[  Mood: Happy ]
[ Currently: Writing My Blog – No, I am not multi-tasking this one time! ]
Just finished the first book in Tamora Pierce’s The Legend of Beka Cooper this morning, and I really want to know why Pierce is not a better known children’s author.

Publisher’s may be touting other authors as the "Next Rowling", but this woman is it. She has created a complex world, with strong protagonists, and like Rowling, Pierce doesn’t shy away from the darker side of life.

Terrier tells the story of Beka Cooper, a new recruit for the Provost’s Marshals in the capital city of Tortall. The Marshals are the police of the city. Beka has been assigned to the Lower City, the poorest and roughest of the city’s districts.

And this is where Pierce’s world building shines. She pulls no punches about Beka’s chosen profession. The merchants and thieves bribe the Dogs every week. It’s how business is done. There are corrupt dogs who look the other way, others who are drunk on duty and others who die. Still, there are those who take the job seriously and do their best.

And once again, Pierce has created a strong, confident heroine who is addled by the presence of boys. I like that in a girl. In addition, Beka possesses a small magic of being able to speak to spirits. Some of them are spirits of the dead who cling to pigeons. Others are spirits that create dust spinners in corners of streets, collecting the sounds of humanity that passes by them.

I am revising my first comment, why isn’t this woman better known as an author PERIOD. This is some of the better fiction I have read in a long time. The last 250 pages of this book kept me up late and delayed my breakfast.

Go get this book and read it. You won’t be disappointed.

[  Mood: Happy ]
[  Currently: Listening to CBC Radio One ]
Have I mentioned how much I love the library?

Yesterday I picked up four books I had ordered. A Jim Butcher and three Tamora Pierce. Yeah!

I go into that place so much that my husband equates going to the local library with me like going to Cheers with Norm. They all know me and greet me.

Now all I need is a freak snow storm so I can stay home for a few days to read.

[  Mood: Happy ]
[  Currently: Watching Kitchen Nightmares ]
Finished the Justice League Omnibus and I have one final observation, Deus Ex Machina was a big thing in the sixties.

Every single story in the book has the League defeated and under the control of some nefarious villain, until one of the League suddenly reveals that they knew what was going on all along and was only faking it.

No, really. That’s what happened. "I was just pretending to be under his spell. Once he left the room, I released the rest of the League." In pretty much every single story.

How about just not pretending and taking out the bad guy?

I know, not as tension filled, but eminently more believable.

Were kids that dumb in the early 60s?

[  Mood: Silly ]
[  Currently: Listening to CBC Radio One ]
So there is a new trend in Ottawa.

The school lockdown.

In the last few weeks there have been three sets of prank calls to 911 in my city claiming that there is a gunman in the schools. This means that the school, and any schools that are close by, go into lockdown.

What is that you ask?

Well it’s where students are herded into the nearest classroom, have to sit on the floor, away from the door and stay quiet.

Isn’t it fun living in a post Columbine world?

But lest you think this is just all good teenage fun, let me explain a bit more. ‘Cause my school was one of the ones that got locked down.

I was outside doing first aid when it happened. My students were waiting for me in another part of the yard for their Daily Physical activity when this happened. They were being supervised by another teacher who did not know there was a lockdown.

I had to thrust the child I was working with into the school and beetled over to the door nearest to where my students were. With me screaming at them to move, they bolted to the school. Once in the classroom, I now faced the reality of keeping 30 kids calm and quiet for 90 minutes. One of my students was so scared, if she could have melting into the wall, she would have.

But I didn’t have the worst of it. The primary classes are full of little kids who had to go pee. After 30 minutes, the teachers had them peeing in the garbage. Imagine being in a room when that’s happening. When my grade 8s said they had to go pee, I told them no. One said "Am I supposed to piss my pants?" My answer, "Pretty much."

This kind of stuff is stupid and its dangerous. After a prank like that, are students and teachers going to take the next one seriously? One High School has been locked down three times in a month because of this stuff. What happens if the next one is real? Will those students and teachers be quick enough and quiet enough to survive? Will the cops be as vigilant in responding?

The fact that the idiot or idiots that are doing this are stupid is obvious. I hope that they are prosecuted to the full extent of the law. In addition, I want them to be left alone in a room with all the primaries who had to pee in garbage cans as a consequence. They’d teach them a lesson they would not forget.

[  Mood: Happy ]
[  Currently: Eating Breakfast – Toast and a nice cup of Cashmiri Chai Tea ]
So I was still curled up with my JLA omnibus last night, and I had this reaction.

Why does Snapper Carr exist?

Oh sure, the creators thought we kids needed someone to relate to, because we couldn’t relate to superpowered people, but come on? Did he have to be so annoying? The same holds true for Wendy and Marvin, and Zan and Jayna. A-Noy-Ing.

And then I question why comic book writers of the period thought we needed someone to identify with that wasn’t one of the heroes. I indentified with Black Canary when I was six. Six! I thought it was cool that there was a blond who kicked butt. (Only later did I realize what fishnets were and the whole Green Arrow thing.)

Further more, that was the point of comics. These were superheroes. And I could imagine being them or like them. Gifted with some extraordinary power. Fighting bad guys. Saving the world. Looking good in spandex, or polyester, the 1970s equivalent.

Did they really think we were that dumb that we needed some second rate looser as an entry point to the adventure?

The point is Snapper, with his incessant snapping and wacky beatnik speak just detracts from the story some 50 years away. And how he keeps saving the day is terribly annoying. Is Superman really that weak a hero that he needs a teenager to come riding to the rescue? I know Aquaman is, but that’s what Green Lantern is for.

Come on Dr. Light, just kill him and be done with it.

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
[  Currently: Eating Breakfast – Toast and a nice cup of Formosa Silver Moon Tea ]
So last night I curled up with an omnibus of Justice League Comics from the 1960s. (Who knew Aquaman could look even dorkier than the 80s Manwave?)

At one point the League gathered in the "modernistically" decorated headquarters.

I wondered if it was a word. My spell check tells me no. Dictionary.com tells me that it is the adverb form of "modernistic", which is itself an adjective. The meaning of said adjective? 1. modern; 2. of or pertaining to modernism or modernists.

Who says comics rot your brain?

Of course, the snarky part of me thinks modern or one of its derivatives would have worked fine. But what do I know?

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
[  Currently: Watching Days of Our Lives ]
Magic Steps is the first book in the Circle Opens series by Tamora Pierce. This series is the follow-up to the Circle of Magic series. The student mages are four years older. Three have gone on to travel the world with their teachers. The fourth, and main character of the book, Sandry has stayed behind to nurse her Uncle, the Duke, back to health.

While there, she uncovers a young man who can dance magic. She takes him on as a student and he helps her solve a series of murders.

Good book. Fun read.

[  Mood: In Love ]
[  Currently: Reading Coronation Street ]
Isabelle Allende is better known for her adult books, the House of Spirits and Daughter of Fortune. City of Beast is her first entry into the Youth market. She should do more.

This think, meaty tome tells the story Alex. His mother is sick with cancer. So sick, that his father has to break-up the family. Alex’s sisters get to go visit his maternal grandmother. Alex is not so lucky, he ends up with his paternal grandmother, Kate, who is a bit like Katherine Hepburn in the Lion in Winter. Not exactly the maternal type.

Kate is a writer and she takes Alex along with her to the Amazon as she tries to find the mysterious Beast. There Alex meets Nadia, a girl who can speak to the native tribes. Alex and Nadia embark on an adventure that involves plots to exterminate the native tribes, meeting prehistoric creatures, finding the city of El Dorado and the fountain of youth.

Pick this one up. It is very well written. I think I may pick-up her other books.

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
[ Currently: Getting ready for bed. I am way past my bedtime. ]
Well Heroes is back. And it is a good thing.

So where does this find our faithful heroes you ask?

Well HRG has moved the family to California and changed their name to Butler. Clever. I would never have guessed. We see Claire go to her new high school. HRG tells her to remain under the radar. She manages to do so, without dealing a death knell to the evil cheerleaders. HRG had a new job that involves the dickiest boss ever, but ge uses his smooth moves to deal with the pumped up little man. Good news! Mrs. Bennett, um Butler, is also back. So is Mr. Muggles. Bad News! Mr. Muggles is depressed about having to give up a promissing dog show career. And I’m not sure if that is the real Mrs. Ben. . .Butler. Oh, and some creapy guy who can fly is playing peeping Tom on Claire. Now we know that powers can duplicate. Oh yeah, and brother Lyle had a good day in school.

Matt has divorced his wife, and now lives with Mohinder. Matt has finally made detective. The two men are raising Molly. Uhm, Matt, what about your soon to be biological child? Problem? Molly is having nightmares and drawing pictures about them at school. The teacher is getting concerned. So is Matt.

Mohinder is still expositioning. Only now he’s doing it to almost empy lecture halls in Cairo. He’s also working with HRG to get into the Company to bring it down from the inside. To that end he allows himself to be recruited by a company who apparently uses his power to change objects into gold to be the company banker. Oh, and apparently, Mohinder can cook. Well. Ladies, the line forms here.

Things are not so good for the Petrellis. Nathan’s a drunk. Peter’s dead. Mama Petrelli’s still a bitch. Oh and someone wants to kill her. Nathan’s wife has left him (maybe she’s with Matt’s wife in this year’s hit sit-com spin off The No Longer Narratively Necessary Ex-Wives’ Club). Nathan’s living in Peter’s apartment, while dodging calls from Claire. He also has a killer beard and sees himself as something from a Romero movie when he looks in the mirror. What’s with that? By the end of the episode we learn that Peter is not dead, but is shackled in a shipping container in Cork, Island. Minus some hair, his shirt and his memory. He is also wearing a necklace with the same symbol that is tattooed on Niki’s back and has now adorns Mama Petrelli’s picture.

Sulu and Ando are in New York waiting for Hiro to magically reappear. It’s been (as the episode title tells us) four months with no sign of him. Ando is begging Sulu to give up. Sulu ain’t having any of that. Later on Sulu meets up with Mama Bitch on the roof terrace of Claude’s old apartment. He shows her his, she shows him hers (matching death threat pictures that is). As she leaves, some hooded figure appears. Sulu seems surprised to see him. Especially when the guy knocks him off the roof. And we may never now know Sulu’s power. Although we know he can’t fly! Or bounce! Or survive a sudden, swift impact with cement!

Finally, comes Hiro. He is trapped in the past, where he finds out that his hero, Kensai, is English. Hiro actually calls hims gaijin. I thought that was a bad name. Bad Hiro! Oh, and there is a hot chick. Who thinks Kensai and Hiro are a bunch of dweebs. And the symbol on Kensai’s flag? Matches the new fashion accessory that Peter is sporting. This season is all about co-ordination.

Is that all you ask?

No, I say! There is also a set of siblings. Kaos Device, our live Heroes Blogger, has dubbed these two the wonder twins, and who I am to deny greatness? They are apparently hired smugglers to help them on their journey to New York to meet Mohinder. (Maybe they need their backstory expositioned?) And while they are both mui caliente, the smugglers want only Jayna to ride up front. Initially they accept her no, but then realize her body must have been saying yes! So they dump Zan in the jungle and head for the border. Zan, who may or may not posses super endurance, catches up to the truck after Jayna uses her ebola power. Ewwwwwwww!

But enough Mohindering (my word, copyright 2007), is it good you ask?

Oh sweet jiminy yes. Is is like cracking open a fresh bag of Nibs after a four month diet. Sweet, sweet goodness. The writing is on, the pacing is on, the acting is on, and I have so many new questions that I am waiting to be answered. Bring it on Heroes!