Thursday, November 11, 2004
AUTHOR Lankford, Terrill.
TITLE Earthquake weather / Terrill Lee Lankford.
EDITION 1st ed.
IMPRINT New York : Ballantine Books, 2004.
DESCRIPT 293p. 25 cm.
SUBJECT Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Fiction.
ISBN 0345467779.
Publishers Weekly Review
Filmmaker Lankford serves up an insider's view of Hollywood in this entertaining crime drama about a producer wannabe who gets ensnarled in a murder plot. Mark Hayes has been kicking around the movie industry for more than 15 years with little to show for it. Now in his mid-30s—old for Hollywood—he toils as a creative executive, fancy talk for a "development boy, as we were called by the disrespectful," screening scripts for his hateful boss, Dexter Morton. Although he's had one huge hit, Morton is despised throughout the industry for his two-faced dealings. When he's found floating face down in his swimming pool—his "giant, hairy tarantula" of toupee clogging the filter—nobody really mourns except his now out-of-work employees. As the police drag through their investigation, Hayes decides to launch his own probe, partly out of boredom and partly because he finds himself near the top of the cops' suspect list: after all, Morton had stolen his girl and Hayes found the body. But there's no shortage of suspects; Morton left a trail of bitter screenwriters, producers and even creative executives. Lankford (Angry Moon) shows lively wit and characterizations, and he shines in skewering the practices and personalities of the film industry. Though the story falters when Lankford leaves the entertainment world and steers the action down a more predictable path of drugs and violence, this is a fast, fun read.
TITLE Earthquake weather / Terrill Lee Lankford.
EDITION 1st ed.
IMPRINT New York : Ballantine Books, 2004.
DESCRIPT 293p. 25 cm.
SUBJECT Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Fiction.
ISBN 0345467779.
Publishers Weekly Review
Filmmaker Lankford serves up an insider's view of Hollywood in this entertaining crime drama about a producer wannabe who gets ensnarled in a murder plot. Mark Hayes has been kicking around the movie industry for more than 15 years with little to show for it. Now in his mid-30s—old for Hollywood—he toils as a creative executive, fancy talk for a "development boy, as we were called by the disrespectful," screening scripts for his hateful boss, Dexter Morton. Although he's had one huge hit, Morton is despised throughout the industry for his two-faced dealings. When he's found floating face down in his swimming pool—his "giant, hairy tarantula" of toupee clogging the filter—nobody really mourns except his now out-of-work employees. As the police drag through their investigation, Hayes decides to launch his own probe, partly out of boredom and partly because he finds himself near the top of the cops' suspect list: after all, Morton had stolen his girl and Hayes found the body. But there's no shortage of suspects; Morton left a trail of bitter screenwriters, producers and even creative executives. Lankford (Angry Moon) shows lively wit and characterizations, and he shines in skewering the practices and personalities of the film industry. Though the story falters when Lankford leaves the entertainment world and steers the action down a more predictable path of drugs and violence, this is a fast, fun read.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Record 2 of 2
TITLE Moon shadows / Nora Roberts ... [et al.]
EDITION Jove ed.
IMPRINT New York : Jove Books, 2004.
DESCRIPT 375 p. ; 18 cm.
NOTE Includes a preview of "Blue dahlia" by Nora Roberts (p. [361]
-375)
CONTENTS Wolf moon / Nora Roberts -- The moon witch / Jill Gregory --
Blood on the moon / Ruth Ryan Langan -- West of the moon /
Marianne Willman.
SUBJECT Love stories.
Fantasy fiction.
ALT AUTHOR Roberts, Nora. Wolf moon.
Gregory, Jill. Moon witch.
Langan, Ruth Ryan. Blood on the moon.
Willman, Marianne. West of the moon.
ISBN 0515138312.
Loosely connected by their incorporation of the paranormal, this quartet of novellas takes readers, with varying degrees of success, from contemporary Maine to the fantastical land of Callemore, the Scottish Highlands and the 19th-century Cornish countryside. The collection is bookended by its two strongest offerings—"Wolf Moon," Roberts's brisk romance between a female werewolf and the vet who may be able to cure her, and Willman's compelling gothic fairy tale "West of the Moon," which describes what happens when the human and Faerie realms collide. The remaining entries, Gregory's "The Moon Witch" and Langan's "Blood on the Moon," feature stock protagonists (the brave but impetuous heroine, the emotionally scarred, Robin Hood–like warrior, etc.) and stereotypically evil antagonists; in Gregory's offering, a witch and warlock unite to pursue their goal of world domination, and in Langan's, a vicious warlord rapes and plunders his way across the Highlands. These four authors have collaborated on previous anthologies (Once Upon a Midnight; Once Upon a Rose), so there's a built-in readership for this book. But with its uneven quality and strained integration of the "moon" motif, it isn't likely to be many readers' favorite.
TITLE Moon shadows / Nora Roberts ... [et al.]
EDITION Jove ed.
IMPRINT New York : Jove Books, 2004.
DESCRIPT 375 p. ; 18 cm.
NOTE Includes a preview of "Blue dahlia" by Nora Roberts (p. [361]
-375)
CONTENTS Wolf moon / Nora Roberts -- The moon witch / Jill Gregory --
Blood on the moon / Ruth Ryan Langan -- West of the moon /
Marianne Willman.
SUBJECT Love stories.
Fantasy fiction.
ALT AUTHOR Roberts, Nora. Wolf moon.
Gregory, Jill. Moon witch.
Langan, Ruth Ryan. Blood on the moon.
Willman, Marianne. West of the moon.
ISBN 0515138312.
Loosely connected by their incorporation of the paranormal, this quartet of novellas takes readers, with varying degrees of success, from contemporary Maine to the fantastical land of Callemore, the Scottish Highlands and the 19th-century Cornish countryside. The collection is bookended by its two strongest offerings—"Wolf Moon," Roberts's brisk romance between a female werewolf and the vet who may be able to cure her, and Willman's compelling gothic fairy tale "West of the Moon," which describes what happens when the human and Faerie realms collide. The remaining entries, Gregory's "The Moon Witch" and Langan's "Blood on the Moon," feature stock protagonists (the brave but impetuous heroine, the emotionally scarred, Robin Hood–like warrior, etc.) and stereotypically evil antagonists; in Gregory's offering, a witch and warlock unite to pursue their goal of world domination, and in Langan's, a vicious warlord rapes and plunders his way across the Highlands. These four authors have collaborated on previous anthologies (Once Upon a Midnight; Once Upon a Rose), so there's a built-in readership for this book. But with its uneven quality and strained integration of the "moon" motif, it isn't likely to be many readers' favorite.
