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The Foglio Family's First Experiment tortures their Second Experiment right here. Why am I not surprised at the film clip's grand finale?
Nov. 23rd, 2009
Things have been busy this Autumn. On the bright side, some of them were not related to my work, but to personal activities that have brought much joy to my soul. As a result though, my reading of fiction suffered a bit, and a Modesty Blaise novel that I should have gone thru in a few days took almost three weeks.
After I was done with that novel, I read Kim Newman’s novelette "The McCarthy Witch Hunt", which had recently been brought to my attention. The premise was very interesting: it asked what if the McCarthy Era’s witch hunts had gone after literal witches? It didn’t matter that Oppenheimer and other warlocks were the ones who brought down the Axis, leveling Berlin in the process. Based on what Newman wrote at the end about his intentions for this story, I don’t think he was entirely successful in showing that for each famous person who was caught by our Reality’s hunt, there were plenty of ordinary people who were destroyed. In this case, the target of the Federal Bureau of Inquisition is a housewife who is also a witch named Samantha Stevens. I can’t really say what didn’t work without giving the ending away. One thing is sure: with some tinkering, it’d make a great little movie.
Yesterday, I read Mike Mignola's "In the Service of Angels", a 5-issue comic-book miniseries related to Mignola's HellBoy and B.P.R.D. stories. This one is set in 1879's London, where witchfinder and all-around detective of the occult Sir Edward Grey has to track down a blood-drinking creature which is after the men who discovered an antediluvian civilization's ruins in the Sahara. Quite enjoyable, although I was disturbed, upon finding a photo of Mignola in one of the comic's issues, that he reminds me of a chubbier version of my father-in-law.
As for the Modesty novel, ”I, Lucifer”… It’s my understanding that, when Neil Gaiman and Quentin Tarantino were working on a movie about Modesty, this story was the one they used as a starting point. I can see why. It has a creepy puppet show about an oversexed man who seduces a young nun into perdition, and the titular character is a delusional young man who thinks he is the Fallen Angel. The plot overall is about probabilities, death, and the ability to see into the Future. The latter would make this the first Modesty novel that one could call SF, except that author Peter O’Donnell apparently believed in psychic powers, which means this a realistic novel.
I’m not quite sure that I liked this novel as much as the others. I was warned about the stereotypical girlie-man assassin. And there was racism, even though the nun-seducing black man was a puppet. I took the less enlightened era of the novel in consideration. Also, those instances were luckily few, and early in the story. Unfortunately, one recurring problem I had was the tendency to shift POVs in the middle of a scene. I don’t remember that there were as many of those in the earlier novels, if there were any. Still, for all those flaws, there are passages that remind me how good those stories can be, when they focus on the relationship between Modesty and Willie, her partner in adventuring.
Early on, there is this…
And this, near the end…
After I was done with that novel, I read Kim Newman’s novelette "The McCarthy Witch Hunt", which had recently been brought to my attention. The premise was very interesting: it asked what if the McCarthy Era’s witch hunts had gone after literal witches? It didn’t matter that Oppenheimer and other warlocks were the ones who brought down the Axis, leveling Berlin in the process. Based on what Newman wrote at the end about his intentions for this story, I don’t think he was entirely successful in showing that for each famous person who was caught by our Reality’s hunt, there were plenty of ordinary people who were destroyed. In this case, the target of the Federal Bureau of Inquisition is a housewife who is also a witch named Samantha Stevens. I can’t really say what didn’t work without giving the ending away. One thing is sure: with some tinkering, it’d make a great little movie.
Yesterday, I read Mike Mignola's "In the Service of Angels", a 5-issue comic-book miniseries related to Mignola's HellBoy and B.P.R.D. stories. This one is set in 1879's London, where witchfinder and all-around detective of the occult Sir Edward Grey has to track down a blood-drinking creature which is after the men who discovered an antediluvian civilization's ruins in the Sahara. Quite enjoyable, although I was disturbed, upon finding a photo of Mignola in one of the comic's issues, that he reminds me of a chubbier version of my father-in-law.
As for the Modesty novel, ”I, Lucifer”… It’s my understanding that, when Neil Gaiman and Quentin Tarantino were working on a movie about Modesty, this story was the one they used as a starting point. I can see why. It has a creepy puppet show about an oversexed man who seduces a young nun into perdition, and the titular character is a delusional young man who thinks he is the Fallen Angel. The plot overall is about probabilities, death, and the ability to see into the Future. The latter would make this the first Modesty novel that one could call SF, except that author Peter O’Donnell apparently believed in psychic powers, which means this a realistic novel.
I’m not quite sure that I liked this novel as much as the others. I was warned about the stereotypical girlie-man assassin. And there was racism, even though the nun-seducing black man was a puppet. I took the less enlightened era of the novel in consideration. Also, those instances were luckily few, and early in the story. Unfortunately, one recurring problem I had was the tendency to shift POVs in the middle of a scene. I don’t remember that there were as many of those in the earlier novels, if there were any. Still, for all those flaws, there are passages that remind me how good those stories can be, when they focus on the relationship between Modesty and Willie, her partner in adventuring.
Early on, there is this…
She remembered finding Willie Garvin, finding and in some strange way re-making him. No, he had remade himself, because of her. She did not know why, for she had done no more than back a hunch and place her trust in him. It did not matter why. After all the long years of fighting alone, there had come a time at last when she had found someone able and eager to stand at her shoulder. Willie Garvin had stood there in all the years since, as sure and unfailing as if he had been an extension of herself.
And this, near the end…
Dall nodded, his face growing gradually sober. Willie had a firm grip of the dolphin now, and Modesty was grappling with the straps of the harness. Her face was alive, and full of amusement.
“How do they do it, Collier?” Dall murmured. “I mean, this… after that?” His head jerked briefly towards the smoke still rising from the smouldering house, the ground where so many dead men lay.
“I rather think this follows that.” Collier said. “Cause and effect. I’ve never subscribed to the theory of hitting your toe with a hammer because it’s so nice when you stop. But they seem to operate a satisfactory parallel.”
“I guess there’s a little more to it than that,” Dall said. There was a shadow of envy in his voice. “But whatever it is, it makes life taste pretty good to them.”