Features

Best-selling author Steve Alten knows about the Mayan Calendar and its doomsday prophecy. His DOMAIN series has sold millions of copies worldwide. But it is Alten’s new release through Tor/Forge, PHOBOS: MAYAN FEAR, that he says provides details of an actual threat to humanity that could have many readers hiding under the covers on the Dec. 21, 2012, date … not that it will matter. Here’s more from the author on the theories that fuel his new novel.

The Mayan culture began around 500 BC, and is believed to be an off shoot of the Olmec, which lived in Central America and MesoAmerica. The apex of Mayan society occurred around 900 AD in the Yucatan Peninsula. This was the time of Kukulcan, a mysterious wise man and teacher who arrived in Chichen Itza possessing a wealth of knowledge of astronomy, engineering and agriculture.

[click to continue…]

{ 0 comments }

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Stieg Larsson (#10, Fiction)

She’s gonna rock you, boy,
She’s a little temptress! (She’s a real temptress!)
With a drink in her hand,
Dancin’ in her black dress!

[click to continue…]

{ 0 comments }

Whether your hobbies include movies, music, books (yeah, as if), theater, politics and reanimated corpses, plenty of new nonfiction books await purchase as gifts, even if the recipient is the same person as the purchaser: you. Peruse these publisher-provided summaries to see if any are up your alley and on your wish list. —Rod Lott

STEVE MCQUEEN by Marc Eliot — Eliot captures the complexity of this Hollywood screen legend. Chronicling McQueen’s tumultuous life both on and off the screen, from his hardscrabble childhood to his rise to Hollywood superstar status, to his struggles with alcohol and drugs and his fervor for racing fast cars and motorcycles, Eliot discloses intimate details of McQueen’s three marriages, including his tumultuous relationships with Neile Adams and Ali MacGraw, as well as his numerous affairs. He also paints a full portrait of this incredible yet often perplexing career that ranged from great films to embarrassing misfires.

BEST MUSIC WRITING 2011 edited by Alex Ross — Celebrating the year in music writing by gathering a rich array of essays, missives and musings on every style of music from rock to hip-hop to R&B to jazz to pop to blues, this annual is essential reading for anyone who loves great music and accomplished writing. Scribes of every imaginable sort — novelists, poets, journalists, musicians — are gathered to create a multi-voiced snapshot of the year in music writing that, like the music it illuminates, is every bit as thrilling as it is riveting.

THE B.S. OF A.: A PRIMER IN POLITICS FOR THE INCREDIBLY DISENCHANTED by Brian Sack — Whether you voted for “hope” in 2008, or “change” in 2010, this book takes full advantage of our poorly understood First Amendment to fearlessly cut through the bull on both sides of the aisle and ask serious questions: Why does this enormous country have only two real parties? How does a bad idea become a terrible law with a misleading name? How can you identify the Seven Habits of Highly Partisan People? What’s the deal with this Constitution thing people keep citing? Can we stop comparing people we don’t like to Hitler?

SHOCKAHOLIC by Carrie Fisher — It’s been a roller coaster of a few years for Fisher since her Tony- and Emmy-nominated, one-woman Broadway show. She not only lost her beloved father, but also her once-upon-a-very-brief-time stepmother, Elizabeth Taylor. And as if all that weren’t enough, she also managed to lose over 40 pounds of unwanted flesh —not by sawing off a leg (though that did cross her zapped mind) but by doing what might be termed “wishful shrinking,” all the while staying sober and sane-ish.

BROADWAY MUSICALS, SHOW BY SHOW: SEVENTH EDITION by Stanley Green and Cary Ginell— This updated edition of one of the best-selling and comprehensive Broadway reference books, first published in 1985, has been expanded to include new entries and photos on numerous musicals from recent years, including AMERICAN IDIOT, BILLY ELLIOT, MEMPHIS, NEXT TO NORMAL, ROCK OF AGES, THE ADDAMS FAMILY and FETA! It features a wealth of statistics and inside information, plus critical reception, cast lists, pithy commentary about each show, and numerous detailed indexes that no Broadway fan will want to be without.

IRON MAN: MY JOURNEY THROUGH HEAVEN & HELL WITH BLACK SABBATH by Tony Iommi — This autobiography reveals the man behind the icon, yet still captures Iommi’s humor, intelligence and warmth. He speaks honestly and unflinchingly about his rough-and-tumble childhood, the accident that almost ended his career, his failed marriages, personal tragedies, battles with addiction, band mates, famous friends, newfound daughter, and the ups and downs of his life as an artist.

THE GARNER FILES by James Garner and Jon Winokur — After suffering physical abuse at the hands of his stepmother, Garner left home at 14. He became Oklahoma’s first draftee of the Korean War and was awarded with two Purple Hearts before returning to the United States and settling in Los Angeles to become an actor. He became a star in his own right, despite struggles with stage fright and depression. In this autobiography, this revered actor and quintessential self-made man recalls “trying to decipher” William Wyler with Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine, breaking Doris Day’s ribs, having a “heart-to-heart and eyeball-to-eyeball” with Steve McQueen, being “a card-carrying liberal — and proud of it,” and much more.

PACMAN: BEHIND THE SCENES WITH MANNY PACQUIAO — THE GREATEST POUND-FOR-POUND FIGHTER IN THE WORLD by Gary Andrew Poole — With his shellacking of Antonio Margarito in November 2010, Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao became the only boxer ever to win eight world championships in eight different weight classes. Proclaimed the “fighter of the decade” by ESPN and recently elected Congressman in the Philippines, he is an inspiration to his countrymen. But to many, he remains an enigma.

THE ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE JOURNAL by Max Brooks — Watch out as a mob of ravenous, flesh-eating undead comes to life. This lenticular journal cover sets in motion images of slithering, shuffling zombies from the bestselling graphic novel THE ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE: RECORDED ATTACKS. Filled with lined pages, this all-purpose journal is perfect for jotting down notes, making to-do lists, plotting your own survival strategy, and is just the creepy thing for zombie fans everywhere.

DEAD LETTERS: THE VERY BEST GRATEFUL DEAD FAN MAIL by Paul Grushkin — This book collects more than 300 mind-blowing envelope masterpieces, all presented in 14 thematic chapters. Fully authorized by The Grateful Dead, DEAD LETTERS also includes, for further historical context, many rare historical photos and memorabilia, all creating a trip, as it were, down memory lane. A foreword from basketball legend (and supremely dedicated Dead Head) Bill Walton rounds out this one-of-a-kind package.

RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT! STRIKINGLY TRUE by Geoff Tibballs — For anyone who loves unbelievable facts and jaw-dropping images, the latest annual in the bestselling series is a feast of delights. Be amazed at a portrait made from 200,000 dead ants, the man who traversed the English Channel by holding onto a bunch of balloons, and the single human hair featuring paintings of all 42 American presidents. A compendium of incredible and bizarre facts, stories, interviews and features, presented in a stunning new design, this book includes intriguing interviews with some of the astounding individuals who reveal more about what motivates them. 

FUG YOU: AN INFORMAL HISTORY OF THE PEACE EYE BOOKSTORE, THE FUCK YOU PRESS, THE FUGS, AND COUNTERCULTURE IN THE LOWER EAST SIDE by Ed Sanders — FUG YOU traces the flowering years of New York’s downtown bohemia in the 1960s, starting with the marketing problems presented by publishing the arts magazine FUCK YOU, as it faced the aboveground’s scrutiny, and leading to Sanders’s arrest after a raid on his Peace Eye Bookstore. The memoir also traces the career of the Fugs — formed in 1964 by Sanders and his neighbor, the legendary Tuli Kupferberg (called “the world’s oldest living hippie” by Allen Ginsberg) — as Sanders strives to find a home for this famous postmodern, innovative anarcho-folk-rock band in the world of record labels.

Buy them at Amazon.

{ 0 comments }

THE AVENGERS #239 (1984) — As all comic geeks know, The Avengers are Marvel Comics’ version of the Justice League of America — in other words, a team of superheroes fighting crime together, rather than individually. In #239, the likes of Hawkeye, Black Widow, the Beast and Black Panther comprise the lineup, joining forces to … appear on LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN? Yep, the whole issue is about them guesting on Dave’s show, and the only thing more cringe-worthy than seeing Paul Shaffer in a Captain America shirt is seeing Dave foiling the bad guy by knocking him over the head with a giant door knob and exclaiming, “I guess that’ll teach you not to mess with David Letterman!” Too bad Jay Leno wasn’t on TV then — this crap is right up his alley.

CAPTAIN CARROT AND HIS AMAZING ZOO CREW! #1 (1982) — Cute animals as superheroes. The Plastic Man-esuqe Rubberduck. The Wonder Woman-like Yankee Poodle. The unending puns like President Mallard Fillmore. Geez, the shit I would buy when I was 11.

THE MARVEL FUMETTI BOOK #1 (1984) — “Fumetti” is Italian for “shit.” Or, more specifically, “photo-funnies.” This one-shot comic stars Stan Lee and the bearded, bespectacled nerds who comprised the Marvel staff at the time. Imagine if your high school chess club just went crazy with a couple rolls of B&W film and you’ve got the idea. The center spread with Lee lounging on a couch in a full Hulk outfit will turn you off centerfolds — and maybe even photography — for the rest of your life.

OBNOXIO THE CLOWN VS. THE X-MEN #1 (1983) — The abrasive, miserable, cigar-smoking Obnoxio was the mascot of Marvel’s CRAZY magazine, a short-lived MAD rip-off. I’m not sure why they wanted to team him up with their critically acclaimed band of mutant heroes, but they did, and here he helps Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Nightcrawler and the gang fight a villain known as Eye-Scream, so named because he can turn into, well, ice cream. Obnoxio celebrates their victory over the ne’er-do-well by putting a giant cherry on the guy’s head. Hee-larious, no? Here’s hoping the X-MEN film franchise doesn’t get so far that this is considered as a potential storyline.

POWER PACK #1 (1984) — By conversing with some sort of talking space horse, four kids become superheroes. They call themselves Gee, Lightspeed, The Energizer and Mass-Master (which sounds pornographic). Those names suck because kid superheroes suck. On the plus side, there’s an ad letting me know that my favorite Atari hits are now playable on my Texas Instruments computer.

SPIDER-MAN: CHRISTMAS IN DALLAS (1983) — When I was 12 years old, I went with my parents to Dallas for some reason. This comic book was in that Sunday’s DALLAS TIMES HERALD. In it, Spidey fights Kingpin! At Christmastime! In, uh, Dallas! And also makes a kid’s day by giving him a box of Crunch ‘n Munch. The last page says the next issue would have Spider-Man, Firestar and Ice Man at the Dallas Ballet’s production of THE NUTCRACKER. I’m sure that would’ve made this list, too.

SPIDER-MAN AND THE INCREDIBLE HULK: CHAOS IN KANSAS CITY (1982) — This is just like the Dallas thing, but was in THE KANSAS CITY STAR. Spidey and Hulk fight Kraven the Hunter in the Jones department store, which explains all the crudely drawn ads with kids in Britania jeans and Izod shirts.

SUPER-HEROES BATTLE SUPER-GORILLAS #16 (1975) — What’s sadder: That I forked over a quarter to read four stories about Superman, Batman, The Flash and Wonder Woman each fighting powerful apes, or that DC Comics had a quartet of stories laying around about Superman, Batman, The Flash and Wonder Woman each fighting apes?

SUPER-STAR HOLIDAY SPECIAL #1 (1980) — What were your Christmas traditions? Sipping egg nog by the fire? Making popcorn balls for the tree? Reading Batman in “Wanted: Santa Claus – Dead or Alive”? Yeah, mine, too (if you answered “yes” to that last one). This compilation of holiday-themed stories features Jonah Hex, Superboy, Sgt. Rock and the House of Mystery hosts learning the true spirit of the season through such plot devices as raccoons and candle-wielding nuns. Today, I’m more intrigued by Hawkman saving the life of a falling skydiver, who commemorates his close call by enjoying the “chocolaty cake, fudgy icing” of Hostess Cup Cakes. —Rod Lott

Buy them at Amazon.

{ 9 comments }