Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits

John Constantine, Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits by Garth Ennis, 160 pages

Constantine is dying. He never thought that he would live long enough in this line of work that lung cancer from his constant smoking would have a chance to do him in. To make it work the demons of hell that he has thwarted are lining up to claim his soul. But all is not completely lost Constantine has a plan that is just crazy enough it might work.

There is a lot of reflecting upon past deeds and earlier parts of Constantine’s life throughout this volume.  I suppose that is the classic dying storyline but since I have read what was several years’ worth of Constantine comics in the past two months I didn’t really need the recap. What I did find interesting was despite Constantine’s badass persona we get glimpses that that is not who he always is. This is obvious in his concern and friendship with another person dying of cancer and in how he tells this friends goodbye. 

For those that have seen the Constantine movie. This book seems to have been its inspiration. From here though it is a whole new Constantine world and I have no idea what comes next, but I am sure I will enjoy reading about it.

Alone on the Ice

Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration by David Roberts, 368 pages

Between 1911 and 1913, Australian explorer Douglas Mawson led the Australasian Antarctic Expedition to an uncharted area of Antarctica. It was an ambitious journey, with scientific and geographic goals well beyond what many other expeditions of the time took on (reaching the South Pole was just one of their many goals). After "wintering over" in a hut through months of blizzards and record-setting winds, Mawson and two of his team members set off on a sledging expedition to the east of their base camp in an attempt to survey what is now known as King George V Land.

To describe this sledging trek as "harrowing" wouldn't even begin to describe it. While crossing a glacier a couple hundred miles into their journey, one of Mawson's colleagues, Belgrave Ninnis, plunged to his death in a crevasse, taking with him six huskies and the sledge that was laden with most of the trio's food and supplies. Despite immediately turning back, Mawson and his remaining fellow, Xavier Mertz, were forced to brave the Antarctic conditions with a seriously depleted food supply (they ended up eating the remaining dogs, to disastrous effect) and using jury-rigged equipment. Still 100 miles from the hut, Mertz too died, leaving a weakened Mawson to traverse the remaining distance alone.

I'll admit that I'd never heard of Mawson before reading/listening to this book. And honestly, I've never been much of a South (or North) Pole fanatic. But this is a fascinating, gripping story. How Mawson survived this ordeal is mind-boggling; the subtitle is no exaggeration. This is well-researched, and gives a wonderful glimpse into the daily life of Antarctic expeditions of the early 20th Century. My one regret is that I didn't also pick up the book book version of this. While the narrator of the audiobook is fantastic, I didn't get a chance to see the photographs taken from the AAE. I must rectify this. Recommended for fans of Edwardian era history, adventure, and those who don't mind the cold.

Alice in Zombieland

Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter, 404 pages

This book came forcefully recommended by a coworker and potential blogger. I was intrigued by the title and was thinking it was a rewrite of Alice in Wonderland but with zombies. What I got was an entirely different zombie adventure.

Showalter also takes a unique approach in her zombies. These are zombies that can only be seen by select people. The zombies also are only inclined to chase people that can see them. This leads to a sort of war in which the highschool aged zombie hunters are forced to do battle with the zombies or get turned into zombies themselves.

The book was slightly more chic lit like than stuff I normally read but the fact that there were zombies helped. I am very interested to see where Showalter is going to take this zombie adventure series.

Welcome to Lovecraft

Welcome to Lovecraft (Locke and Key pt. 1) by Joe Hill, 185 pages

Joe Hill is a recently found author for me. Joe Hill specializes in horror fiction and is the son of Stephen King. He was suggested by fellow blogger wysterria, and the novel NOS4A2, pronounced nosferatu. I loved reading the book and quickly read everything else he had published, except the Locke and Key series. There was no personal reason for not reading Locke and Key, it was just the library didn’t own a copy. Much to my disappointment they finally bought only the first of six parts. Not wanting to read just one part I was forced to wait until now when the rest of the series has been bought and I can read it all.

The Locke and Key series revolves around a premise that certain keys, when used on the right keyholes can produce unusual results. Welcome to Lovecraft opens up with the very graphic killing of a couple people that results in the family moving to the town of Lovecraft. Bode the youngest in the family discovers a key that opens the ghost door. When you walk through the ghost door your spirit leaves your body and technically you die. But your spirit can return and revive you. From there the novel only gets weirder and creepy.

Bode is easily my favorite character as his yearn for knowledge and to try out keys brings excitement to the story. Hill’s style of writing shows through bringing you a sense of unease and foreboding as you can see what evil is in store for the characters. I look forward to continue reading the rest of this series though I know it is only going to get stranger from here.

Strangelets

Strangelets by Michelle Gagnon, 272 pages

Sophie is dying of cancer.  Declan is about to be shot.  Anat is in a tunnel that is on the verge of collapse.  All three of them suddenly find themselves in some sort of hospital, apparently fine, but with no idea of where they are.  There are three more kids there with them.  One of them, Nico, figures out that they are on Long Island, but it doesn’t look right.  Everything is corroding, covered with dust or spoiled.  And where are all of the people?  And what is crashing around in the woods, big enough to scare a bear?