Sunday, April 13, 2014

Books I've Read This Week

The Martian by Andy Weir is a novel I was quite intrigued to read. The book takes place in a near future in which we've successfully had two manned missions to Mars and it is only our third one which runs into problems. The book kicks off with a sand storm overwhelming the astronauts, forcing them into an emergency evacuation. During the evacuation astronaut Mark Watney is lost and presumed dead. Now stranded alone on Mars, Mark, must figure out a way to survive on Mars for 4 years until the arrival of the next planned Martian mission.

Okay this book is technically Robinson Crusoe in space but it is funny and engaging and well worth the read. I'm sure that some people will nit pick that the science is not 100% correct in this book but then they are missing the point. Obviously Andy Weir did his homework and gets a lot of it right but the story is about Mark Watney and how he is able to keep his head even when confronted with such a huge amount of adversity. The book itself keeps you guessing on whether or not Mark will actually make it through 4 years alone on Mars. I really liked and would recommend this book.
Nemo: Heart of Ice by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill is another in the long series of graphic novels in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen universe. In it we have the daughter of Captain Nemo who is now firmly entrenched as the Captain of the Nautilus and wanting to leave her mark on the world in much the same way as her father. Needing to step out of the long shadow of her father she travels to Antarctica to attempt a voyage whom her father was unable to complete. It is there she and her crew run into Lovecraftian horrors. 

Monday, April 7, 2014

Comic Covers Now Supports DC Comics

My extension to Muzei called Comic Cover now supports DC covers. You can now select Marvel, DC or all under the customization section.




Let me know what comic company I should target next in the comics.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Books I've Read This Week

Doctor Who: Shada: The Lost Adventure by Douglas Adams updated by Gareth Roberts. Any new Douglas Adams is always good and an un-produced script Doctor Who script so much the better. Tack on the fact it is the 4th Doctor (Tom Baker) and Romana and I'm in heaven.

The Doctor and Romana are responding to a Time Lord distress call in Cambridge. What follows is a lot of crazy shenanigans and running about. Old time lords, crazed time lords, Cambridge students and Time Lord artifacts. I'd recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Adams or Doctor Who.
The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis is the second novel in his Milkweed Triptych trilogy. WWII is over and the English Warlocks have defeated the Nazi Supermen but at a great cost. Now the cold war has set in as Russia has moved decisively to secure the Nazi Supermen technology. Now the only thing that stands between the expanding USSR and the British Isle's are the warlocks and someone is killing them.

This is a really worthy follow up to Bitter Seeds and the questions that were brought up at the end of that book were more than answered here. I can't wait to get onto Necessary Evil!