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A review of L Frank Baum’s The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus (1902)

Posted in books with tags Baumalong, Book Report, books, Frank Baum, pop culture, reviews, Santa Claus on December 23, 2013 by Paxton

In 1902, just two years after writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, but 2 years before the first Oz sequel, L Frank Baum wrote The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. It was illustrated by Mary Cowles Clark.

This was Baum’s attempt to tell the origin of Santa Claus and explain the beginnings and reasons for all of our different beliefs and practices around Christmas time. It was a very ambitious undertaking. But Baum does it in his usual dreamy, fairy tale-like manner and, for the most part, it works.

Baum sets up the world by describing all the magical immortal creatures that oversee various aspects of Nature. We see creatures such as Fairies who watch over humans, Wood Nymphs who watch over forests, Gnomes who watch over the rocks and Ryls and Knooks who watch over the flowers and animals, respectively (along with many other creatures I’ll not name). All of these creatures are presided over by the Great Woodsman, Ak.

One day Ak stumbles upon a lost child and allows a Wood Nymph, Necile, to adopt him. Necile names him Neclaus (Nicolas). Santa is raised by these magical, immortal creatures in the forest until Ak decided Claus must learn more about his own people and takes him on a trip into the human world. Santa is shocked and frustrated by the wars, greed, child neglect and child abuse he witnesses. Ak encourages him to not forsake the mortals as he is one of them. Santa decides to do something about what he’s seen.

Santa moves to the nearby Laughing Valley where all the magical creatures help him build a workshop and get him started making toys. The idea Baum posits here is that toys don’t currently exist. Santa invents them when he makes his first toy which then transfixes the children. So he continues to do it and his operation becomes bigger and bigger as he tries to help more and more children.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2013: Night of the Living Dead (1974) novelization and a shambling mob of other zombie novels

Posted in books, Genres, horror, monsters, movies, pop culture, zombies with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2013, Book Report, books, Halloween, holiday, monsters, Movie Novelizations, movies, pop culture, zombies on October 24, 2013 by Paxton

There are a lot of zombie novels out there. I can’t read and review them all, nor would I really want to. However, there are a few I read that I’ll quickly review for you in an opportunity to get them out there so you have other zombie books to read now that AWESOME-tober-fest 2013 has got you hot for zombies again.

Let’s begin with the novelization of the original Romero classic, Night of the Living Dead.

George Romero’s 1966 film, Night of the Living Dead, is a classic in the horror genre. While attending college in Pittsburgh in the 60s, George Romero and John Russo developed a horror script. They pitched it to a film company, received funding and created one of the most important genre-defining pictures of all time. This book is the novelization of that script. Surprisingly, the book wasn’t released until 1974, a clear six years after the release of the movie. Which means that it wasn’t based on an original draft of the script, it was just a page one copy of the movie. I didn’t realize that before I started reading. So, if you’ve seen the movie, you’ve essentially read the book. Except, the movie is actually better. The book is slow and a LOT less interesting than the movie. I don’t know if it’s the way Russo writes or what, but I had a hard time staying awake while reading plus there’s not really any new story information you get for reading. You may as well just watch the movie again.

In 1978, after Russo and Romero went their separate ways, Russo decided to write a sequel to Night of the Living Dead. He called it Return of the Living Dead. This book has nothing to do with the 1985 horror comedy of the same name other than it inspired that movie. Russo wanted this book to be the movie and wrote it as a screenplay, but Dan O’Bannon disliked Russo’s story and did a page 1 rewrite. This book was Russo’s attempt to continue the story they began in Night of the Living Dead. It’s boring, uninspired and will immediately put you into a reading coma before you finish the first page. It’s not even worth reading as a novelty. As a matter of fact, just skip both of these books. Watch the original 1966 Night of the Living Dead movie and the 1985 Return of the Living Dead movie. They are much more enjoyable and you’ll get more out of it.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith – This is sort of the grandaddy of the outlandish classic fiction category that has become all the rage the last few years. Stuff like Android Karenina, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters and Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter all began with this book. All the zombie/ninja embellishments were written by Seth Grahame-Smith who also wrote Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, that Johnny Depp Dark Shadows movie and he helped create and write the MTV TV show The Hard Times of RJ Berger. I read this book several years ago. It’s actually very entertaining. I thought that the structure would be 1 chapter of Austen/1 chapter of Smith. However, it isn’t. Smith manages to deftly combine zombies and ninjas into every aspect of this story. The lines have been blurred and it’s really hard to see where one story ends and the other begins. It’s actually quite amazing how well this book works. I can’t speak for the other quirky classic makeovers I mentioned, but at the very least, this deserves a read. I think you’ll like it. FYI, a prequel was written by another author called Dawn of the Dreadfuls, but I haven’t read it.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2013: Return of the Living Dead movie novelization (1985)

Posted in books, monsters, movies, zombies with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2013, Book Report, books, Halloween, holiday, monsters, Movie Novelizations, movies, zombies on October 10, 2013 by Paxton

Today I’m going to talk about one of my favorite things to do on this blog, movie novelizations. If you read this blog, you know I love movie novelizations. Especially movies from the 70s and 80s. Today, I’m going to discuss the novelization of the zombie classic, Return of the Living Dead.

The history of this movie and its novelization is interesting in and of itself. I discussed it a bit when I reviewed the actual Return of the Living Dead movie. Essentially, John Russo who helped Romero write the original Night of the Living Dead movie, also wrote the novelization AND in 1977 a direct sequel book, Return of the Living Dead. When Romero and Russo parted ways, they split the rights. Romero went on to create his “of the Dead” movies and Russo went on to adapt his Living Dead sequel novel. However, when the book was optioned, the studio had Dan O’Bannon rewrite the book as a script with a heavy comedic undertones to the horror. That was how the movie was made. John Russo would go on to write the novelization of O’Bannon’s script.

Like I said, interesting. I’ve always enjoyed this movie so I thought I’d track down the novelization to review. Because of the convoluted back story, it’s tough to actually track this down. Many times the original Russo 1971 Return of the Living Dead book is mistaken for the 1985 movie novelization. You have to make sure you are getting the right book.

But I got it, and I’ve read it. How does it stack up to the movie? By the way, in the below review I’m assuming you’ve seen the movie.

As a novelization, it’s not that bad. Most of the scenes of the movie are there. The character names are a little different in so far as the punker group of Freddy’s friends are concerned. The major story details are the same, however, there are a few changes for the book. It’s a lot more clear in the book that Freddy used to be a major punker. He and his girlfriend Tina had walked in on their friend Sunshine after he overdosed on dope and the sight, in effect, scared them straight. Freddy got a job and was determined not to end up the same as Sunshine. This event is referenced throughout the book, but is only quickly mentioned in the movie.

The major difference in the novelization is a subplot of Russian spies who worked for the government back in the late 60s during the original events of Night of the Living Dead. They are the reason the barrels of Trioxin are mistakenly sent to the Uneeda Medical Supply warehouse. The spies sent some of the barrels there to hide them away from the government so the chemical could be released again later. The spies then leave the country and head back to Russia. We have several scenes of them in this book drinking and discussing their actions spying for the government and talking about the missing Trioxin barrels.

More differences involve the character Legs (aka Trash), played by Linnea Quigley in the movie. During her graveyard striptease (which exists in the movie), in the book it turns into actual sex with her boyfriend, Suicide. And even though, in the movie, Trash returns as a zombie for a short appearance at the end, Legs, in the book, stays dead and we don’t see her again.

We get a bit more fleshing out of certain characters like the mortuary owner, Ernie. A little bit more with the paramedics that come to pick up Freddy and Frank, and even some back story to a few of the zombies that go on the rampage. Two of which were being “dressed” by Ernie in the beginning. They were a couple who died in a car wreck. As a matter of fact, the zombie that is interrogated at the end of the movie, in the book, is actually the female side of this dead couple from the beginning.

All in all, this was actually a pretty good novelization. I enjoyed reading it and seeing a little bit more than what we get out of the movie.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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AWESOME-tober-fest 2013: Herbert West – Reanimator by HP Lovecraft (1922)

Posted in books, Halloween, movies, pop culture with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2013, Book Report, books, Halloween, holiday, HP Lovecraft, monsters, movies, pop culture, zombies on October 7, 2013 by Paxton

Today I’m going to look at a short story by one of horror’s most celebrated writers, HP Lovecraft. I’ve not really read any of his stuff before, so I thought this would be as good a chance as any to rectify the situation. I found a collection of his stories on Paperbackswap.com last year. That collection is called The Road to Madness: The Transition of HP Lovecraft.

The collection includes Lovecraft’s novella At the Mountains of Madness which Guillermo Del Toro has been trying to set up as a film adaptation for many years. But the story I was actually looking for was Herbert West – Reanimator. It was this short story on which the classic 1985 horror film The Re-animator starring Jeffrey Combs is based.

I, for one, love that cheesy horror film from 1985. So, I thought that since I was doing zombies for my Halloween theme, I’d not only revisit the awesome Re-animator movie but I’d also read and review the original Lovecraft short story.

And now I’ve read it. To be honest, the story isn’t the best. It’s not terrible, it’s just sort of fast paced and feels more like an outline of a larger story. The short story is broken up into 4 parts. While reading, it really felt like Lovecraft was repeating himself across the four parts as he continually describes Herbert West’s looks (slight in build, glasses, blond hair) and the events of the previous part of the story. In action that only takes place in about 50 pages, it gets a little annoying. I assumed while reading that this must have been originally serialized in a magazine and Lovecraft was just “refreshing” the reader’s memory from last time. And after some research I see that I’m right. The story was originally published in four parts in the amateur magazine Home Brew in 1922.

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The story is very clearly based on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. A brilliant but single-minded and unorthodox scientist, Herbert West, conducts arcane and taboo experiments on human bodies trying to reanimate dead tissue. The story is told by a narrator who has been Herbert West’s assistant/apprentice for many years. It starts off with experiments while the youths are in medical school and each part tells a different time in their lives when they begin their experiments anew. The story is told by the assistant from some unknown time in the future as he’s looking back on the events which led to Dr Herbert West’s disappearance.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked the story, I guess. There is potential there and this story is much more serious in tone and dark in nature than the movie which infuses lots of humor into the story. I guess, for better or for worse, that I just know the Re-Animator movie so well that the original story just seems odd to me.

Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.

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Review of Oz Book 15: The Royal Book of Oz (1921)

Posted in books, Classic literature, movies, Wizard of Oz with tags Book Report, books, movies, Oz books readthru, pop culture, reviews, Ruth Plumly Thompson, Wizard of Oz on September 5, 2013 by Paxton

L Frank Baum died in May 1919. Baum’s final Oz book, Glinda of Oz, wouldn’t be published until 1 year later in 1920. With Baum now gone, Reilly & Lee, decided to continue the Oz series with a new author. They selected Ruth Plumly Thompson to write the fifteenth book in the series. John Neill would return to illustrate the book as he had the previous thirteen books. However, Baum would get author credit on the cover and not Thompson.

It has been said that this book was written off the final Oz notes Baum left in his typewriter after he died. It has never been proven without a doubt that Baum even left final Oz notes. Regardless, it is pretty much a given that this book is all Thompson. Thompson trying a bit to write in the style of Baum, but still 100% Ruth Plumly Thompson. I really love Neill’s cover for this book.

The story itself is interesting. HM Wogglebug, TE gets the idea that he is going to chronicle the royal lines of Oz in a book called, of course, The Royal Book of Oz. While pitching the idea to Ozma, Wogglebug insults Scarecrow (former ruler of Oz and current Emperor of the Winkies) by saying he wasn’t born from a royal family and, in fact, has no ancestry. It is interesting to note that this is the first time that we see outright annoyance and dislike towards HM Wogglebug. In earlier books, characters would imply that he’s tiring to listen to, but nothing outright. In this book, the characters effectively come right out and say, “We don’t f**king like you. Go away.” Especially after he insults the Scarecrow.

So the Scarecrow runs away from the Emerald City back to the pole on the farm Dorothy found him. He slips down the pole to the Silver Islands that exist way below Oz (and far enough down to not be considered a part of Oz).

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Scarecrow tumbles down the bean pole to the Silver Islands

We learn the background of the Scarecrow and how he is the vessel for the spirit of the leader of the Silver Islanders. We meet his family and learn how he came to be on the pole when Dorothy found him. However, as these things tend to do, events turn sour and Scarecrow is trapped in Silver Islands and Dorothy and company must set out to find him. And we learn other cool things like Oz characters CAN die if they are taken out of Oz. It’s Oz’s magical fairyland properties that are keeping its citizens effectively immortal. And we get to meet Sir Hokus of Pokes, an elderly, valiant, well-meaning knight who would show up in three more Thompson Oz books (one with the character center stage) and one of John Neill’s books.

Like I said, on the surface, I like this plot. I like learning back story to a main character. We see a similar back story for the Tin Man in The Tin Woodman of Oz. However, and I hate to say this, but the entire endeavor feels hollow. It feels like Thompson is mimicing Baum’s style but can’t replicate his heart. There is so much sincere, heartfelt innocence and imagination in Baum’s books, you can’t help but love them. This book felt like a shallow copy. Thompson used less of the puns and clever dialogue Baum was known for while simultaneously using multiple plot threads that Baum rarely used. So I guess, in a way, she didn’t really follow Baum’s style at all.

Overall, I was just bored with this book. I wasn’t engaged in the story and for the last half just wished it was over. This is the first time that has happened in my reading of the Oz books. There were one or two Baum books I didn’t fully enjoy, but I was never bored or wished it to end. So, no, I can’t really recommend this. However, John Neill’s artwork is again the centerpiece. Truly great illustrations.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t envy anyone following in Baum’s footsteps. And this was Thompson’s first effort. Thompson eventually wrote 18 more books after this so I assume she gets better the further she moves out of Baum’s shadow. Looking at the list of her books, a few of them do look interesting; The Cowardly Lion of Oz, The Yellow Knight of Oz and maybe Pirates in Oz, We’ll see how many I actually get to.

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