Month of Long Books Announcement

Hey, guys. 

So, as the holidays are coming up, and I have some longer books I'd like to read (Robert Jackson Bennett's American Elsewhere being one), and some books I'd like to read that don't fit the format (Everybody Loves Our Town by Mark Yarm, among others), I'm having another Month of Long Books, where I can get back into the swing of reading things without having to worry about if it fits or if I need to spend enough time on it. 

So: See you guys in December with an armload of new reviews! I did this last year, and it really helped, so I figured I'd do it again.

Have a good Thanksgiving

-SR/CC

Prelude to Epics Month

              When I came up with the idea of devoting an entire month to comics holding true to the epic form, as with any major project that would allow a person of distinction to read comics at work, I had to set out certain rules for myself. Not just any comic can count as an epic. In fact, many don't. And while some of the longer titles are certainly operatic and massive in scope (Hi, DC), I chose not to do them because the open-ended nature of many comics leaves a lot up in the air. While I could review stories in each comic, and explore the form that way, I'd feel like I was just doing a single chapter of The Iliad and calling it a day. No, I wanted to get deep. Comprehensive. Get some dirt under my fingernails (figuratively). 

               So as part of the project, I did some research. I had to make sure I was using the word "epic" right, and not in another wrong way, especially as these days there have been some fast and loose uses of the word "epic" to mean "something that is awesome or imbued with powers beyond the regular forms". So I had two criteria I had to come up with to judge if these comics fit the mold I was looking for, and if they counted as an epic. And also to determine what series I would use or even be able to use. This may sound like overthinking a little, but I wanted this to be special, since I'm essentially devoting three to four weeks to me reading graphic novels as opposed to doing more with books. I know that this is sort of my "soapbox", mostly for lack of outside input, but I am the kind of cultured man-about-town who believes that even on the internet, one should have standards*.  More, as always, below.

Long Books Month 2

                   Hi, guys. 

                   Since the spring started, I've been having trouble. Part of this is because I've been sick, and busy, and at cons, and running around trying to find a job so I can make money and continue to make this blog. Part of this is simply because I've been trying to fit meaty, dense, long books in on a deadline of one per week. 

                    So since I'm having difficulty, rather than continue to punish myself and you, I've decided that perhaps I'm going to do what I did back in November and have another Month of Long Books. During this month, I'm going to just read. Some of what I review will make it here. Some of it won't. Some of it is just stuff I've wanted to devote my full attention to and haven't had the chance.

                     Starting on Saturday and going for a month, I'm gonna be reading. And when the subjects come to me, I may write up a bunch of stuff. So I'll see you all in July when I get back, and I'm looking forward to seeing you all then

- SR/CC

Health Issues

            Hi, guys. Here at Strange Library I suppose the few of you who still read me are used to my erratic schedule, which has thankfully grown less erratic in recent months. But the upcoming review, which was supposed to be Gravity's Rainbow, is now going to be Michael Marshall Smith's Spares. It also may be late. These changes come because for the last four days, I've fought a nasty sinus infection with a fever. Said fever thankfully broke last night (5/1), but as I had no desire to try and tackle Gravity's Rainbow, the Mount Everest of opaque books, the third-biggest fuck you to people with eyes since James Joyce wrote Ulysses, while on meds and sick and loopy and doing my usual post-con "Holy crap I didn't freak anyone out" detox (Oh, yeah, that article's coming soon, too), a switch in schedule and slight bump to the existing schedule was necessary. So hopefully a few days from now you guys will have the forthcoming review of Spares, as well as my impressions on ZenKaiKon 2014 to look forward to. 

Much love and sorry for the delays

SR/CC

Hiatus Announcement

Hi, guys.

I'm going to be taking November off. I'm doing this so I can do some reading for pleasure, and because there are a couple of longer books I just haven't been able to get through with my schedule. Things like Imajica. And It. And Chung Kuo: The Middle Kingdom among others. It'll also give me time to build up a good buffer again so I can get you the reviews on a better schedule.

So once again: I'm going to be gone for November for some personal time, but will be back after that. I hope to see you all when I'm done. 

- SR/CC

State of the Blog: April, 2011

          As some of you may have noticed, I've been falling off a lot here. The first few entries are really my strongest work, and as I've gone on, the reviews have seesawed in quality. Some have been good, some have been bad. The truth is, the longer it's gone on, the more it's felt like I'm essentially smashing my head into a wall. Keeping this schedule has meant I don't finish books as much as I used to, all my reading is going to this instead of the occasional book or two for pleasure, I sometimes have to scramble or half-ass things, and every time I put up a note like this about how my personal life is getting in the way or apologizing for missing the deadline or whatnot, I feel like crap. First because I'm letting you guys down, and second because I'm essentially coming up short. 


         BUT! I am not going to stop this. I like the blog, I like interacting with you-- all the people I've commented with or talked with have turned out to be really cool people-- and most importantly, I like doing this. It's a nice way to turn people on to stuff that I don't think many have read. Even better, it's a way for me to figure out what I like and don't like, what works and doesn't work for me in writing, so that when I write my own stuff, I have things I can fall back on. Book reviews may be done once every two weeks, or sometimes once a month, but they will be done. As many and as fast as I can get them out. I'll also hold up my promise to you: Every book on this site will be one I read all the way through. I won't stop halfway, I won't give any more impressions on a series I've only finished a little of...I'll just be taking things a little slower until I figure out a schedule that definitely works.


       I hate saying this, because I've tried to keep things on an even and regular schedule, and I'm usually the first person to say that people like me-- that is, people who do this sort of thing with an audience-- are in some way entitled to their readers and fans, but once a week isn't working. Longer books get rushed, my focus tends to be on shorter books that I'm able to read within the time period, and I don't feel like that's fair to anyone. So I hope you'll all keep with me as I welcome in a more relaxed but still just as edgy, quirky, and weird version of Geek Rage!


Caius.

Halloween Special

For Halloween, I will be in Philadelphia seeing a friend or two. Depends on who's up there.


Sometime around Halloween week or weekend, though, I will be uploading a "Live" reading of a short story or two, including one of my favorite ghost stories of all time. I apologize for doing it most likely on my crappy webcam, but we work with what we've got. 

A change to the program

Three things will be occurring in the next month. These are things that I feel should be done, mainly because it's a way for me to keep all the cool things I want to put up here and still run this blog on a weekly schedule (something highly important to me).


1) First, tomorrow's review will be Dinner at Deviant's Palace, in order to keep things rolling. I know it wasn't scheduled, but it's been begging me for the last few days for a write-up, and it bloody well deserves one. Also:


2)  The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox is seven or eight hundred pages and spans three books. While I am going to review it, I'm gonna break it up into three weeks, one per book, in my first-ever serial review to make it easier on myself and keep the content my constant readers have come to expect. It's looking to be a pretty good, pretty big review, too. This blog is still in its first awkward steps, and I appreciate those willing to stick around through them while we figure this out.


3) Still thinking of what to do for Halloween. Given I seem to have worked into a "weird/quirky fiction" sort of niche, it would be very out of sorts if I completely let it pass and escape my notice. Any ideas or thoughts would be welcome, and in any case, I think it'll be fun.




So...yeah. There we go. See you all tomorrow for the review.


--  Caius

Leave of Absence

The review is going to be late this week if it comes up at all. Kind of dealing with something that'd seem stupid to most people. I'm going to be taking a brief leave during this week to calm down and take care of some of my stress, and the reviews will return to normal schedule next week

Sorry for the inconvenience, but I'd rather you have awesome reviews than simply good or even crap reviews because I want to meet a deadline and am just not feeling it.

Sorry again

-- Caius

An Apology

I apologize for one thing with the review of Valente's In The Night Garden. Regrettably, I broke one of my own rules and did not read the full book before publishing a review of it. This was partly due to it just not being a good book, but...yeah. I did read the book, I gave it a spirited try, but ultimately came up short. Sorry I didn't read the full thing...I had some stuff going on in my life, but next week, I'll be back to business as usual with what's shaping up to be a really fantastic read. 


Once again, sorry for breaking my own rule, and hope you're still enjoying things here at Geek Rage. I know I am.


- Caius.

With apologies to Tim Scott

Well, Rage fans, it looks like the Outrageous Fortune review has been put off due to circumstances I'm not quite ready to get into. Instead, I'll be doing China Mieville's Kraken, which has actually come out this year. Also, which I have read fully. 


We apologize for the inconvenience.

A note on the Archives

The archives have been hidden. If you'd like them back, just demand it. Any demand at all will bring back the Geek Rage archives, as tonally different and not in the same direction as they are.

A note about commenting

While I am running this blog, comments will be moderated but not censored. It's a measure to stop people spamming DESU or random robo-spamming about porn. Discourse and dissenting opinions, however? Completely tolerated and welcomed. Especially dissenting ones. 

The Great Geek Rage Repurposing!

For those of you who have followed my blog through its stagnation, allow me to say this to you: Thank you. However, it has come time for me to re-design this blog for a new purpose. Many of you may notice that this will no longer be entirely about cult and culture, and take on a more pretentious air. Others of you will notice that it seems to be more about books and less about ranting. One or two of you will act like illiterate morons. To you I say, "You are morons and I want my five bucks."* The weird text colors will remain. I will swear, though there will be less of it. Hopefully, the vitriol will remain. I am going to put myself through fantasy book hell for the purposes of a more civil discourse, and the possibility that someone is going to read this.


So for all of you that this sounds okay to, welcome. To all those who got here from working through the archives, welcome. To those of you who are illiterate morons, go back to playing the fucking banjo or performing some other edifying activity (I am sure you are behind on your quota of yelling "Fag!" or equally stupid sentiments to people online) and leave me alone.


Next week (tentatively): Either a review of Private Midnight by Kris Saknussemm, Kraken by China Mieville, or Outrageous Fortune by Tim Scott, depending on what I can get my hands on and finish and all that jazz. See you next Friday.


*For the three of you who got this reference to obscure British newspaper contests and memes that originated from them, awesome. For the rest of you, (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobby_Lud) For the morons who are still here, screw you.