Fan Fiction Books

Canadian graphic superstar Seth here collects issues 10-15 of his "Palookaville" comic book to tell the partial story of a pair of introverted Toronto brothers. The first half of the book is set in 1997, and is a rambling interior monologue by the older of the brothers, Abraham. The panels follow the elderly Abraham as he wanders through the downtown building that was the home and office for his family for the last fifty years. We see him getting dressed, making food, taking a bath, puttering around, checking the weather, and soforth while declaiming on the art of salesmanship and giving the history of the rise and fall of the family fan business and his own role in it. Most importantly, perhaps, he explains how he overcame his preference for solitude in order to operate in the "real" world, while his brother spent his whole life hiding from the world. The second part follows the younger brother Simon on his one attempt to brave the outside world, a spectacularly unsuccessful sales trip in 1957. Every encounter Simon has is one of negation and his lack of self-confidence feeds into a whirlpool of failure. There's not a lot that goes on over the course of the book, more the evocation of a sense of failure and unfulfilled lives. The art is beautifully printed in a mix of cyan and black on a natural color stock which greatly adds to the sense of wistfulness and nostalgia that permeates the story. However, like a well-crafted short story about a characters I can't identify with, the book didn't do much for me, although I can recognize its quality and potential to appeal to others.

Seth weaves a tale of two brothers and their failed Fan business. The first half is basically exposition where the more successful of the two brothers Abraham tells of his business, his brother, and the effects it had on the two. Abraham lives a soliary exsistance which adds to the stark nature of his narrative.

The second is the more moving half. It follows the younger brother Simon on his first attempt at sales. His backstory has been so well created that you feel for him as he fails to make any sales. You sense his shame, and his fear of failure.

Oh and Seth's art is a beauty to behold as well.

This entire book is a work of art. It is meticulously created with care and beautiful attention to every simplified detail. Every page reeks of sadness and nostalgia. The lonely character of Simon becomes understood by his brother only after his death... though we're not sure exactly why in this first part of the story of Clyde Fans.

The narration by the character Abraham in the first half of this book is really the only gripe I have. He, as an old man, has such a keen awareness and understanding of all of his shortcomings and mistakes in life. He is completely self-aware, and makes it a point to tell you all the things I believe Seth could have told without words. Or at least without ones not so obvious. No one is that aware of themselves.

I hate to compare to Chris Ware - but I will anyway. The lonely character of Jimmy Corrigan never comes out and tells you he's pathetic, you gather it from his mannerisms, his conversations with others, his inner monologue. In "Clyde Fans" however, everything is spelled out. It leaves very little for the reader to interpret, and causes it to be a little cold and matter-of-fact, rather than the more moving novel it could have been.

Still, it is visually impeccable, and I will be buying the sequel.

I was first exposed to Seth via Aimee Mann's last CD, the packaging of which contained four pages of moody sequential art -- okay, we can call it "comics" even though there's nothing particularly comical going on -- and ever since I've been waiting for more.

So I was thrilled to discover that CLYDE FANS: BOOK 1 had been published. It's the story of two brothers in the fan business, one of them successful and the other a failure, in the 1950s. But of course that description doesn't tell you anything worth knowing about CLYDE FANS. What's worth knowing is that Seth masterfully depicts these two characters with stark dialogue and a palette composed almost exclusively of blue, black, and gray.

In its way, CLYDE FANS is as affecting as any pure-prose novel that I've read. A truly amazing book that deserves to find a wide audience.

First off, Seth is a great artist. For true admirers of the craft of graphic novel illustration, Seth is one of the top people...but enough about Seth.

The story opens up with the main character Abraham Matchcard recounting his life as a salesman for his father's fan company, Clyde Fans. Seth takes us through this man's morning routine while introducing us to an involved landscape of his home, surrounding streets and long-since defunct company office/showroom and store room.

Some reviewers did not like this story-telling construct. but I felt that this narrative "monologue" was true to the life of the character. He was mostly a loner whose only interactions with people were more of a sales performance while he was still working but now it is just him. Now in his retirement, this person is most likely prone to thinking and even talking to himself.

The story takes a great turn with a flashback to the 50's with our main character's brother Simon, a very shy person to the point of being socially awkward. Again we are taken through a rich landscape of Canada's towns, people, fashion, architecture and style. Seth must be a 1950's buff because the detail is incredible.

We find Simon ultimately thrown to the sharks on his first sales trip, which he was begrudgingly sent on by his rather bullying brother. I was rooting for Simon the whole time; hoping for the miracle sale, the bagging of the elephant or some Tony Robbins style "walk on fire", life-transformation experience, that will some how overnight turn this guy into a successful salesman.

If this was a Hollywood story, like, say, Back to the Future, Simon would punch out Biff, win the heart of Marty's mom and become a successful author. But this is not Hollywood. Simon is who he is and he act accordingly.

I found this book particularly endearing as a person who has worked - at times successfully, at others unsuccessfully - in sales, and who has a salesman father of the same age as our characters.

I enjoyed this book and highly recommend it

B

Phyllis A. Whitney beautifully tells the story of Lacey Elliot's misfourtunes. The story is a keep you on the edge of your seat kind of book. I recommend it highly if you love to read mysteries and/or suspense books.

The characterization and richly detailed settings make me feel as if I too am a part of their lives, taken on their journey. For a time I leave my confines, leap into the pages and share in their joys, fears, tragedies

A Review by Liz

Lacey Elliot has lived in Charlottesville, Virginia all her life. Her mother is recovering from breast cancer surgery and has never told Lacey anything about her Father. Lacey becomes curious about her family, which had only been, to her knowledge, her mother. Her mother receives and urgent letter that she can't handle so she asks Lacey to read it to her. To help out a mystery her mother isn't strong enough to solve, Lacey goes on a journey to her hometown she never knew of and starts finding interesting surprises about her family. Lacey has to deal throughout the story with being accused, protecting her mom and finding out the truth about what happened to her father.

This story is very hard to keep up with. I really liked the way the author ties in the history of Virginia(the civil war), her relatives of that time, with the present. When Lacey meets her Great-Great-Grandmother, she tells her about all her past relatives that had lived in the house is lives in now. She tells their stories and as the book progresses, their pasts tie into her present. Her great-great-grandmother is very controlling and always seems to only tell Lacey what she wants to and sometimes chooses to leave important information out. Lacey's relationship with her mother also makes it seem like no one wants to let her in on her family's past and history. Her mother says, "I'm only trying to protect you" but doesn't realize how important it is to lacey to know about her family. When Lacey leaves Charlottesville to seek for answers, she learns many things about her mother that she didn't know which made Lacey feel more alone, thinking she doesn't even know her own mother. This story has bits and pieces of the Civil War and provides you with a bit of history along the way with a wonderful mystery. You never want to put the book down because surprising things just keep happening to keep the story alive.

I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who would enjoy a good mystery and who would like to know a little about the history of Virginia. It reads pretty easy but it really makes you think.

This book is about a young woman named Lacey Elliot whose mother Amelia tells her nothing about her father or family any of the time while she is growing up. She is now twenty- nine years old and her mother just had surgery for cancer. They receive a letter in the mail that says it is very urgent that Amelia comes home and it is signed by her Aunt Vinnie. When Lacey reads this she is happy to discover she has other family members. Her mother is too weak to go home; which is Harpers Ferry, Virginia. So Lacey returns and gets to discover somethings she wanted to know and things she didn't. I really enjoyed this novel. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was. The author could have made it a little more challenging though by not making it so obvious. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a little mystery.

DAUGHTER OF THE STARS is the story of Lacey Elliot, and her search for answers about a family she knows nothing about. Her mother Amelia is recovering from cancer surgery when she receives a letter that Lacey intercepts. The letter is from a relative, Vinnie, who is the sister of Amelia's deceased mother Ida. From this letter, Lacey's search for her roots begins. She travels to Harper's Ferry where Vinnie and other family members reside, and soon Lacey finds out the many secrets that her mother kept all those years.

The main secret is a possible murder, the unsolved murder or disappearance of Lacey's father Brad. No one seems to know what really happened. Was he really murdered? Or did he just disappear without a trace? His involvement with Amelia's sister Ardra was what caused the disappearance, but no one wants to talk about it.

Lacey gets deeper and deeper involved, befriending a family friend and historian, Ryan, whom she falls in love with. Between the two of them they unravel the secrets that lie at Harper's Ferry.

I enjoyed this story a lot, but had a big problem with all the characters. I didnt' like any of them, except for the outsider Ryan. All the characters were either too uncaring, or too soft (no backbone) and I couldn't sympathiZe with any one, including the main character. The storyline however is what kept me reading, because I really DID want to know who killed Brad!

I, too, am writing to cancel out the vote of the idiot-child who first rated this book. When Amazon deletes his comment and rating, maybe it will delete mine, too.

i need some help with the characters. I got a school assignment to do on oscar wilde's play Lady Winderemer's Fan. I got 5 questions to answer and i need some help

I prefer to read the original French SALOME as Wilde wrote it for Lady Sarah B., but amazon.com only has that at one hundred dollars (try the usual e-text sites)

This is an excellent useful no frills edition of all the essential plays with the unusual inclusion of Salome. Not a note about its unusual history, nor commentary for any of the other plays. Just what you need when all you want are the plays in one conveniently sized volume. Get it. Essential to any library.

My commentary: Wilde, the loving son of a fierce Irish nationalist, concealed his Catholic faith and true nation allegiance to infiltrate the oppressing Empire and reveal its corruption in these plays, albeit sugar-coated. He was jailed while researching its deepest perversities and broken there before he could write his magnus opus busting this wide open. The closest we have is Dorian Grey and the first scene of Ernest. But his unjust and unholy imprisonment produced De PRofundis and later his Ballad of Reading Goal, which read.

Much of Oscar Wilde's public persona can be seen through the plays and reading them it is easy to see why he was so admired, talked about, loathed and scorned. While I don't find him in his plays to be the epitome of wit some make him out to be, it is easy to see how innovative his plays must have been.

Despite being funny in a witty kind of way in many places, they also outline if not his beliefs, then at least his beliefs as he presented them to the public. And what I found was a playful, self mocking kind of "opulence" - where Wilde's supposed aesthesism is not dogmatic but rather to be enjoyed. Thus, we see him participate in society through his characters while mocking society. Another important aspect is that despite his most witty characters (characters one would naturally identify with Wilde) scorning conventional morality, the actual outcome of his plays contains a morality of its own - and one that's quite close to some modern-day libertarians: a happy ending means that people make the best of their circumstances to enjoy themselves and live a happy and fulfilling life in the freedom of pursuing what they want to. Even if this is nothing like what Wilde wanted to convey, it still adds to the plays' reading.

I found the actual plays to be quite undifferentiated in that there is nothing that is in one that is completely radical compared to the others - rather, it's good to read them all in order to immerse oneself in that kind of atmosphere for a brief moment. The only exception is Salome, which is very unusual, but I think it's clear that it was intended to be so, and there's something avant-garde about it (especially the refrains about things like the moon scattered throughout).

But enough from me, read it and find out part of the reason why Wilde has left such a unique mark on world literature/culture/etc!

I recommend this collection of Wilde's plays, not only because it has nice, big, clear print (better than some of the other available versions) but because of its wonderfully pithy intro by John Lahr. In fact I just put a John Lahr book in my shopping cart because I liked this intro so much. I finished reading Richard Ellman's 500+ page bio of Wilde the other day, so you wouldn't think I'd find anything new in this short intro, but Lahr put things together, with fresh ideas and insights, so I really ended up admiring Lahr's writing ability.

As to the plays, well of course you need a collection of Wilde's plays in your library!

I feel a great need to post here to offset the student who posted and gave less than 5 stars. I hope you finished your homework!

Gift of the Bambino is a treat. It made me laugh, it made me cry and it touched me deeply. The Babe Ruth theme is cleverly woven through out the story, with intriguing details about the baseball giant that will delight his fans, but which move in and out of focus around the real story of a boy and his father. This is story about family and about respect, and it is memorable because it is the kind of novel that reaches out to each of us in a personal way. Thanks Jerry Amernic...can't wait for your next novel!

Novelist Jerry Amernic's debut novel Gift Of The Bambino illustrates how it is possible to effectively pen a novel wherein sports' history collides with fiction.

At the core of the novel is Amernic's principal character, Lazo, who had a dream of one day playing baseball in the big leagues or as he called it the "big show."
The spark that ignited his desire was when in 1914, as a very young lad, he witnessed the legendary Babe Ruth, who at the time was playing for the International League team the Providence Grays, hit his first and only home run as a minor leaguer. Apparently, the ball was hit so far that it wounded up in a lake located on some island in Toronto, where the game had taken place. Lazo even had the opportunity to meet Ruth after the game and obtain his autograph.

From that moment on our principal protagonist decided he was going to pattern himself after Babe Ruth and even went so far as trying to adopt Babe Ruth's famous stance at the plate.
Unfortunately, Lazo refused to listen to his coaches and others to change his stance, which was probably why he was never able to hit a low inside fast -ball, and the principal reason why he never made it into the major leagues.

Especially moving are the novel's warm conversations and emotional resonance between Lazo and his grandson Stephen, who is the only member of the family privy to his grandfather's secrets pertaining to his baseball ambitions during an era of some of the greatest ball players of all time.
Amernic succeeds in moving effortlessly from the voice of Lazo to Stephen, and it is these conversations that permit readers to effectively experience the disappointments that very often humans are subjected to during their lifetime.

Norm Goldman, Editor of Bookpleasures.com

I'm not a baseball fan. I don't follow the sport. Yet I read this novel in one sitting and enjoyed it immensely. Why was I so taken by this coming of age story built around a colorful bit of baseball history? Why did it appeal to me?

There were a number of reasons. First of all, I learned something about baseball that I didn't know before, including the fact that the key event in the story took place right here in the city where I live. That was news. But that wasn't what kept me reading.

What kept me reading was the artful telling of the tale, the air of innocence in which the story was cloaked, the charm of its naivete, the little humorous moments, the turns of phrase.

It now occurs to me, that there were two babes in the book. One was Babe Ruth. And I felt his pain as he deteriorated. The other babe was the narrator. And I felt his uncertainty as he groped for enlightenment and maturity.

This baseball story is certain to appeal to baseball fans. But as I discovered, non-fans will enjoy it as well.

The theme of fathers and sons reconnecting through baseball is growing more common, from WP Kinsella's "Shoeless Joe" to the new classic "Waiting for Teddy Williams" by Howard Frank Mosher. But Jerry Amernic has thrown us a curve with "Gift of the Bambino," united a son and grandfather through baseball and the sport's most recognizable icon, Babe Ruth. And his results are touching, insightful and often uproarious. Baseball fans will be delighted, but so will fans of stories told with flourish and grace.

Buy this book now, if only because it's difficult to find on chain-booksellers' shelves. To me, a book without the predictable, headlong, simplistic storytelling of today's mass-market books is a gem, and finding it is part of the reward.

I'm sorry- I loved the first book (Cooking With the Dead)- reccommended it to straight friends, bought extra copies, still cook from it, but the new one is some serious barrel bottom scrapings.Truly, we sound like idiots in this book. I won't offend well-meaning sisters and brothers by quoting particulars, but Zipern has not done deadheads any favors in bringing this out

Wow- this book is awesome- Ive been loving the Coco-curry- it's literally the best Ive ever tasted. The nummy 'Nana bread I made last night, and can I just say how much fun I had makin the fettucine alfredo while listening to Dead Set? Also, the crafts section is very neat- I made my first hair wrap on mahself after reading the book....and guess what? It turned out great. One bad thing, this book has made me get teary eyed- it's a true piece of Home. Keep on truckin guys- the Dead experience is only gone if we let it go.

Volume II in this series apparently has even better quality foodstuffs, and Zipern has indeed improved her knack for capturing the spirit of a Grateful Dead show, from the culinary and social angles to boot...great pictures too...your bound to see "that couple you bought those amazing brownies from back in '94!" Have fun with this one too!

I have both cookbooks by Elizabeth Peace Zipern, and I love them both and use them quite often (my favorites being the iced double mocha, the Galactic grilled cheese, the Congo Bars, and many more). Whether you're a Deadhead or not, vegan or not, you will enjoy these cookbooks. I loved the stories and the crafts that were featured in them. It made me feel that I was actually there at a show. Check them out!

the story of maria tambini, the teenage pop star who rises to fame and then nearly dies of anorexia nervosa, is the main plot device, yet it is not the high point. the strength of the book is the depiction of maria's family, italian immigrants in scotland whose lives were traumatized by world war II, when italians in scotland were attacked for their link to the nazis. the family's fish and chip shop is trashed and maria's grandmother, lucia, is taken to a refugee camp. she is reunited with her daughter, sofia, and tries to escape on a ship, but the ship is bombed and she loses her daughter. the loss cripples her for the rest of her life and o'hagan makes the point in a fascinating way, through a suitcase with items from sofia's life that is returned to lucia 30 years later. o'hagan actually lists the items at the end of the chapter on the saga, which is a beautifully sad moment, one of a few in this fantastic book that doesn't let the main story steal the show. it's amazing how all the reviews you read focus only on maria's saga. how can they have missed the best parts of the book?

There is a "note to the reader" prefacing this book which proclaims it it not based on any one person ,a disclaimer that will ring hollow in the ears of British readers above a certain age who will clearly see the similarities between its main protagonist Maria Tambini ,and the late Lena Zavaroni ,whose tragic career so closely prefigures that of Maria -a child star who died of anorexia nervoso at a tragically early age .
It opens in the Jubilee year of 1977 on the Isle of Bute in Scotland .Maria ,a small child of 13 possesses a powerful singing voice ,and she is discovered by a scout for the TV programme Opportunity Knocks (an actual show ,presented by Hughie Green ,who also appears in the novel ,under his own name ).She is taken to London ,taken on by am ambitious agent ,Marion ,and swiftly enrolled at the prestigious Italia Conti stage school(also a real institution ).She wins Opporunity Knocks numerous times and is eventually retired from the show on the ground she is unbeatable .A hit single follows ,along with a round of TV appearances and sea side variety shows ,as well as sell out shows at the London Palladium ,trips to Vegas and a White House performance .Sadly also featuring are bouts os self starvation ,a heavy lazative ingestion and prolonged bouts of hospitalization .
This is pure Zavaroni -even the interview featured in the book ,whwre she appeared on the Wogan chat show is lifted almost verbatim from the actual programme .It is impossible at least for British readers to escape the " roman a clef "elements of the novel .This is not to downplay its merits as imaginative fiction -merely to point out its reliance on actual people .There are plenty of real people namechecked in the book ,from the unctuous Hughie Green whose oleaginous personality is captured faithfully ,to doyens of British comedy such as Les Dawson .Diana ,Princess of Wales -herself a victim of eating disorders -appears as does Nancy Reagan ,saying it is impossible to be too thin .
Aside from the passages devoted to Maria's career the emotional epicentre of the book lies back on Bute with the family from whom Maria sprang and the milieu of the island and the Italian community in particular is evocatively captured .
The narrative proceeds through a variety of voices particularly various family members ,interviews and letters from Maria's childhood friend Kalpana and her stalker Kevin .Especially vivid are the voices of her neurotic mother ,Rosa ,and her uncle Alfredo ,a womanising barber ,not to mention her grandmother Lucia ,although the cumulative impact of so many narrative voices is a detriment and even confusing at times .
The book works as an account of one person's rise to fame and the world in which it takes place ,a world which is changing and becoming more ruthless. If the narrative now and again bogs down -which it does -there are ample compensations namely in the strongly drawn characters like the Italian clan and Maria's protector ,Michael ,and the pathetic celebrity stalker Kevin .
Its a rich and rewarding book full of incidental detail and some fine minor figures ,like Kalpanna's father ,Dr Jaggadanam .
Enjoy it for its insight into the corrosive impact of too early fame and as a study in deracination -the plight of the person who takes flight from a small place to a larger stage only to discover they are at home in neither one .

The ending is upbeat and cautiously optimistic -would that its inspiration were around to read it .

In a run-down resort town on a Scottish island, a family pins its hopes on the youngest daughter, Maria, who is working on her singing and her looks. As an early teen, she is whisked off to London, where she wins a televised talent contest. Three years later, she is a famous pop singer. By twenty, she is anorexic, looney, and is being stalked.

The characters in Personality are astonishingly complex & well described, the plot is not particularly compelling. Still a fine effort by Mr. O'Hagan, and well recommended!

There's a lot to admire in this beguiling and heartfelt story. O'Hagan deftly whisks us away to the picturesque island of Bute and the beautiful sounding town of Rothesay. Growing up in Australia, and being familiar with British television or "telly" as the British like to call it, there was much in this novel that was familiar to me and so much of it bought back memories: the Basil Brush Show, sausage rolls, LWT, and Opportunity Knocks etc. O'Hagan really brings back to life the 70's TV variety shows and the people who starred on them. And there's no doubt that his research of the period is absolutely meticulous.

Personality is so much more than an account of one young girl's rise to fame and fortune as a "Cilla Black" style variety singer. The Italian immigrant experience - which I must confess I knew nothing about - the terrible disease of bulimia and anorexia nervosa, the meaning of family ties, and the culture of celebrity in Britain are all issues that O'Hagan tackles in this work with differing success. The many multiple story lines and secondary character confessions do, at times, clutter and stifle the central chronicle of Maria's rise to stardom and her battle with eating disorders. However, the secondary characters are still beautifully developed: Rosa, Maria's mother, spends her days running the family "fish and chip" ship in Rothesay, supportive of her daughter, but also regretful of what "might have been"; Lucia, the Italian immigrant grandmother who holds terrible family secrets from World War 2; Mrs. Gaskell the work obsessed entertainment agent who drives Maria to the brink of no return, and Michael, Maria's childhood friend who falls in love with Maria and comes to her rescue later in the novel. There are also many other characters equally rich in detail.

O'Hagan is also a wonderfully descriptive writer and he experiments with different styles throughout the novel - he uses newspaper reports, the epistolary form, and various chapter-like monologues to reflect the characters' inner-most thoughts, and to help tell us the story of Maria, her struggles, and her journey to stardom. This works well in some sections and not in others, and sometimes the novel becomes cluttered with too many subplots. There's also a rather unnecessary twist involving a stalker in part three, which seems hurried and tacked on, and at times, particularly in part three, the story meanders too far from the central plot. But this novel is still worth reading and the fact that the author can authentically transport you to Great Britain in the 1970's and present an era in such vivid detail shows tremendous talent and literary creativity. Anyone who grew up watching 70's British variety shows and has an appreciation for them will just love this book!

Michael.

I've never seen the actual Lain series (yet mind you, yet. I'm still saving for some of the DVDs), so I'm afraid I'm a bit lacking when it comes to telling you how acurate this book is.
This doesn't seem to be a very good book for someone who has not seen the series, and if you are in that position I would not reccommend reading to the end of the book as it will totally spoil the whole series for you.
The book is very informative, and has plenty of drawings and screnshots from the series, it lays every part of the Lain world before you. As alot of questions go unanswered in the series itself the book is often at loss and presents theories to try and answer questions instead of actual answers.
The RPG section of the book seems quite lacking as the Lain world is a very difficult place to recreate in an RPG. Though I have not tryed playing it seems like a very fruitless endeavor.
I gave this book 5 stars because it is a great read and a very informative book.

First things first - If you buy this book, expecting it to explain everything to you, prepare for disapointment. It has summaries. Sometimes the information is wrong (not that you can be sure of much of anything in this series...), but that's rare. It does ocasionally theorize on some things, and provides background info on other things (like the Knights, the 7th Gen Protocol, the city-on-a-rock in Ego). It also has a LOT of snapshots, and some concept art (though nothing you can't find in the extras section of the DVDs). The BESM section provides some info for the series as well. I can't vouch for its worth as an RPG info source, but from what I hear from other reviewers, it's lacking (though that's no reason to give it 2 stars, BTW...). Oh, and the book's dimensions are large. Think one of those large coloring books you might have used as a child and you have the right idea. Conclusion - buy for artwork, buy for series synopsis, buy for a different perspective on what the hell hapened in this series, but don't buy for the BESM.

This book is an excellent guide to the enigmatic and ambiguous anime series, _Serial Experiments: lain_. The bulk of the book is published in full color on high-gloss paper, reproducing a lot of screen-shots from the series. At the back, there are two pages of production credits (though there's no mention of the series' script superviser, Chiaki Konaka!).

Each episode is given a dense three-page summary, there are also character profiles at the back (though only Lain and Masami Eiri receive an extended profile). This is an excellent book to accompany your first or your fifth viewing of the anime series.

The publishers evidently have a deal with Pioneer to produce guides for many of their anime. I look forward to future volumes on _Dual_, _Trigun_ and _NieA_7_.

People interested in basing an RPG on the _lain_ world will probably find this book disappointing. While the book is full o f details about the series and its setting, there doesn't appear to be much in the book for supporting an RPG. However, as a book for fans of the anime, this is an excellent addition to your bookshelf.

The Ultimate Fan Guide for Serial Experiments Lain is visually excellent, and wonderful for detailed synopses of the thirteen episodes of the series. Many of the hidden secrets of the series, especially the intertext with several Apple products, are highlighted, which is somewhat interesting but really only worth knowing for an anime-based version of the Jeopardy! television game show.

The main reason I bought this Ultimate Fan Guide was its advertised links with the Big Eyes Small Mouth multi-genre anime role-playing system, also published by The Guardians of Order. Unfortunately, there is really rather little related information presented here. Of good use is the list of Appropriate Attributes and Appropriate Defects, as well as typical Mundane, Major, and Minor Items within the world of Serial Experiments Lain, but only two characters (Lain Iwakura and Massami Eiri) have been given BESM-based stats, and only three of the items in the series has similar BESM-based details. In fact, most of the BESM-related section of the book (the final twenty-plus pages) is filled not with information, but with sketches of characters, locations, and items from the Serial Experiments Lain series.

As eye candy or a source of obscure information for the Serial Experiments Lain series, this Ultimate Fan Guide is indeed a good buy. For those truly interested in using the series' "world" in a role-playing campaign, however, this Ultimate Fan Guide is really just a waste of money.

Any die-hard "Lord of the Rings" fan with functioning brain cells to rub together knows that fantasy writer J.R.R. Tolkien drew extensively on old myths and legends. But the "Tolkien Fan's Medieval Reader," compiled by Turgon, lets Tolkien fans get their eager hands on some of the legends and poetry that inspired his works.

Tolkien's love of medieval literature was especially strong for epics like "Beowulf" and the Norse Eddas, which were sprawling mythologic poems and legends. (Try to see how many Tolkien dwarf names you can find in the Poetic Edda) But Turgon -- who is one of the sweet folks on exceptional Tolkien site TheOneRing.net -- doesn't stop there.

He includes other old English tales, and some Middle-English stories like "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" and parts of "The Canterbury Tales." He also includes an excerpted story from the Kalevala, an ancient Finnish text credited with part of the inspiration behind "Lord of the Rings." And to round it out are some Celtic stories, such as the Welsh Mabinogion, and the early story of "Kilhwch and Olwen," which was also the first Arthurian story.

Okay, all these stories are in the public domain -- obviously something written in the thirteenth century can't pull in royalties. But Turgon's compilation does serve a purpose: bringing together a bunch of old texts that fans may have heard of, but probably have never actually read. It's not a replacement for the real thing, but serves as an introduction.

Since language changes over time, and some translations are a bit rough, Turgon has smoothed out the old linguistic wrinkles. Nothing that really changes the meaning, but enough to keep readers from going "Huh? What's that word mean?" Small introductions to each story or excerpt are included, describing how these stories were important to Tolkien's work, and how they inspired his world of dragons, dwarves, elves and human heroes.

In a nutshell, Turgon has compiled and edited a solid introduction to the works that inspired Middle-Earth. Fans of the legendary trilogy will love the splendor and richness of these old books -- and might just learn something about J.R.R. Tolkien's writing in the process.

A book like this is an excellent idea, for few of Tolkien's current readers are well-versed in the medieval literature that was one of his strongest inspirations. Anyone interested enough in Tolkien to want to read more like him should at least sample the medieval literature here. It has much more to offer than the average post-Tolkien fantasy.

The problem lies in the fact that most of the works are given in
a) very old
b) prose
c) translations.

a) very old: done for copyright reasons, but unless there's no choice readers should read translations into their own idiom, and these century-old versions, although Tolkien often read them himself, are no longer in our idiom. Translations of old works offer a bridge, but these bridges reach to the 19th century, not the 21st.

b) prose: some of the original works are in prose, of course, but many are verse. The editor holds that complex medieval verse forms can be a stumbling block, and that a prose translation will at least give you the story. I disagree. If you ONLY want the story, read a retelling, not a translation. A prose translation will have all the verbal complexity of the original, but without the verse forms that give structure to that complexity and allow it to make sense. So it can be more of a stumbling block than a verse translation. And prose translations can suck the life out of an original, but a good verse translation can be wonderful. For Chaucer, for instance, don't read the prose translations here: get the vivid contemporary verse version by Nevill Coghill (a friend of Tolkien's, incidentally).

c) translations: Tolkien would prefer you read the original, or use the translation as a guide to reading the original (for this a prose translation of a poem can be better than verse, which must rearrange much). Tolkien didn't think Old English or Old Norse were that difficult for an English-speaker, and even if he's wrong about that, at least a sample of the originals would have given some of their flavor, flavor which only comes through the original languages.

By all means try this book: it's a fine notion and a great convenience. If you like these versions, well and good. But if you don't, please don't be put off the literature that nourished Tolkien's imagination. In either case, follow the editor's suggestions for further reading, and get retellings of old tales by Kevin Crossley-Holland and Roger Lancelyn Green, and modern verse translations of poems, including Coghill's Chaucer and Tolkien's own Sir Gawain and Pearl.

This book is full of amazing detail and incites on both the works of Tolkien and on European history. It is a must have for any Tolkien and history fan with looks into Old English, Middle English, Old Norse, Old Celtic and Finnish that just wets the appetite for more!

This book is essential for any Tolkien fan who is unfamiliar with Tolkien's medieval sources, or who would like a well-selected collection of the most important influences on Tolkien's fiction. The selections here are very readable and will increase any fan's appreciation of Tolkien's work.

_The Fan_ is an epistolary novel chronicling a fan's descent into extreme nutliness and eventually violence, and the effect he has on the object of his affections - Sally Ross, Broadway star - and those around her. The story progresses much as you think it might, and the ending isn't anything unexpected, but where this book really shines is in characterising the obsessed fan. His exquisitely kooky personality comes through in every word he writes, in his casual arrogance, the way he puts some phrases in apostrophes as though they hadn't passed into common use hundreds of years ago.. he'd be perfectly at home on alt.usenet.kooks.

If you were a fan of the movie, you should read this book! It is so much more than the movie. There is a lot more to the story that you can only get by reading the book! What is interesting and unusual to note, is that this book is composed of letters and telegrams the characters send to each other. I have never seen another book written this way. You get all the information of the story this way. This is impossible by todays standards to write in this fashion unless maybe the characters corresponded by e-mail? HMMMMMMMMMMMM.....

The late Bob Randall has written a compelling story of an overzealous fan and the actress with whom he obsesses, to the point of cold-blooded murder. Told with a series of exchanged letters from different points of view, the plot moves along quite briskly while never loosing focus on characterization and style. The topic, avant-garde at the time, is still as fresh as it was more than twenty-five years ago. Original and narratively impressive, THE FAN should please those seeking suspense with an edge.-----Martin Boucher

I LOVE this book! It has from bios to voices, from pictures to amazing facts behind the walls of the Klasky Csupo building. From how they make their cartoon, to the episodes they've made! (Episode List) Every Rugrat lovers must! My family saw it, and made my mom buy it for me! :)

It's been three years since this book was published, and I must note that this book contains a LOT of mistakes!

The pilot episode mentioned on page 10 was titled "Tommy Pickles And The Great White Thing", and you can find a dialogue from it on page 22. That episode never aired on Nickelodeon, but they did use a scene from it on one of the promos for Nick. (Tommy picks the remote up and changes the channel to Nick.)

For those of you who just found out about Tommy's voice, E.G. Daily's initials stand for "Elizabeth Gutman".

"Tommy At Bat" was not the real name for that episode. The actual title was "Baseball".

The episode guide is messed-up on the last few episodes of the 1993 season. The real order goes like this: 62) Kid TV/The Sky Is Falling 63) I Remember Melville/No More Cookies 64) Cradle Attraction/Moving Away 65) Passover

Also the titles for the next three episodes are wrong in this book: They're really named "Chanukah", "Mother's Day", and "Vacation".

About Tommy and Chuckie learning about Didi being pregnant again at the end of "The Family Tree", I must note that Tommy and Chuckie weren't in the final scene for that episode.

And then there's the characters not listed: the new characters introduced from the second movie, and does anyone remember Larry and Steve from the first two seasons?

The Ultimate Rugrats Fan Book haas everything a Rugrats fan would ever want to know! From how the series was created, to how an episode is made, to bios of the characters and photos of the cast, producers, artistes, etc! It even has a complete list of episodes! No Rugrats fan should be without this book!