As part of my regular column (co-written with YA scribe Mark London Williams Nexus Graphica, I [interviewed writers Paul Benjamin (Muppet King Arthur), Alan J. Porter (Cars), and Bill Williams (Spike: The Devil You Know). The trio offer some frank, behind-the-scenes commentary on working with licensed
properties.

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

Flight Volume Seven Edited by Kazu Kibuishi

Promo copy:

Flight 7 is the latest volume in the acclaimed graphic novel series, a full-color graphic anthology of short stories by some of the hottest creators in the fields of comics and animation including JP Ahonen, Jason Caffoe, Michel Gagne, Justin Gerard, Paul Harmon, Kazu Kibuishi, Stuart Livingston. Katie Shanahan, Kean Soo, and many others.

The previous volume made my Nexus Graphica Top Ten of 2009. Here’s what I had to say about Volume Six:

Preview of Flight Volume Seven

Fringe: Tales From the Fringe #1 Written by Justin Doble & Adam Gaines and Alex Katsnelson Art by Federico Dallocchio and Shawn Moll

Promo copy:

Introducing an all-new 6-issue miniseries featuring tales set in the world of the hit TV series! In the first story, Peter Bishop is forced to choose between doing the right thing – saving a troubled young man pressed into service as a suicide bomber – or scoring a dream job. In the second story, a high school girl finds herself inexplicably transformed into an adult. Even more shocking, she also discovers she’s an assassin!

Penny Arcade 6: The Halls Below by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik

Promo copy:

FROM UNTOLD STYGIAN DEPTHS, IT RISES

Gaze, if you dare, in benumbed awe upon its unfathomably cyclopean dimensions of obsidian impossibility. Cower before its undulating, multitendriled tales of unutterable horror. Receive into trembling hands that which the nameless ancients foretold in dread whispers that echo still across the black and terrible chasm whence forgotten time disgorges its haunted secrets, etc. Behold—the sixth tome of the Penny Arcade cycle!

Peer within and find
• 2005’s full-color Penny Arcade strips in their behemoth entirety!
• The soul-chilling ramblings of its warped, only partially human creators!
• And more, which no coherent mind could fathom nor human tongue repeat!

More in Part II

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

Black Comix: African American Independent Comics, Art and Culture by Damian Duffy and John Jennings

Promo copy:

The immense popularity of comics and graphic novels cannot be ignored. But in light of the comics boom that has taken place over the past 10 years, the artists, writers and publishers that make up the vibrant African American independent comics community have remained relatively unknown – until now. Black Comix brings together an unprecedented collection of largely unheard of, and undeniably masterful, comics art while also framing the work of these men and women in a broader historical and cultural context.

With a foreword by Keith Knight and over 50 contributors, including Phonzie Davis, Jan-Michael Franklin, Frances Liddell, Kenjji Marshall, Lance Tooks, Rob Stull, Ashley A. Woods and many, more, the cross section of comics genres represented includes manga, superheroes, humor, history, science fiction and fantasy. This book is a must-have for comics readers.

Code:Breaker 1 by Akimine Kamijyo

Promo copy:

THE DEATH DEALERS

Rei seems like an affable transfer student to everyone around him, but quirky high school beauty Sakura sees his true face as a terrifying vigilante—a “nonexistent” Code:Breaker who cannot be touched by the law. And since Sakura has just witnessed the effects of his deadly blue flame, she’s slated to be the next to burn!

Revolver by Matt Kindt

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REVOLVER is a tale of two worlds, and how the both test a man to his limits…

Almost thirty and living in Seattle, Sam shuffles to his bed after a night out at the bars. The next morning he wakes up and catches the bus into the city, starting another day of his dead end life. But today on the radio he hears that the stock market has crashed, news of a bird-flu epidemic erupting in Asia pushes past a report of "radioactive-material-gone-missing-in-Russia." Did Sam really wake up this morning? The world has gone crazy–turned on its head. Sam thinks about riding the bus full loop, going home and pretending that the day hadn’t started.

This terrible day is capped with the destruction of Seattle…

But when Sam wakes up in his small studio apartment the next morning he’s confused. On the bus ride to work he listens to the radio. The world is fine…

Realities begin to bleed into one another as Sam jumps between his dull-drum, everyday life and a dark apocalyptic society…but which is the real one and which one will he have to live with forever? And the most important question: does he have a choice?

More in Part I

I reviewed Inception, one of the most anticipated movies of the summer, for Moving Pictures.

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

The Loving Dead by Amelia Beamer

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Kate and Michael are roommates living in the Oakland hills, working at the same Trader Joes supermarket. A night of drunken revelry changes their lives forever, but not in the way that anyone would expect. A slow-spreading plague of zombie-ism breaks out at their house party, spreading amongst their circle of friends, and simultaneously through the Bay Area. This zombie plague – an STD of sorts – is spread through sex and kissing, turning its victims into mindless, horny, voracious killers. Thrust into extremes by this slow- motion tragedy, Kate and Michael are forced to confront the choices they’ve made in their lives, and their fears of commitment, while trying to stay alive and reunite in the one place in the Bay Area that’s likely to be safe and secure from the zombie hoards: Alcatraz.

Star Wars: Clone Wars Gambit: Siege by Karen Miller

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On the Outer Rim, the planet Lanteeb has no strategic value, no political power, and one enormous problem: It has been invaded by an emboldened Separatist Alliance. To find out why, Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi have snuck onto Lanteeb—and now look oblivion in the eye. . . .

Hiding their lightsabers beneath their dusty disguises, Anakin and Obi-Wan draw on their Jedi skills to stay one step ahead of Lok Durd’s droid army on Lanteeb. The Jedi know that a captive scientist has given Durd the keys to a terrifying bioweapon. Durd knows that the Jedi are on his planet. With Yoda calling on the powers of the Jedi Council, with a new Separatist technology jamming the Guardians’ communications, and with a traitor at the heart of the Republic’s government, the wheels of war are turning. But the Separatists have blockaded Lanteeb. The finishing touches are being put on a weapon to destroy whole worlds. And it will be up to the two Jedi Knights and their most trusted comrades to liberate Lanteeb or forever suffer the consequences.

The Day the Leash Gave Way and Other Stories by Trent Zelazny

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Collected here are twenty-four dark, quirky, eccentric stories. Trent Zelazny will surprise you, entertain you, and take you places you’ve never been before. A new strong, confident voice has arrived. Zelazny could have chosen to make a career of covering the same ground that his father had already plowed. Instead he has chosen to strike out on his own and prove right out of the gate that he is his own man.

"Trent Zelazny is off and running. I have someone new to admire." -Joe R. Lansdale, Edgar Award winner and seven-time Bram Stoker Award winner

"Trent Zelazny is a master of tension, frisson, madness, and mayhem. I love the way he writes and read everything I can get my hands on. You should do the same." -Gerald Hausman, author of Time Swimmer and Castaways

"A gift for storytelling is in Trent Zelazny’s genes. It’s a pleasure to crack open his book and let him carry you away." -Charles Ardai, Edgar and Shamus Award winner

"You can tell Trent Zelazny is having fun when he’s writing, because his work is so much fun to read… You should try it sometime." -Brian Knight, author of Broken Angel and Sex, Death & Honey

"Trent Zelazny pulls off ideas most other writers wouldn’t dream of, never mind attempt. That he succeeds is testament to the length of his imagination and the breadth of his talent. He will not live long in the literary shadow of his father, but will soon take his rightful place beside him as one of the most important writers of the fantastic this country has produced." -Garrett Peck

More in Part II

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

Fuzzy Dice by Paul Di Filippo

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How badly could you screw up when granted access to infinite worlds conforming to your heart’s most intimate desires? No matter how much of a disaster you or I might make of such a miraculous gift, rest assured that Paul Girard, hapless middle-aged bookstore clerk, can hilariously surpass your worst fumblings and missteps. Visited one morning by a dimension-hopping artificial intelligence named Hans, Paul is given the ability to jump instantly to any world he can envision. But without truly knowing himself, Paul soon discovers that framing a wish that gets the expected results is not as easy as it first appears. From the depths of the Big Bang to a world where hippies rule; from a land of Amazons to one where life is a video-game; from a society where cooperation means everything to one where individual chaos rules. Across these bizarre dimensions and many others, Paul races in the search for happiness, love, wealth, status and the answer to the Ontological Pickle. Acquiring comrades and enemies along the way, our feckless alternaut reaches a cul-de-sac from which the only exit is death. And then his adventures really begin.

Gears of War: Anvil Gate by Karen Traviss

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Continuing the saga of the bestselling game series!

With the Locust Horde apparently destroyed, Jacinto’s survivors have begun to rebuild human society on the Locusts’ stronghold. Raiding pirate gangs take a toll—but it’s nothing that Marcus Fenix and the Gears can’t handle. Then the nightmare that they thought they’d left behind begins to stalk them again. Something far worse, something even the Locust dreaded, has emerged to spread across the planet, and not even this remote island haven is beyond its reach. Gears and Stranded must fight side by side to survive their deadliest enemy yet, falling back on the savage tactics of another bloody siege—Anvil Gate.

The Hounds of Avalon (Dark Age, Book 3) by Mark Chadbourn

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The Hounds of Avalon are coming …These are the twilight days, when eternal winter falls and the gods destroy themselves in civil war; when an invasion force of ghastly power threatens to eradicate all life. Humanity’s last chance lies with two friends, as different as night and day, bound together by an awesome destiny. Hunter: a warrior, a rake, an assassin; Hal: a lowly records clerk in a Government office. They must pierce a mystery surrounding the myths of King Arthur to find the dreaming hero who will ride out of the mists of legend to save the world. But time is running out, for when the Hounds of Avalon appear, all hope is lost… HOUNDS OF AVALON is the latest installment in Mark Chadbourn’s brilliant new sequence: exciting, evocative, terrifying and awe-inspiring.

More in Part III

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

Entangled by Graham Hancock

Promo copy:

Graham Hancock has spent decades researching and writing some of the most ambitious and successful nonfiction investigations into ancient civilizations and wisdom. Entangled uses all of Hancock’s skills and knowledge to propel a fantasy adventure like nothing else preceding it.

Entangled is a time-slip novel alternating between present-day California, Brazil, and prehistoric Spain, with two teenage female protagonists who must come together to avert an incredibly bloodthirsty takeover of the human race.

Entangled is the first book in a trilogy relating the story of an unrelentingly evil master magician named Sulpa who is on the loose and determined to destroy humanity. Leoni, a troubled teen from modern-day Los Angeles, and Ria, a young woman who lives in Stone Age Spain, meet in a parallel dimension outside the flow of time to stop Sulpa’s spectacular, deadly materialization of the modern world.

Entangled rides a growing wave of interest in parallel dimensions and imaginary worlds (The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Golden Compass are recent Hollywood examples) and will have immediate appeal to readers of Philip Pullman, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, and Kate Mosse, among others.

But Entangled has the added merit of being grounded in solid anthropological and scientific research. Hancock calls on his years of research into cutting-edge issues, including the "Neanderthal Enigma," the nature of consciousness, the many worlds interpretation of quantum physics, parallel realms, time travel, and near-death and out-of-body experiences.

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance by Sean Williams

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BioWare and LucasArts—creators of the hugely popular Star Wars:® Knights of the Old Republic® video game—have combined their storytelling talents and cutting-edge technology for an innovative new massively multiplayer online role-playing game that allows players to create their own personal Star Wars adventure 3,500 years before the rise of Darth Vader. Now #1 New York Times bestselling author Sean Williams brings the world of the game to life in his latest novel, Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance.

Tassaa Bareesh, a matriarch in the Hutt crime cartel, is holding an auction that’s drawing attention from across the galaxy. Representatives of both the Republic and the Sith Empire are present, along with a Jedi Padawan sent to investigate, a disenfranchised trooper drummed out of the Republic’s elite Blackstar Squad, and a mysterious Mandalorian with a private agenda. But the Republic’s envoy is not what he seems, the Empire’s delegate is a ruthless Sith apprentice, the Jedi Padawan is determined to do the right thing and terrified that he can’t, the trooper hopes to redeem her reputation, and the Mandalorian is somehow managing to keep one step ahead of everyone.

None of these guests—invited or uninvited—have any intention of participating in the auction. Instead they plan to steal the prize, which is locked inside an impregnable vault: two burned chunks of an exploded star cruiser, one of which may hold the key to the wealth of an entire world.

But the truth about the treasure is dangerous and deadly. And in the end, Sith and Jedi, Republic and Empire, must do something they’ve never done before, something that all the agents of good and evil could never make them do: join together to stop a powerful threat that could destroy the galaxy.

An Empire Unacquainted with Defeat (Chronicle of the Dead Empire) by Glen Cook

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The Dread Empire, a gritty world of larger-than-life plots, nation-shattering conflict, maddening magic, strange creatures, and raw, flawed heroes, all shown through the filter of Glen Cook’s inimitable war-correspondent prose. The Dread Empire, spanning from the highest peaks of the Dragon’s Teeth to the endless desert lands of Hammad al Nakir, from besieged Kavelin to mighty Shinshan, the Empire Unacquainted with Defeat, with its fearless, masked soldiers, known as the Demon Guard… An Empire Unacquainted with Defeat collects all of Glen Cook’s short fiction set in the vast world of the Dread Empire, from "The Nights of Dreadful Silence", featuring the first appearance of Bragi Ragnarson, Mocker, and Haroun bin Yousif, to the culture-clashing novella "Soldier of an Empire Unacquainted with Defeat"; from "Silverheels", Cook’s first published work of fiction, to "Hell’s Forge", a haunting tale of cursed pirates and strange lands, appearing here for the first time. Also including a detailed introduction and extensive story notes by Glen Cook, An Empire Unacquainted with Defeat charts the development of this influential American author and the massive, multifaceted world that he created.

More in Part I

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

Chew Volume 2: International Flavor Written by John Layman Art by Rob Guillory

Promo copy:

Tony Chu, the cibopathic federal agent with the ability to get psychic impressions from the things he eats, is on a bizarre new case. A newly discovered fruit takes Agent Chu to a remote island full of secrets, Presenting the second storyline of IGN.com’s pick for Best Indie Series of 2009 and MTV Splash Page.com’s pick for Best New Series of 2009. Find out what the fuss is about in this latest a twisted and darkly funny comic about cops, crooks, cooks, cannibals and clairvoyants.strangeness-and a shadowy killer with a particularly sinister appetite.

I had this to say about Volume One:

The Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft Volume 1 Written by Mac Carter Art by Tony Salmons

Promo copy:

Chilling! Uncanny! Macabre! The wall that separates reality and nightmare comes fast undone in this, the complete, horrific chronicle of young H.P. Lovecraft! Is he a harmless writer of supernatural fiction – or a secret god of destruction and despair? This is one strange tale, indeed!

Cowboy Ninja Viking Volume 1 Written by A. J. Lieberman Art by Riley Rossmo

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Tasked with creating a counter-intelligence unit, Dr. Sebastian Ghislain turned to those long thought useless to society: patients with Multiple Personality Disorder.

Now all but one of these ‘Triplets’ has gone rogue, and it’s up to Cowboy Ninja Viking to find and stop this band of ridiculously disturbed-but highly effective-assassins!

‘COWBOY NINJA VIKING is one of those rare occasions where something that should be nothing but a guilty pleasure ends up being way deeper and better written…this book is just the gift that keeps on giving.’ -Ain’t It Cool News

COLLECTS THE FIRST 5 ISSUES OF THE SMASH HIT SERIES, PLUS THE NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN ORIGINAL PITCH, ALTERNATE SCRIPTS, UNUSED ART AND PIN-UPS. WANT MORE? FINE. WE’LL THROW IN AN INDEX!

For the gang at Moving Pictures, I reviewed Despicable Me.

The new Nexus Graphica is up at SF Site. This time I discuss comics that have NOT been collected.

I go on to discuss several uncollected series that deserve to appear in book format.

This column emereged out of some discussions with Alan J. Porter and hopefully will lead to a new RevSF feature on uncollected works.