Incoming: New Graphic Novels for grown ups – spooky edition

With October upon us, it’s a great time to take a look at what new, spooky graphic novels we have for adults.  Whether it be crime, horror, or suspense – there are a lot of intense, moody and interesting graphic novels that have recently arrived.

Petrograd - Philip Gelatt
British spy, Cleary, is assigned the task of planning and carrying out the death of Grigoi Rasputin, the cleric with influential ties to the Russian Royal family. Set in the time before the Russian Revolution, this is an fascinating fictional exploration of an interesting historical period. 

The Unknown - Mark Waid
Famed detective Catherine Allingham, is given 6 months to live, so she sets out to uncover the biggest mystery of all, what happens to us when we die?

Victorian Undead - Ian Edginton
What happens when Sherlock Holmes uncovers zombies and vampires?  Find out here.

Twilight Experiment - Justin Gray
When an experiment to create humans with superpowers fails, earth’s last best hope is the legacy provided by their children.

The inside scoop: Some of my favorite shipwrecks

Playing in the sand by the skeleton of the Peter Iredale on summer vacation trips to the Oregon Coast, my brother and I would try to outdo each other with who could make up the most horrifying shipwreck story.  In our games, it was always night; with fifty-foot waves; and the ship’s captain usually got eaten by sharks.  Then the pirates would show up.  Now, when I go to the beach, I still like to take a good, spine-tingling shipwreck story or two to read.

 Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

While not the first tale of shipwreck survival ever published, (the Crusoe character is believed to be based on the true story of Alexander Selkirk) Defoe’s fictional account was so influential its title is now synonymous with the genre.

 Island of the Lost: shipwrecked at the edge of the world by Joan Druett

In January of 1864, the Grafton was returning to Australia from a prospecting expedition in the South Pacific.  The ship wrecked and the five men aboard were stranded on the southern tip of a small island near New Zealand.  Five months later, the Invercauld also sank, leaving 19 survivors stranded on the north end of the same island.  Neither group knew of the other’s existence.  The Grafton survivors worked together: hunting, building shelter and eventually getting all five safely off the island.  The Invercauld survivors fought with each other, never successfully made plans for being stranded long-term, and eventually turned to cannibalism.  Only 3 survived.  Druett is a maritime historian and an outstanding writer, and she weaves a vivid tale from diaries, letters and newspaper accounts.

The Terror by Dan Simmons

In 1845 the two ships of the Franklin Arctic Expedition entered the Arctic waters of northern Canada in search of the Northwest Passage.  Neither of the ships and none of the 129 members of the crew ever returned.  Simmons’ novel imagines what happened.  Spoiler alert: The Terror doesn’t just refer to the name of the ship.

 South: a memoir of the Endurance voyage by Ernest Shackleton

Shackleton’s own account of his failed attempt to trek from one side of Antarctica to the other, doomed when his ship became trapped in pack ice, leaving him and his crew of 28 shipwrecked in Antarctic waters.  One of the most famous true stories of shipwreck survival.

 The Unforgiving Coast: maritime disasters of the Pacific Northwest by David H. Grover

Grover describes 9 of the most harrowing shipwrecks to take place between northern California and Vancouver Island. 

 And of course I can’t write about shipwrecks without mentioning the Titanic:

Lost Voices from the Titanic: the definitive oral history by Nick Barratt presents the story of the Titanic entirely through first person accounts from the survivors and other documents and primary sources.

 -Amy

Justin Cronin brings on the vampire apocalypse

The Passage is a long reading journey but an entertaining one as well, especially if you’re a fan of survival stories about the end of the world.  SPOILERS ahead – The first act depicts an America of the not-too-distant future where multiple highway checkpoints and surveillance is routine due to common terrorist attacks.  The military is looking for the ultimate weapon and they may have found it in a special virus from South America.  The virus extends life and makes the individual nearly invulnerable, useful for combat, but it also turns the subject into a modern day vampire, averse to light, super strong, bloodthirsty and violent.  The final candidate for the virus is a young, abandoned girl (Amy) who the scientists believe might adapt better to the virus since she is still growing.  Of course, things fall apart at this point as the death row inmate ‘virals’ make their escape and start turning people into zombie-like vampires.  As one man tries to save the girl, the US falls apart and begins an inevitable decline as the ‘virals’ take over and wipe out the human populace.  It is here that the first book ends.

Act two starts up 100 years later as one of the few human outposts left struggles to stay alive as their failing lights protect them during the night from the roaming ‘viral’ pods.  It has become clear to a small band of humans that they need to set out to find any remaining outposts, materials for their failing batteries or some insight into the origins of the virus.  The impetus for their leaving comes in the form of  mute teenage girl who shows up one night at the outpost.  They soon figure out the girl is probably about 100 years old and named ‘Amy’.  They also figure out if they don’t leave soon, they may never get a chance to.  So a small group sets out on their own which starts act three.

As the small group roams around and escapes one dangerous viral encounter after another, they discover that there are other groups of survivors out there and that the danger the original twelve death row inmate vampires pose to them is greater than they ever imagined.  The book ends well but clearly points to more trouble ahead for our heroes.  Two more books are planned and while I don’t often finish the series that I start, I’m looking forward to continuing this one.  Highly recommended for fans of the genre.

Possession is Nine-Tenths

The Host by Stephenie Meyer 2008 (619 pgs)
(available in regular, large print, and book on cd)

When the world’s population gets body-snatched by invading aliens, a few rebel humans are forced into hiding, struggling to remain whole. A newly installed alien named Wanderer finds herself in a body whose former owner hasn’t quite vacated. What should be an effortless takeover instead becomes a battle of wills as Melanie refuses to disappear. At first biding her time, waiting for Melanie to surrender, Wanderer instead finds herself coming to an understanding and eventual affection for the human trapped in her mind. As they share memories and experiences, Wanderer even comes to love those who Melanie loves. Together they break away from the alien occupied civilization to track down Melanie’s loved ones.

I was pleasantly impressed with Meyer’s much more refined and challenging writing. This in no Twilight novel; it surpasses that series in character realism and evolution, its exploration of humankind’s capacity for cruelty and kindness, and the nature of selfhood and emotion. Billed as “the first love triangle involving only two bodies,” what could easily have become a cheesy sci-fi or sappy romance is instead a surprisingly deft exploration of identity and humanity.

The Terror by Dan Simmons

After reading this book, I remember why I liked Hyperion so much all those years ago when I read it.  Dan Simmons is a gifted storyteller with a knack for creating memorable characters.  In The Terror, he takes on the difficult task of reanimating forgotten historical figures while positing a fantastical explanation for what happened to the lost Franklin expedition in the icy waters of Northern Canada.  This is genre busting at its finest.  I’m unsure about where a bookstore (or a library) could put this book so interested people could find it.  It’s at once a nail biting adventure book in the Patrick O’Brien mold while simultaneously being an historical fiction work that teaches the reader about ever aspect of what it would take to survive on a ship near the North Pole.  Finally, it focuses on the natural and supernatural horrors of the ice, the legends of the Inuits and of the dark souls in all men.  Simmons starts the book in the middle of his story, after the men have been trapped in the ice for nearly two years already.  Characters are introduced through flashbacks, much like in the TV show LOST.  It is a long but rewarding book, and it’s the type of historical fiction that drives a person to seek out other books on the topic just to find out how much was true.  Other than the supernatural horror, just about everything else in this novel seems realistic.  It’s place on several top ten lists last year is well-deserved.  Washington county has several other books that deal with the Franklin expedition including Ice Blink.  They can be found here.