streets of New York City all night long!

A masterpiece in its design! Joshi must have spent years researching Lovecraft's entire life! ONCE...you hit the end of that book......you are wondering where all the rest of the information is? YOU KNOW that there is some extra details out there--and you YEARN for it!--but where is it? It's THE END, and there's no other turn or corner. It's just one of those books that leaves you begging for more!!! I admit fairly, sometimes it gets a tad boring throughout the chapters, but those extreme moments in Lovecraft's life will keep you hooked. In the seas of dreams, Lovecraft sails ahead of us all...

Stunning.......2004-05-05

This is the best biography of Lovecraft available, not counting the full-sized first edition which, I believe, has more material. Unless you are a true completist, you won't need the pricier first edition to appreciate HPL because this book has much of the same material. Joshi clearly has great interest in his subject (always a bonus), and he's not afraid to write about HPL's greater faults, such as his life-long, unchangeable racist opinions and his apparent indifference and immaturity in his short married life. With the greatest care, Mr. Joshi provides an in-depth look into the mind and life of H.P.Lovecraft, the dreamer and genius whose works got little recognition in his time, save for the small circle of friends and admirers who were lucky enough to be his correspondents and early readers. Those who knew Lovecraft personally knew that he was someone special; those who only know him through his works but WISH they could have know him (myself included) rely on such excellent works as this for illumination and inspiration. In all, this is a stunning work about a fascinating, under-appreciated thinker whose works--both fiction and non--should be widely studied. Highly recommended.

An outstanding biography of an important horror writer........2003-02-25

I highly recommend this book. Not only did I feel I was being personally introduced to Howard P. Lovecraft while reading it, I felt Joshi personally knew him. Of course he didn't, but after reading virtually everything in print (including manuscript archives by and about him), Joshi knew more about Lovecraft than most people know about their closest friends. I have never seen letters so well deployed to assemble the day to day, month to month activities and intellectual concerns of a historical figure. (Lovecraft wrote letters by the tons, and many were saved.) There is some discussion of the "weird fiction" Lovecraft wrote, with sometimes negative evaluations of its quality, but the key work gets enthusiastic and insightful brief evaluation, with further context based on the articles in the specialized journals that keep Lovecraft's critical reputation alive. Lovecraft is an acquired taste, but those of us who have acquired it owe Joshi a debt of gratitude. I never knew of Lovecraft's involvement with the amateur press organizations, or of his peripatetic travels across the east coast and parts of Canada he could easily get to. I think Joshi quite rightly attributes Lovecraft's premature death (at age 37) to a lifetime of poor nutrition, much of which was caused by near-poverty -- he never had a professional position, and lived hand to mouth on editing and rewriting of others' work, as well as meager pay for some publications (many of which weren't issued till after his death). His racism is discussed as a personal failing that doesn't undercut the author's other achievements. If that doesn't wash with you, I don't recommend the book. Otherwise, this is the go-to biography of one of the most unusual authors America has ever produced. My one quibble is that no pictures are provided, but they are available elsewhere.

A Providence Gentleman..........2001-10-15

"A Dreamer and A Visionary: H.P. Lovecraft in His Time" is one of the latest offerings from top Lovecraft scholar, S.T. Joshi. This is not an entirely new book, but a heavily edited and condensed version of his monumental 1996 biography "H.P. Lovecraft: A Life" published by Necronomicon Press.

For those persons who a) are new to Lovecraft and want to know more or b) are unable to obtain a copy of the sadly out of print
"H.P. Lovecraft: A Life", "A Dreamer and A Visionary" is well worth the price. Even those who own "H.P. Lovecraft: A Life" will
find this to be a nice companion volume.

Customer Reviews:

Bagge's omnipresence.......2002-05-30

is, as always, on full display in this second collection of Hate comics. As an ex-slacker from New Jersey, how can I not relate to Buddy Bradley? In fact, we are so similar, I have adopted his name for my email address(how original of me, I know), as you may see. Bagge skewers as many GenX stereotypes as he can cram into each issue of Hate, and for those of us with a sense of humor and self awareness about our goofiness, we are delighted to see facets of ourselves in his panels. Join Buddy as he meets his manic depressive girlfriends' parents, tries to manage a grunge band, and and attempts to keep his trashy, nihilistic part time concubine Lisa gainfully employed. Seattle was never funnier.

Funny easy-read.......2001-11-14

`Hate' is a series which aims for ironic and sarcastic humor. It takes everyday situations and puts in exaggerated stereotype versions of persons who normally walk those scenes (think `easy girls', the rock-fan, the queer, the environmentalist etc.) to make the scene as ridiculous as can be. This collection collects #6-10, a complete story-arc.

Buddy is a guy who gets in situations which are considered normal-life events. Nothing any other person couldn't get into if he went looking for it. The problem is that Buddy is sarcastic to the bone and the people who surround him are all a little cards short from a deck. And Buddy acts on impulse. His comments get him into trouble with his neurotic girlfriend and relatives more than once ... and it's a good thing his fellow-characters can't see what he thinks to boot. In this collection he is asked to come manage a rock-band. The members are talentless nitwits but that doesn't stop them from thinking the world of themselves. After thinking about it Buddy decides to go for it and milk them out like only he could.

A talk-comic which doesn't try to tell a message anywhere but goes for straight-out hilarious fun. Despite of that it does have more than one "been there" situations in it. Think of it as `Box Office Poison' mixed with the sarcastic comments of 'Cerebus'. The black-and-white art is heavily cartoonish and makes for easy reading. It's not what one should decide to buy or neglect it for, but it's acceptable. If sarcasm (up to downright cynicism) is the type of humor you're into, this can definitely be a good choice.

Brilliant.......2000-03-15

Peter Bagge is a comic (and comics) genius and Buddy the Dreamer proves it. His drawing style is unique and fun to look at it, but more importantly, his characters are as three-dimensional and vividly, believably realized as any in current mainstream fiction. Besides that, the stories in this book are side-splittingly funny. Damn it, buy this book already!

Follow the daily trials 'n tribulations of anti-hero Buddy.......1998-06-15

Poor Buddy Baker! Surrounded by a cast of assorted suburban slackers, losers, dweebs, dorks and hangers-on, he valiantly(?) tries to forge a life in the Gen-X capital of Seattle Wa. This collection culled from Hate #'s 6-10 deals with his attempt at managing a grunge band fronted by his genetal-wart infested pal Stinky, the dissolution of his relationship with trust-fund girlfriend Valerie and carnal capers with basket-case pal Lisa. Sharp, crude and true to life, the series holds no punches and paints a merciless picture of 20-something youth in the early 90's.

Average customer rating:

A short story from a decadent village along the coast of Northern-Norway
SMALL VILLAGE CASANOVA TRIUMPHS
A delightful, humorous well-crafted novel
Optimistic
A Hamsun gem of a romantic tale in new translation.

Dreamers (New Directions Classics)
Knut Hamsun
Manufacturer: New Directions Publishing Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

German | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Scandinavian | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0811213218

Customer Reviews:

A short story from a decadent village along the coast of Northern-Norway.......2006-10-08

This is definitively one of Hamsun's minor works. It's a short read, merely an hour or so of reading, and nothing that will linger in the annals of literature. The book centres on a certain Rolandsen, a charlatan and a drunkard. He tries to seduce just about every girl on the island they live on. The milieu is that of Northern-Norway around late 1800's, from what I can deduce. Nothing great or horribly bad about this tale. It's an okay, but decadent tale from the hands of Norway's greatest author, but feel free to skip it unless you are extremely interested in Hamsun's minor works.

(I read a different edition)

SMALL VILLAGE CASANOVA TRIUMPHS.......2005-02-07

Ove Rolandson is what a modern audience would call a "playa". He goes around flirting with the factory girls, is the sire of a couple of illegitimate children, proposed to Elise Mack, the daughter of the local fish glue magnate, and become engaged to Olga, the sexton's daughter. And he also has an eye on the new curate's wife. As you can see, he has a lot on his plate. He's not quite the smooth operator that he wishes to be though. While working at the telegraph station and getting drunk and picking up chicks seems to be his only pasttimes, he harbors a secret desire to be an inventor and an entrepreneur. He is secretly experimenting on different methods of extracting fish glue from parts that others see as useless, that, if he can get them patented, could make him a competitor of Trader Mack, the boss of the town.

Dreamers is lighter novel than Hamsun usually writes. It's basically a comic work. We have almost-murders, almost-affairs, almost-dirty dealings, but nothing ever brings the book down into the realm of "heavy" literature. It almost feels like a Shakespearean comedy such as Much Ado About Nothing. Nobody gets hurt in the end. At bottom, most of the characters here have a core of goodness that never lets the plot degenerate into tragedy.

This was a good light read. For an example of more intense works by Hamsun, I would check out "Hunger" and "Pan", the latter novel showing how the same elements we find in "Dreamers" can be melded into something more primal and powerful. I would also recommend Shakespeare's comedies such as "Much Ado About Nothing" and "Love's Labor's Lost". Also, check out "Harvest" by Jean Giono for a similar take on a pastoral subject with more intensity.

A delightful, humorous well-crafted novel.......2002-06-12

Hamsun is an author everyone should read - his clear and precise language, his ability to pick details that build fully human characters, and his wicked sense of humor all make for reading at its best.

In this novel, a young but ambitious telegraph operator who is a womanizing drunk as well as a clever inventor seeks capital to make his dreams of better, cheaper fish-glue with dye as a byproduct. Along the way one meets the fiancee he can't get rid of, a curate with a hell-fire-brimstone manner and a wife who is spoiled and childish, lay-helpers with hidden hatreds ... a whole village of believable characters acting in very human ways.

This is not a deep, philosophical novel but through the characters' actions there is a sense of hopefulness that overpowers the foibles.

Optimistic.......2002-02-03

What a delight this little book is! And to think that I expected Hamsun to be either experimental, or to have a heavy writing style so common among classic writers... Snip: (...).

A Hamsun gem of a romantic tale in new translation........1999-08-27

Dreamers is another wonderful non-romantic romance involving ordinary people in a small Norweigen village from the master of the genre, Knut Hamsun. However, this new translation is a great dissapointment to me after reading the 1920's Alfred A Knopf edition. Much of the colour & humor are lost in this edition. I would strongly suggest using Amazon's used book search & auctions to find the out of print Alfred A Knopf version as it is a far superior translation to this edition that will bring many more smiles and laughs to the reader.

The Dreamer: A Graphic Novella Set During the Dawn of Comic Books

Average customer rating:

essentially an autobiography
The dawn of comics' Golden Age

The Dreamer: A Graphic Novella Set During the Dawn of Comic Books
Will Eisner
Manufacturer: DC Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

DC Comics | Publishers | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

Eisner, Will | Authors, A-Z | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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Graphic Storytelling

ASIN: 1563896788

Customer Reviews:

essentially an autobiography.......2002-05-22

it's not difficult to figure out the pseudonyms. eisner's decision to write his autobiography using code names for everyone (who is completely and obviously specific people), especially in this era of tell-all comics, is something of a head-scratcher. nevertheless, this is a thoroughly interesting and entertaining insight into Eisner's early career: his work at a printing press, his infamous encounter with the mafia and tijuana bibles, the decline of pulps and the rise of comic books, and the start of the Eisner/Iger production shop, with some nice cameos by Alex Toth (i think), Jack Kirby (i'm sure), and a writer who i don't recognize.

And, as ever, Eisner's storytelling, renderings, design, and particularly his breakdowns are excellent, regardless of any flaws in the story or, in Eisner's style, excessively emotive and kinetic characters.

The book is short, probably a 20-30 minute read the first time you go through it.

-yakov.

The dawn of comics' Golden Age.......2000-09-25

Will Eisner offers a revealing look at the early days of comics in this semi-autobiographical tale of a young comics artist's early shot at stardom and some of his stumbling blocks (such as the copyright suit he was involved in as a young man over a Superman rip-off he was paid to draw).

The humanity of all Eisner's books is in strong evidence here, as we meet the other artists in the workshop where our dreamer goes to work: people with flaws and strengths, weaknesses and dignity, who just may be based on Jack Kirby, Alex Toth, Joe Kubert, and others from the dawn of the medium. Names are changed to protect Eisner's cohorts, however.

If you're a fan of comics' Golden Age, this is a book very worth checking out. This could be the story of any creator who worked for National, Atlas, Dell, or any of the other publishing houses of the time and dreamed of striking out on his own.

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