The Lousypoet

So apparently renowned filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro has co-authored a vampire series with Chuck Hogan. The first book, The Strain, is due out June 2nd, and it sounds pretty cool.

Here’s the summary Amazon.com has on their site;

The visionary creator of the Academy Award-winning Pan’s Labyrinth and a Hammett Award-winning author bring their imaginations to this bold, epic novel about a horrifying battle between man and vampire that threatens all humanity. It is the first installment in a thrilling trilogy and an extraordinary international publishing event.

The Strain

They have always been here. Vampires. In secret and in darkness. Waiting. Now their time has come.

In one week, Manhattan will be gone. In one month, the country.

In two months—the world.

A Boeing 777 arrives at JFK and is on its way across the tarmac, when it suddenly stops dead. All window shades are pulled down. All lights are out. All communication channels have gone quiet. Crews on the ground are lost for answers, but an alert goes out to the CDC. Dr. Eph Goodweather, head of their Canary project, a rapid-response team that investigates biological threats, gets the call and boards the plane. What he finds makes his blood run cold.

In a pawnshop in Spanish Harlem, a former professor and survivor of the Holocaust named Abraham Setrakian knows something is happening. And he knows the time has come, that a war is brewing . . .

So begins a battle of mammoth proportions as the vampiric virus that has infected New York begins to spill out into the streets. Eph, who is joined by Setrakian and a motley crew of fighters, must now find a way to stop the contagion and save his city—a city that includes his wife and son—before it is too late.

A few reviews are up on Amazon, I’m guessing people who got advance reader copies, and they seem pretty positive. One person described it as Blade 2 meets CSI. Sounds pretty cool to me. Apparently this is going to be a series of books. I figure we’ll see the movie adaptation in 3 years time.

So after hearing considerable hype for this little book, I finally succumbed and read it. I confess, I walked in with some preconceived notions that probably injured the experience. First, I thought the prose would be wondrous and full of fable like one of my all time faves, The Alchemist. I also believed that this book would contain revolutionary ideas that would change some of my notions of God, or at the very least, fill me with new questions and longing to know the creator. And as much as it saddens me, I have to say I was disappointed.

The Shack follows the tale of Mack, who takes three of his kids for a camping trip. During the trip, his youngest daughter is kidnapped by an apparent serial killer, and is most obviously killed. Several years later, Mack continues to struggle with The Great Sadness that hampers him in all his relationships and daily activites. One day, he receives a letter, seemingly from God, inviting him back to the very scene where Mack’s daughter was killed. What follows is Mack’s rediscovering of joy and comfort in the love of God.

I must say that I found The Shack to be slow, at times pedantic, and overall one man’s assertion of what God is to him. While the personalities of the trinity are both warm, interesting and inviting, there are always the questions as to God’s true intention. While time and again the message is that all God wants is to be loved and free to love in return, the book fails to truly explain the conflicting visions of God as presented throughout the Bible. And I’m sorry, but I felt like the explanation as to why God allows bad things to happen to good people was just a big cop out.

In many ways this book reminded me of Anne Rice’s diatribe on religion, Memnoch the Devil. Like Rice, Young has clear ideas of what religion is and where God fits in with it and with us his creations. I suppose it just all falls flat. The ending seemed rushed, and where I expected a big payoff, instead I received a cliche ending that I had seen coming from long before it happened.

Perhaps if The Shack had been written by a more capable writer, or given some more substance, I would have found it more engaging. I also found the dialogue, especially that of Mack, to be stilted and cumbersome.

In the end, The Shack was a compelly idea, and it did have its shining moments, like when Mack is granted true vision. I think overall, this book is meant to be entertaining and to represent one man’s ideals in relation to God and the Holy Trinity. I do not think this should be read as a way to understand the true nature of God or the Trinity, especially as I think no human could ever truly know the mind of the creator.

So give The Shack a read, if only to say you have. Don’t get hung up on the details, and I wish I could say that when the plot bogs down that there is an amazing payoff, but well, there isn’t. Sorry

So here’s an interesting rumour. EW.com is floating the story Drew Barrymore will direct Twilight 3. Supposedly they’re looking at a third director because they want the third instalment (Eclipse) to be released all of 6 months after New Moon. This overlapping of production times would mean Chris Weitz, who is directing New Moon, would be unable to do the director duties on the third film. This seems a little off to me. I mean, if Weitz delivers on New Moon, shouldn’t he be given the shot at the third film? I’m guessing that Summit Films is trying to push this series through while people still give a crap. But if they really want a series people will keep coming back to, they should go for quality, not just slap-dash productions. I mean, check out Harry Potter. The films are great movies, regardless of the source material. People keep coming back to the films because they are quality, not just because they’re adaptations of their favourite books. Oh well, I guess it’s a good thing I was never completely in love with this series, cause I predict the films are going to be shite.

Meanwhile, Watchmen continues to get some pretty great reviews. I’m totally pumped for this film. One thing I think is unfair is that it is getting constantly compared to The Dark Knight. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m a big Batman fan and I really did like TDK, but really, I don’t think it was as completely perfect as some people make out. Also, remember that Watchmen has the difficult task of being an adaptation. All Dark Knight had to do was be a good Batman story. I know, certain Batman films in the past have proven that it is entirely all too easy to mess up a Batman story, but I still think crafting an original story with a character with such amazingly rich history as Batman is easier than taking something as complex as Watchmen and trying to compress it all into one film.

Some Book News, Neil Gaiman has a new one coming out in March. It is an illustrated kids book with art by Charles Vess. Apparently the words are from something Neil wrote for Tori Amos when she had her baby girl. While I welcome damn near anything new from Mr. Gaiman, I can’t help but think this is Harper striking while the iron’s hot and getting some more kid lit our there under Neil’s name so soon after his Newberry award for The Graveyard Book. Of course, I’ll probably buy it anyway

In some book into movie news, Mania.com wrote this article on a planned Neverending Story remake. Seems Warner Brothers is looking to breath some new life into this series after 25 years. I suppose some spiffy effects and all will be added, but they’re saying that more of the nuances of the book will be explored instead of glossed over like in the first film. Now, I have to admit, I have yet to work my way through the book. With this news, I might just have to see if I can finish the thing.

Apparently the CW has hired ex Dawson’s Creek scribe, Kevin Williamson, to write an adaptation of the book series The Vampire Diaries. The original series began publication 17 years ago, while a new series is set to launch, well, in a few days actually!

I’ve never read the books, but the brief bit I’ve gleamed from the net is that the series focuses on the love triangle between two brothers who are vampires and a single girl who finds she has feelings for them both. Sounds like an anime series to me. Commenters on Amazon seem to believe this could’ve been the inspiration for Twilight, though it sounds considerably different.

Ironically, the CW is the network that rose from the ashes of the WB, which at one time housed the brilliant vampire series Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I guess they’re back in the mood for blood over there…

I read over at Mania.com that the film version of Dan Simmons’ book Hyperion has had a director named. The man helming the film will be Scott Derrickson, who recently directed the remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still. Apparently the film version is going to blend two books, Hyperion and its sequel The Fall of Hyperion.

Plot Synopsis from Amazon.com

Hyperion
On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope–and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.

The Fall of Hyperion
This densely plotted book concludes the futuristic tale begun in Hyperion . Earth has long since been destroyed, and humans now occupy more than 150 worlds linked by the Web, an instantaneous travel system created and operated by artificial intelligences (AIs–self-aware, highly advanced computers). These worlds are about to war with the Ousters, a branch of humanity that has disdained dependency on the AIs. At risk are the planet Hyperion, its mysterious Tombs that travel backward in time, and the Shrike, its god/avatar of pain or retribution. The narrative focuses on the government of the Web and its leader, Meina Gladstone, as observed by Joseph Severn, a cybernetic re-creation of the poet John Keats, and seven Shrike pilgrims, who may affect the war’s outcome. Simmons pits good against evil, with the religions of man and those of the machines battling for supremacy.

Brick Books is a Canadian Publisher of poetry written by Canadian citizens or landed immigrants. They publish only a limited number of new releases per year, but so far the books I’ve read from them have all been quality publications. I recently received their newsletter, and it contained a number of Canadian and US dates for their authors. I thought I would pass it along. You can learn more about Brick Books by visiting their website at http://www.brickbooks.ca/.

AND NOW ONTO THE DETAILS OF THE EVENTS FOR 2009 ACROSS THE COUNTRY – FROM NORTH AND WEST TO EAST:

NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

Yellowknife

Wednesday, February 25 at 7 p.m.
Yellowknife Public Library
Centre Square Mall, 5022 – 49th Street
Second Floor

John Donlan will read from Spirit Engine and Monty Reid will read from The Luskville Reductions in Yellowknife on February 18. For more information, contact Melissa Legacy, Public Service Librarian at 867-920-5642 extension 3.

John and Monty will also be visiting Aurora College. More details to follow.

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Victoria

Tuesday, January 20 at 7:30 pm
Open Space Arts Society
510 Fort St.

Open Word: Readings and Ideas, Open Space’s downtown literary series, features Toronto poet Sue Sinclair reading from her new collection Breaker (Brick 2008). Following the reading, Victoria oet Steven Price will interview Sue Sinclair.

Victoria

Wednesday, January 21 at 10:00 a.m.
University of Victoria
Clearihue Building, Room A306

Sue Sinclair will read from her new collection Breaker.

Salt Spring Island
Friday, January 23 at 8 p.m.
Art Spring
100 Jackson Avenue

Sue Sinclair will read from her new collection Breaker. Free admission.

Vancouver

Wednesday, January 28 at 5:30 p.m.
UBC Campus, Buchanan E476
1866 Main Mall

Sue Sinclair will read from her new collection Breaker. Free admission.

Victoria

Friday, February 20 at 7:30 p.m.
Black Stilt Coffee Lounge
1633 Hillside

Ottawa poet Monty Reid will read from his fourteenth book The Luskville Reductions. Planet Earth Poetry at Black Stilt Reading Series. For more information, please call 250-370-2077.

Victoria

Thursday, March 19 at 8:30 a.m.
University of Victoria

Randall Maggs will visit to Professor Jamie Dopp’s class in Contemporary Canadian Literature and read from Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems.

Victoria

Friday, March 20 at 7:30 p.m.
Black Stilt Coffee Lounge
1633 Hillside

Brenda Leifso and Randall Maggs will the featured authors reading at Planet Earth Poetry at Black Stilt Reading Series from their collections Daughters of Men and Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems. For more information, please call 250-370-2077.

Vancouver

Thursday, April 23 at 7:30 p.m.
UBC Bookstore on Robson Square

David O’Meara reads from Noble Gas, Penny Black.

ALBERTA

Edmonton

April 23 to April 26
Edmonton Poetry Festival

David O’Meara reads from Noble Gas, Penny Black. Details to follow.

MANITOBA

Winnipeg

Thursday, February 5 at 7:30 p.m.
Aqua Books
274 Garry Street (between Portage & Graham)

Barbara Klar reads from her collection Cypress. For more information call 204-943-7555

ONTARIO

Toronto

Tuesday, February 3 at 8:00 p.m.
Art Bar Reading Series
Clinton’s Tavern
693 Bloor Street West

Toronto – Barbara Klar reads from her collection Cypress with other featured authors Richard Sanger and Neal McLeod. Clinton’s Tavern is right by the Christie Subway Station.

Toronto

Tuesday, April 21 at 6:30 p.m.
TYPE Books
883 Queen Street West

Carolyn Smart will read from her new collection Hooked, seven poems.

Richmond Hill

Saturday, April 18 – afternoon
Richmond Hill Poetry Gala
Richmond Hill Public Library
1 Atkinson Street

Hosted by Barry Dempster with readings from Barry, Carolyn Smart, Steve McOrmond, Matthew Tierney, Lola Lemire Tostevin and Sue Sinclair

Kingston

Monday, April 6 from 7 to 9 p.m.
Marine Museum of the Great Lakes
55 Ontario Street

Carolyn Smart launches her new collection Hooked, seven poems.

Ottawa

Tuesday, January 27 at 7:30 p.m.
Tree Reading Series
Ottawa Arts Court (at the corner of Daly Avenue and Nicholas Street,
just across from the Rideau Centre.)

Barbara Klar reads from her collection Cypress.

Ottawa

Tuesday, February 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Tree Reading Series
Ottawa Arts Court (at the corner of Daly Avenue and Nicholas Street,
just across from the Rideau Centre.)

Karen Solie and David Seymour read from their collections Modern and Normal and Inter Alia.

Ottawa

Tuesday, February 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Tree Reading Series
Ottawa Arts Court (at the corner of Daly Avenue and Nicholas Street,
just across from the Rideau Centre.)

Brenda Leifso reads from her collection Daughters of Men.

Ottawa

Tuesday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Tree Reading Series
Ottawa Arts Court (at the corner of Daly Avenue and Nicholas Street,
just across from the Rideau Centre.)

Sue Sinclair will read from her collection Breaker.

QUEBEC

Montreal

Thursday, April 16 at 7 p.m.
Atwater Poetry Project
Atwater Library and Computer Centre
1200 Atwater Avenue

Carolyn Smart, Jan Conn, Barry Dempster and Sue Sinclair will read from their new collections Hooked, seven poems by Carolyn Smart, Botero’s Beautiful Horses by Jan Conn, Love Outlandish by Barry Dempster and Breaker by Sue Sinclair.

NEW BRUNSWICK

Fredericton

Wednesday, January 28 at 8 p.m.
University of New Brunswick
Alumni Memorial Lounge

Barbara Klar and Randy Maggs read from their collections Cypress and Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems. Sponsored by the Department of English, University Bookstore, Canada Council for the Arts and the League of Canadian Poets.

NOVA SCOTIA

Halifax

Thursday, January 29 at 7 p.m.
15th Annual Gallery Reading Series
Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery
Loyola Building
5865 Gorsebrook Ave.

Barbara Klar and Randy Maggs read from their collections Cypress and Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems. Sponsored by the Department of English, Canada Council for the Arts and the League of Canadian Poets.

UNITED STATES

MASSACHUSETTS

Boston

Tuesday, February 24 at 2 p.m.
Bridgewater State College

Randall Maggs will visit with Professors Andrew Holman and Dr. Maura Rosenthal and their classes and present his book Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems.

MICHIGAN

Detroit

Randall Maggs will read from his book Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems in the Detroit area. Details to be confirmed.

NEW YORK

Albany, New York

Wednesday, April 29

Evening reading at a local bookstore. Details will follow.

Carolyn Smart and Jan Conn will be reading from their new collections Hooked, seven poems by Carolyn Smart and Botero’s Beautiful Horses by Jan Conn.

New York City

Thursday, April 30 at 7 p.m.
McNally Jackson Books
52 Prince St. (between Lafayette & Mulberry)

Carolyn Smart and Jan Conn will be reading from their new collections Hooked, seven poems by Carolyn Smart and Botero’s Beautiful Horses by Jan Conn. Special guest is New York author Tom Sleigh.

Kingston, New York

Saturday, May 2

Reading at local bookstore. Details will follow.

Carolyn Smart and Jan Conn will be reading from their new collections Hooked, seven poems by Carolyn Smart and Botero’s Beautiful Horses by Jan Conn.

MASSACHUSETTS

Amherst

Sunday, May 3 – afternoon
Amherst Books
8 Main Street

Carolyn Smart and Jan Conn will be reading from their new collections Hooked, seven poems by Carolyn Smart and Botero’s Beautiful Horses by Jan Conn.

So today I received the latest Harper Collins newsletter. It was pretty sweet, packed with a ton of bonuses.

Bonus number one, a sneak preview at Jonathon Barnes’ new novel, Domino Men. The plot sounds interesting, and there’s almost an entire chapter online available to read. You can check it out here!

Bonus number two is free online copies of books by Neil Gaiman and Paolo Coehlo!
You can read Coraline by Neil Gaiman here.

You can read Eleven Minutes by Paolo Coehlo here.

Both are available as 100% online reads (no downloads people!)

Also of note is a new novel by Christopher Moore. If you’ve been following this site at all, you know I was a big fan of his books, Lamb, Bloodsucking Fiends, and You Suck. His new one is set in the court of King Lear and follows the court jester, Pocket. Sounds like another great one! Check out the full info here!

All and all, one of the best newsletters I’ve received. Lots of fun stuff to read and even more books to add to my Books to Read list. Check them out for yourself and let me know what you think!

Book Review – Thin Moon Psalm

Thin Moon Psalm was my first foray into the works of Sheri Benning. It’s an intensely contemplative and personal work. I admit, there were times where I felt like a voyeur, catching intimate moments in Benning’s life. There were the shocking scenes from a rally in Russia, the moments with her mother, that spoke in words lilting and lyrical. Thin Moon Psalm isn’t something loud, it’s words are mostly gentle, it’s language dancing lightly on the page. Reading this just really brought home how powerful poetry can be. At times there was this squeamish discomfort, like overhearing conversations too intimate for public broadcast, at others, I felt compelled forward, wondering at where the words were taking me.

I guess what it really boils down to is, Sheri Benning really reminded me about the power of poetry. Sometimes you consume so much written fiction, you forget that there isn’t just power in sentences, but in the words themselves; in poetry, it is so clear, as a single word can convey paragraphs of meanings.

You can check out more about Thin Moon Psalm at its publisher’s site, Brick Books.

Sheri Benning grew up on a small farm in central Saskatchewan. She has traveled extensively, including spending time in St Petersburg, Russia. She currently resides in Canada. She has been published in numerous publications including several anthologies. She has two published books of her works; Earth After Rain & Thin Moon Psalm.

Links for Sheri Benning,

Brick Books Bio
Bio on the League of Canadian Poet’s site

So I just got a package today from Brick Books! Inside were four books of poetry! I’m looking forward to working my way through these and I’ll be writing about each of these books and their authors as I finish them.

The Books I have to keep me company for the next few nights are,

Thin Moon Psalm by Sheri Benning

Or by Tonja Gunvaldsen Klaassen

Concrete and Wild Carrot by Margaret Avison

Woodshedding by S.E. Venart

Thanks so much Brick Books!

So I found this website, Book Blogs. It’s a social website where you can join and discuss all things book related.

Unlike a number of other sites that I joined just for the sake of getting my link posted, I actually like this site, and the discussion threads actually engaged me enough that I posted in a number of them.

So go check it out!