Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived in the mail here at the Geek Compound.

Flaming Zeppelins: The Adventures of Ned the Seal
by Joe. Lansdale

Promo copy:

Cross-pollinating famous 19th-century fictional characters and historical figures from disparate sources, this wild, steampunk fantasy presents two consecutive tales of madcap adventure. Hilarious and unpredictable, the first section follows Wild Bill Hickock, Annie Oakley, George Custer, Sitting Bull, and Buffalo Bill Cody’s head—which is affixed to the top of a mechanical body—as they take the Wild West Show to Japan by zeppelin. Further exploits involve Frankenstein as an aphrodisiac for a local shogun, encounters with Captain “Bemo” and his submersible, and a trip to the “island of Dr. Momo.” The second phase of this nonstop romp—partly inscribed by a courageous young seal on his trusty notepad—accompanies Mark Twain and Jules Verne against the backdrop of a Martian invasion. Escaping the carnage on a speedboat converted into a touring balloon, the boisterous group encounters more perilous experiences in the form of an island of pirates, a steam-powered robot, a Kong-sized ape, and multiple tears in the space-time continuum. Raucous and inventive, this dime-store pulp parody is rife with absurdist comedy while maintaining a literary scope.

Collects the first two Ned the Seal books: Zeppelins West and Flaming London. Lansdale & steampunk… need I say more?

Double Cross (The Disillusionists Trilogy: Book 2)
by Carolyn Crane

Promo copy:

SOME SECRETS COME BACK TO HAUNT. OTHERS COME TO KILL.

Justine Jones lived her life as a fearful hypochondriac until she was lured into the web of a mysterious mastermind named Packard, who gifts her with extraordinary mental powers—dooming her to fight Midcity’s shadowy war on paranormal crime in order to find the peace she so desperately craves.

But now serial killers with unheard-of skills are terrorizing the most powerful beings in Midcity, including mastermind Packard and his oldest friend and worst enemy, Midcity’s new mayor, who has the ability to bend matter itself to his will.

As the body count grows, Justine faces a crisis of conscience as she tests the limits of her new powers and faces an impossible choice between two flawed but brilliant men—one on a journey of redemption, the other descending into a pit of moral depravity.

Driver for the Dead #2
Created and Written by John Heffernan
Pencils and Inks by Leonardo Manco
Paints by Kinsun Loh and Jerry Choo

Promo copy:

In the heart of New Orleans, there is only one man trusted with moving the most dangerous corpses to their final resting place. Behind the wheel of his custom-made hearse “Black Betty”, Alabaster Graves is the Driver for the Dead. Whether it’s getting rid of pesky witches or safely destroying the remains of a vampire, Graves is the best man for the job.

When legendary voodoo priest Mose Freeman dies during an exorcism, Graves is the only man who can safely transport his body to the family crypt for his final rest. With Mose’s daughter Marissa riding shotgun, Graves begins the long drive to pick up the witch doctor’s body. But unbeknownst to Graves, an evil necromancer named Fallow has arrived in New Orleans, and he’d like nothing better than to get his hands on Mose Freeman…

I reviewed issue one a few months back in a "Nexus Graphica" column:

More in Part I

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived in the mail here at the Geek Compound.

Twelve
by Jasper Kent

Promo copy:

The voordalak–creature of legend, the tales of which have terrified Russian children for generations. But for Captain Aleksei Ivanovich Danilov–a child of more enlightened times–it is a legend that has long been forgotten. Besides, in the autumn of 1812, he faces a more tangible enemy: the Grande Armee of Napoleon Bonaparte.
City after city has fallen to the advancing French, and it now seems that only a miracle will keep them from Moscow itself. In desperation, Aleksei and his comrades enlist the help of the Oprichniki–a group of twelve mercenaries from the furthest reaches of Christian Europe, who claim that they can turn the tide of the war. It seems an idle boast, but the Russians soon discover that the Oprichniki are indeed quite capable of fulfilling their promise … and much more.

Unnerved by the fact that so few can accomplish so much, Aleksei remembers those childhood stories of the voordalak. And as he comes to understand the true, horrific nature of these twelve strangers, he wonders at the nightmare they’ve unleashed in their midst….

Full of historical detail, thrilling action, and heart-stopping supernatural moments, Twelve is storytelling at its most original and exciting

Tome of the Undergates (The Aeons’ Gate, Book 1)
by Sam Sykes

The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack
by Mark Hodder

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Sir Richard Francis Burton–explorer, linguist, scholar, and swordsman; his reputation tarnished; his career in tatters; his former partner missing and probably dead.

Algernon Charles Swinburne–unsuccessful poet and follower of de Sade; for whom pain is pleasure, and brandy is ruin!

They stand at a crossroads in their lives and are caught in the epicenter of an empire torn by conflicting forces: Engineers transform the landscape with bigger, faster, noisier, and dirtier technological wonders; Eugenicists develop specialist animals to provide unpaid labor; Libertines oppose repressive laws and demand a society based on beauty and creativity; while the Rakes push the boundaries of human behavior to the limits with magic, drugs, and anarchy.

The two men are sucked into the perilous depths of this moral and ethical vacuum when Lord Palmerston commissions Burton to investigate assaults on young women committed by a weird apparition known as Spring Heeled Jack, and to find out why werewolves are terrorizing London’s East End.

Their investigations lead them to one of the defining events of the age, and the terrifying possibility that the world they inhabit shouldn t exist at all!

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived in the mail here at the Geek Compound.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
by Sean Williams

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As ruthless apprentice to Darth Vader, Starkiller was mercilessly schooled in the ways of the dark side, commanded to exterminate the last of the purged Jedi Order, and groomed for the ultimate Sith power play: assassination of the Emperor. He served without question, killed without remorse, and lost his heart without warning to beautiful Imperial fighter pilot Juno Eclipse, never suspecting that he was just a tool in the schemes of his masters—until it was too late to escape their lethal betrayal.

Juno mourned Starkiller as dead…but now he is back, purged of all memories and programmed to kill. And as fate brings Juno and Starkiller closer to reuniting, with Darth Vader determined not to lose his assassin a second time, they will both have to make a stand. The prize is freedom. The punishment for failing will be eternal enslavement to the dark side of the Force…

Star Wars: Red Harvest
by Joe Schreiber

Vortex (Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi, Book 6)
by Troy Denning

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived in the mail here at the Geek Compound.

Time Bomb Issue 2
Created and Written by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray
Art by Paul Gulacy

Promo copy:

After discovering a secret Nazi bunker from World War II, a small team of scientists accidentally trigger the detonation of the OMEGA BOMB, signaling the end of the human race as we know it. As the bomb detonates and spreads a deadly virus across the globe, the New World Order in Washington D.C. puts together a plan: send a dedicated team of four specialists back in time using the defunct "Time Bomb" project to prevent the Omega Bomb from ever detonating and save the future.

Armed to the teeth, team leader Jack McCrea, tech-ops specialist Ken Weinhauser, strategist Christian Grainger and deadly science expert Peggy Medina take the Time Bomb to the past expecting a mere 24 hour jump – but the team ends up deeper than they could have ever imagined when they arrive in Nazi Germany during the end of World War II in a concentration camp loaded with armed German soldiers.

Spartacus: Blood and Sand – The Complete First Season

Promo copy:

Betrayed by the Romans. Forced into slavery. Reborn as a Gladiator. The classic tale of the Republic’s most infamous rebel comes alive in the graphic and visceral new series, Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Torn from his homeland and the woman he loves, Spartacus is condemned to the brutal world of the arena where blood and death are primetime entertainment. But not all battles are fought upon the sands. Treachery, corruption, and the allure of sensual pleasures will constantly test Spartacus. To survive, he must become more than a man. More than a gladiator. He must become a legend.

The Exile: An Outlander Graphic Novel
Written by Diana Gabaldon
Art by Hoang Nguyen

Promo copy:

Diana Gabaldon’s brilliant storytelling has captivated millions of readers in her bestselling and award-winning Outlander saga. Now, in her first-ever graphic novel, Gabaldon gives readers a fresh look at the events of the original Outlander: Jamie Fraser’s side of the story, gorgeously rendered by artist Hoang Nguyen.

After too long an absence, Jamie Fraser is coming home to Scotland—but not without great trepidation. Though his beloved godfather, Murtagh, promised Jamie’s late parents he’d watch over their brash son, making good on that vow will be no easy task. There’s already a fat bounty on the young exile’s head, courtesy of Captain Black Jack Randall, the sadistic British officer who’s crossed paths—and swords—with Jamie in the past. And in the court of the mighty MacKenzie clan, Jamie is a pawn in the power struggle between his uncles: aging chieftain Colum, who demands his nephew’s loyalty—or his life—and Dougal, war chieftain of Clan MacKenzie, who’d sooner see Jamie put to the sword than anointed Colum’s heir.

And then there is Claire Randall—mysterious, beautiful, and strong-willed, who appears in Jamie’s life to stir his compassion . . . and arouse his desire.

But even as Jamie’s heart draws him to Claire, Murtagh is certain she’s been sent by the Old Ones, and Captain Randall accuses her of being a spy. Claire clearly has something to hide, though Jamie can’t believe she could pose him any danger. Still, he knows she is torn between two choices—a life with him, and whatever it is that draws her thoughts so often elsewhere.

Step into the captivating, passionate, and suspenseful world of The Exile, and experience the storytelling magic of Diana Gabaldon as never before.

Recently I’ve been devoting a lot of time and energy into compiling and editing a new feature for RevSF. Similar to the Geek Movies NOT on DVD feature from a few years back, the RevSF Brain Trust decided to put together a compilation of the Comics Books That Are NOT Collected. As the editor for this project, I contacted friends and colleagues to contribute. The response was overwhelming with thirty contributors, fifty entries and over 12,000 words of text.

Part of what I’ve been doing beyond standardizing the format of the entries and general clean up, is determining the series/characters’ creators and exact issues that should be collected (along with original dates of publication.) Between the sensational Grand Comics Database, Don Markstein’s Toonopedia, and Wikipedia, I’ve been able to ascertain most of the info I needed. Well until I hit the western Ghost Rider.

Later renamed Night Rider then Phantom Rider by Marvel to avoid confusion with the popular motorcycle-riding, hellfire-wielding character of the same name, the Ghost Rider first appeared in Tim Holt #11 (November 1949) with art by Dick Ayers. He eventually appeared in three other Magazine Enterprises publications through 1954, when the new Comics Code made the character inviable.

Where the series appeared and why it ended was never in dispute, but I was finding contradictory info about the artists on the series. While Frank Frazetta did indeed produce many fantastic covers for the run, there was info from at least one source that he also illustrated some of the interiors. The only artist credited at GCD, Toonopedia, and Wikipedia is Dick Ayers. The fact that GCD and Wikipedia are compiled by user contributions makes them not always the most reliable resource. I did countless other searches, all finding similar results but nothing conclusive. Then I remembered the Maurice Horn-edited The World Encyclopedia of Comics.

During the pre-Internet, 20th century times, writers relied on books, often compiled by specialists, for their information. At one point, I owned a decade’s worth of almanacs, countless movies guides, price guides, book histories, science texts, countless compilations of baseball stats, and the like. Around the turn of the century, I pared down my collection to just some essentials. Basically stuff, not easily found on online or compiled by particular experts. Horn’s oversized, massive 1976 tome fell into the latter category.

According to Mark Evanier, who wrote the entry on Ghost Rider, "Dick Ayers did all of the interior art." Given Horn and Evanier’s pedigrees, I was able to definitively state that Frazetta did not illustrate any Ghost Rider adventures.

This all got me to thinking about which reference books I actually use any more. I own an unabridged dictionary but I can’t remember the last time I even opened it. Judging from the layer of dust, it’s been a long time.

I refer to the John Clute-edited Encyclopedias of sf and fantasy from time-to-time, both volumes still superior resources to anything online. When I encounter some confusion surrounding formating I’ll pull out my Chicago Manual of Style.

Perhaps the most used books in my collection are Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus and Webster’s Instant Word Guide. Faster and more helpful than digital resources, I use this print thesaurus especially with its theme references to find that precise word. The Instant Word Guide helps when you sort of know how to spell a word but can’t get quite close enough for the spell checker.

I still own a small three shelve book case worth of reference books, but I rarely add anything new. But when something like this comics project rolls around, I’m glad for the ones I do have.

(The Comics NOT Collected feature, probably under a wittier Joe Crowe-generated title will most likely appear sometime in October.)

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived in the mail here at the Geek Compound.

Steampunk II: Steampunk Reloaded Edited by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer

Promo copy:

Blending the romantic elegance of the Victorian era with modern scientific advances, the popular Steampunk genre spotlighted in this collection is innovative and stimulates the imagination. This artfully assembled anthology of original fiction, nonfiction, and art can serve as an introduction to the Steampunk culture or provide dedicated fans with more fuel. Stories of outlandishly imaginative technologies, clockwork contraptions, eccentric heroines, and mad scientists are complemented by canon-defining nonfiction and an array of original illustrations. This collection showcases the most sensational Steampunk talents of the last decade, including Daniel Abraham, John Coulthart, William Gibson, and Margo Lanagan, and demonstrates exactly why the future of the past is so excitingly new.

Solitary Man

Promo copy:

Ben (Michael Douglas) once ruled a car-dealership empire vast enough to fuel a glossy Manhattan lifestyle and endow a library at an East Coast university. But by the time he arrives at the college with his girlfriend’s daughter, Allyson (Imogen Poots), who is a prospective student, his world has collapsed around his ears. A business scandal has cost him his income and his marriage to Nancy (Susan Sarandon). His ever-present lust for every passing attractive woman threatens to take what little Ben has left. Even his new relationship with Jordan (Mary-Louise Parker) oscillates with tension. When Ben takes Allyson to tour the school, his motives are more than mixed.

Bare Throat, Naked Hunger by Paige E. Roberts

Promo copy:

Slender hands with deceptive strength embrace you in the shadows. You glimpse a flash of sharp fang between full sensuous lips. You offer the tender vulnerable flesh of your throat. A caress of hot breath sends tingles up your spine and gooseflesh flowing down your arms. And then she tastes you, and your strength dissolves in the heat of the need to sink your own body into hers. The erotic lure of the vampire’s deadly kiss brings many a strong man to his knees. Kneel at the feet of a deadly beauty and know true ecstasy before the darkness claims you.

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

Promo copy:

National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Award winner Charles Yu delivers his debut novel, a razor-sharp, ridiculously funny, and utterly touching story of a son searching for his father . . . through quantum space–time.

Minor Universe 31 is a vast story-space on the outskirts of fiction, where paradox fluctuates like the stock market, lonely sexbots beckon failed protagonists, and time travel is serious business. Every day, people get into time machines and try to do the one thing they should never do: change the past. That’s where Charles Yu, time travel technician—part counselor, part gadget repair man—steps in. He helps save people from themselves. Literally. When he’s not taking client calls or consoling his boss, Phil, who could really use an upgrade, Yu visits his mother (stuck in a one-hour cycle of time, she makes dinner over and over and over) and searches for his father, who invented time travel and then vanished. Accompanied by TAMMY, an operating system with low self-esteem, and Ed, a nonexistent but ontologically valid dog, Yu sets out, and back, and beyond, in order to find the one day where he and his father can meet in memory. He learns that the key may be found in a book he got from his future self. It’s called How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, and he’s the author. And somewhere inside it is the information that could help him—in fact it may even save his life.

Wildly new and adventurous, Yu’s debut is certain to send shock waves of wonder through literary space–time.

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived in the mail here at the Geek Compound.

The Buntline Special by Mike Resnick

Promo copy:

The year is 1881. The United States of America ends at the Mississippi River. Beyond lies the Indian nations, where the magic of powerful Medicine Men has halted the advance of the Americans east of the river.

An American government desperate to expand its territory sends Thomas Alva Edison out West to the town of Tombstone, Arizona, on a mission to discover a scientific means of counteracting magic. Hired to protect this great genius, Wyatt Earp and his brothers.

But there are plenty who would like to see the Earps and Edison dead. Riding to their aid are old friends Doc Holliday and Bat Masterson. Against them stand the Apache wizard Geronimo and the Clanton gang. Battle lines are drawn, and the Clanton gang, which has its own reasons for wanting Edison dead, sends for Johnny Ringo, the one man who might be Doc Holliday’s equal in a gunfight. But what shows up instead is The Thing That Was Once Johnny Ringo, returned from the dead and come to Tombstone looking for a fight.

Welcome to a West like you’ve never seen before, where "Bat Masterson" hails from the ranks of the undead, where electric lights shine down on the streets of Tombstone, while horseless stagecoaches carry passengers to and fro, and where death is no obstacle to The Thing That Was Once Johnny Ringo. Think you know the story of the O.K. Corral? Think again, as five-time Hugo winner Mike Resnick takes on his first steampunk western tale, and the West will never be the same.

The Horns of Ruin by Tim Akers

Promo copy:

Eva Forge is the last paladin of a dead God. Morgan, God of battle and champion of the Fraterdom, was assassinated by his jealous brother, Amon. Over time, the Cult of Morgan has been surpassed by other gods, his blessings ignored in favor of brighter technologies and more mechanical miracles. Eva was the last child dedicated to the Cult of Morgan, forsaken by her parents and forgotten by her family. Now she watches as her new family, her Cult, crumbles all around her.

When a series of kidnappings and murders makes it clear that someone is trying to hasten the death of the Cult of Morgan, Eva must seek out unexpected allies and unwelcome answers in the city of Ash. But will she be able to save the city from a growing conspiracy, one that reaches back to her childhood, even back to the murder of her god?

The Cardinal’s Blades by Pierre Pevel

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Welcome to seventeenth-century Paris, where intrigue, duels, and spies are rife and Cardinal Richelieu’s men may be prevailed upon to risk life and limb in the name of France at a moment’s notice. And with war on the horizon, the defense of the nation has never been more pressing.

Danger is rising from the south–an insidious plot that could end with a huge dragon-shaped shadow falling over France, a shadow cast by dragons quite unlike the pet dragonets that roam the cities like stray cats, or the tame wyverns men ride like horses, high over the Parisian rooftops. These dragons and their descendants are ancient, terrible, and powerful … and their plans contain little room for the lives or freedom of men.

Cardinal Richelieu has nowhere else to turn; Captain La Fargue and his elite group of men, the Cardinal’s Blades, must turn the tide. They must hold the deadly Black Claw cult at bay, root out traitors to the crown, rescue prisoners, and fulfill their mission for the Cardinal, for their country, but above all for themselves.

It’s death or victory. And the victory has never been less certain.

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived in the mail here at the Geek Compound.

The Living Dead 2 Edited by John Joseph Adams

Promo copy:

Two years ago, readers eagerly devoured The Living Dead. Publishers Weekly named it one of the Best Books of the Year, and Barnes & Noble.com called it "The best zombie fiction collection ever." Now acclaimed editor John Joseph Adams is back for another bite at the apple — the Adam’s apple, that is — with 43 more of the best, most chilling, most thrilling zombie stories anywhere, including virtuoso performances by zombie fiction legends Max Brooks (World War Z, The Zombie Survival Guide), Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead), and David Wellington (Monster Island).

From Left 4 Dead to Zombieland to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, ghoulishness has never been more exciting and relevant. Within these pages samurai warriors face off against the legions of hell, necrotic dinosaurs haunt a mysterious lost world, and eerily clever zombies organize their mindless brethren into a terrifying army. You’ll even witness nightmare scenarios in which humanity is utterly wiped away beneath a relentless tide of fetid flesh.

The Living Dead 2 has more of what zombie fans hunger for — more scares, more action, more… brains. Experience the indispensable series that defines the very best in zombie literature.

The Zombies of Lake Woebegotten by Harrison Geillor

Promo copy:

The town of Lake Woebegotton, MN is a small town, filled with ordinary (yet above average) people, leading ordinary lives. Ordinary, that is, until the dead start coming back to life, with the intent to feast upon the living! Now this small town of above average citizens must overcome their petty rivalries and hidden secrets in order to survive an onslaught of the dead.

Zendegi by Greg Egan

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In 2012, journalist Martin Seymour travels to Iran to cover the parliamentary elections. With most would-be candidates disqualified this turns out to be the expected non-event, but shortly afterward a compromising image of a government official captured on a mobile phone triggers a political avalanche.
Nasim Golestani, a young Iranian scientist living in exile in the United States, is hoping to work on the Human Connectome Project — which aims to construct a detailed map of the wiring of the human brain — but when government funding for the project is cancelled and a chance comes to return to her homeland, she chooses to head back to Iran.

Fifteen years later, Martin is living in Iran with his wife and young son, while Nasim is in charge of the virtual world known as Zendegi, used by millions of people for entertainment and business. When Zendegi comes under threat from powerful competitors, Nasim draws on her old skills, and data from the now-completed Human Connectome Project, to embark on a program to create more life-like virtual characters and give the company an unbeatable edge.

As controversy grows over the nature and rights of these software characters, tragedy strikes Martin’s family. Martin turns to Nasim, seeking a solution that no one else can offer … but Zendegi is about to become a battlefield.

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived in the mail here at the Geek Compound.

Tribes: The Dog Years Story by Michael Geszel & Peter Spinetta Art by Inaki Miranda

Promo copy:

In 2038, a NANO-VIRUS shortens the human lifespan to TWENTY-ONE years. Civilization collapses. TWO HUNDRED years later the remnants of humanity survive amidst the junkyard ruins of the techno-industrial age. One day everything changes for Sundog of the Sky Shadows tribe. Is there new hope for longer life? Can the virus be fixed with the help of an Ancient from a city under the sea.

I haven’t had a chance to dig into this book but it is definitely one of the prettiest books of the year. Check out the online preview.

Mata Hari Radical Premiere Written by Rich Wilkes Art by Roy Allan Martinez

Promo copy:

Dancer. Seductress. Spy.

Mata Hari. The sex symbol of her time. As a German double agent, she was blamed for the deaths of 50,000 French soldiers and executed. Her sensational trial shocked Europe. But was she really the ultimate black widow, betraying lovers on both sides of the war? Or was she a fiercely independent woman, scapegoated for the horrors of World War I?

“Without scruple, without pity, leaving ruined lovers to blow their brains out, she was born a spy.” – Prosecutor Bouchardan

The Last Days of American Crime Issue #3 Written by Rick Remender Art by Greg Tocchini

Promo copy:

The heist of the century is finally here. With his team together, his scheme in place and the score set, Graham, at long last, is ready to pull off the last and greatest crime in the history of the United States. But even if the plan goes off without a single hitch, what can he do when the American Government decides to activate their anti-crime broadcast during the job. Will the last day of American crime end with Graham and his team as millionaires, or will they spend the rest of eternity wondering where they went wrong?

The stunning conclusion to the critically acclaimed miniseries written by Rick Remender (Punisher, Fear Agent) with art by Greg Tocchini.

I wrote this earlier in the year about the first issue:

For SF Site, I reviewed Amelia Beamer’s debut zombie novel, The Loving Dead.