Paint Books

This oddly-named collection reprints two of Holt's mid-90s works, "Paint Your Dragon" and "Open Sesame." They're fair examples of the humor/fantasy genre of an urban-fantasy sort, and they present Holt's coming-and-going kind of humor at (or near) its peak.

"Paint Your Dragon" lets the named dragon reincarnate, for no apparent reason, in a stone effigy created by a modern sculptor - sorry, "sculptress." And, just for narrative convenience, so does St. George. So, the fight is on: good vs. evil, with handful of demons, the world's greatest bounty hunter, and a few other remarkable individuals. And, because this is Holt, the lines separating good from evil don't always surround who you think they should, and don't surround some participants at all.

It turns out that St. George tends to cheat, but that's OK because he's the good guy. It also turns out that the dragon is honest and hardworking, a man (or whatever) of his word. He never intended to wear the black hat in the original story; in truth, it was probably painted in long after the fact.

"Open Sesame" starts with Ali Baba and the forty thieves, as told by a thief - told over and over, as many times as the book has been read, with the same dreary end every time. It turns out that, once he puts his mind to it, that a character can take some control of his role, and even bribe the border guards between Reality and all the rest. Given all of storybook fiction, Holt has plenty of material to work with, including a magic ring that lets you talk to the household gadgetry, a fairy Godfather who grants wishes you can't refuse, the (or a) Tooth Fairy, the story's storyteller, an assortment of thieves (theirs and ours), and multiple personalities for most of them as they commute between worlds. There's lots more, too, to a point that I found a bit much. It's possible that Holt found the multiple characters and story lines a bit much too, since the last part of the narrative broke up into a mob of vignettes flying in close formation.

With over 600 pages of raw thud factor, this and a few specimens of airline food will get you through a trans-Atlantic flight. When you tell other people about them, though, you might get more laughs from the airline food.

-- wiredweird

If you've ever wondered what happens when you close the covers of your book and if "happily ever after" is permanent, you're about to find out what mischief the characters get up to in their free time.

As any new reader of Tom Holt will soon discover, his wit and sarcasm are splashed upon every page, as evidenced by his use of similes ("Even as a kidnapper he'd [Akram] been no more terrifying than, say, the average car park attendant or pizza delivery man..." pg 596) and his clever symbolism of the constant struggle between good and evil and how a little bit of grey never hurt anyone.

In Open Sesame, fictional characters attempt to break free of the monotony of a storybook and cross the Line between fantasy and reality, only to find that when you try to cheat the book, it bites back.

It's not surprising that Akram the Terrible, the most-feared thief in all of Baghdad, grows tired of his plans being foiled and having his entire life flash in front of his eyes over and over again every time he's killed by the protagonist Ali Baba. In a desperate bid for freedom, he makes a pact with the Godfather and makes a run for the Line. Once on the side of reality, he meets his arch-nemesis in the most improbable of places...An orthodontist's office in Southampton, with a new name: Alistair Barbour. As Akram tries to start over, he meets a motley crew of unlikely friends and foes. Fang, a bloodthirsty fairy, Michelle Partridge, Ali Baba (er, Alistair's) unsuspecting daughter, and John Smith Fingers, a burglar descended from a long line of experts. Akram's quest to turn his life around and become a hero goes delightfully awry as the book begins to give way to chaos in the absence of two of its primary characters. Classic fairytales begin to interfere with each other, with forty of Baghdad's thieves running amok in Snow White's realm. Our colorful cast of characters learns that although it's difficult to go against one's nature, it can be done.

This book is highly recommended for those who are interested in a fun, witty read about finding one's identity despite being stereotyped. My only qualm is that while humor is bearable in small doses, too much of it can be cloying and tiring. Maybe a hint of subtle humor would do Tom Holt some good.

Personally I thought this was a nice twist on the many stories that could relate to Silent Hill as the town is not made up of a linear explanation of events but rather the people that used to live there and this is one of them.

Bringing back an alternate reincarnation of Cheryl was a nice touch as well.
I know this review isn't too helpful in explaining the story but I'd rather not explain it than give away the plot. There is a more "negative" review that has the synopsis there if you'd rather read it as well.

Just thought I'd throw in my two cents on the storyline as I wasn't disappointed much like another owner was.

Scott Ciencin and Shaun Thomas get together again to drag the SH franchise even deeper into the comic mud.

To call this comic a cathartic sketchbook of Shaun's imaginative pornography would be giving it too much credit. Confused? Here's the storyline...

A starving artist who specializes in "dark art" finds himself kicked out of his house and on the street. In his wanderings, he finds Silent Hill, where the monsters inside stop to pose for him while they're killing the other outsiders so that artist can paint them. He's cool with this, so he decides to stay in town.

A year later (?) a busload of cheerleader clones (lead by a girl named "Cheryl") invade the town and start redecorating his pad in pink. The standard SH monsters invade and take away some of the girls while the others throw the artist in a locked closet and dress up like the soldiers from "Aliens" (spouting quotes from said movie left-and-right).

Things slide even further downhill from there.

Once again, I'm not sure if Scott Ciencin really has a grip on telling a coherent Silent Hill story, or maybe comic books just aren't his style. Either way, his poor writing, teamed with Shaun's lack of visual storytelling talent has hit a new low with this chapter of the SH franchise.

I have bought a "Why Paint Cats" Calendar for my wife for the past 3 years in a row. She absolutely loves these calendars. It is always the first thing on her Christmas List, every year. If you like art or cats you will like this item!

I purchased 3 of these calanders as gifts for friends. The monthly photos are very mundane. I expected something more colorful, humorous and dynamic. They are nothing like that, more like distant photos of a clinical animal behavior experiment. I returned them.

The best book for writing thank you notes.

This book has about 35 pages about writing thank you's and 100 pages for you to fill in gifts you received. Isnt this usually in the back of your wedding journal anyway? It includes sample notes and good "buzz" words to use and also etiquette for exchanging gifts. This book is not really worth buying unless you are really really horrible at writing thank you's. Peruse it at your library or a physical bookstore first. The information within this book is covered in other wedding books & magazines.

I did not find a lot of useful information in this book. I own all of the rest of Jerry Yarnell's books so perhaps I am spoiled!

The reason I bought this was because it was remaindered at a low price and it contained some nice, LARGE, watercolor prints. 112 pages with many half-page color prints. Andrew Wyeth's "The Wood Stove" in a large, two-page spread. (My scan only takes in a little over half of it!) It's an OK book at a very reasonable price.

Though it is better than most, I found this to be one of those books that is somewhat useful once, then you never open it again. It tries to do too much and doesn't do anything particularly well. I was looking for more of a detailed how-to type book with nuts-and-bolts tips. There is some of that, but the pictures only convey so much and there's not enough detail or explanation in the text. The book spends a lot of time covering colors and decorating, but specialty decorating books and magazines are probably better for that purpose. I suppose it's worth a loan from the library.

This book is an interesting view of championship carving but not a how to book. You can pick up a few techniques here and there but don't expect much of a tutorial.

Book was good as my first book to understanding the painting types but lacked procedure. Book kind of jumps around a bit, not so much of a step by step or straight-forward approach. Does discuss safety, gun types, shop setup, paint systems(single stage vs. base coat/clear coat)metal and plastic prep procedures, but the author did ramble unnecessarily too much.
Just lacked overall concentration of the painting procedure itself.

a very interesting book on paint and coating