Under the Dome

Once again Stephen King (SK) has done it again. Although the book was as thick as a nursing book and the letters where i think typewritten in size10, i managed to read it for 3 straight days. Almost all SK books are soooo thick that most people do not even consider reading it. They just wait for the movie adaptation of the book. But i say... books are more cooler then their movie counter parts.

So let's talk about the life Under the Dome. One October Saturday in Chester Mill, Maine, its residents were not aware that they have been trapped under the dome and worst... they got a 2nd selectman (a politician for those who don't know what a selectman is) who prays to God Hallelujah but set up meth drug factory behind their local church and boy this selectman is ambitious. When Domesday came (as they have come to call it) Rennie (the 2nd selectman) seizes the opportunity to gain power over Chester Mill.

First few chapters of the book a poor woodchuck (some kind of a beaver) was minding his own business when he was suddenly surprised why he has been cut into half. An airplane crushed through nothing and exploded. Truck drivers crash to nothing, and as you read more of the pages the death toll inside the dome is raising.

Reading through the book, i could not help but think that Under the Dome is like SK's short story the Mist. But unlike the mist, this Dome was not a failed military project and i won't tell you who set up the dome :P Although the book annoyed me. Sometimes books spill out every mystery in its story when you read the last chapter. Yes, i always skip to the last chapter to know who died or what. But mind you, i still read through the book word for word for i still want to know how the ending came to be. But with this book, i was totally lost. I couldn't find the one mystery of who set up the dome and how they got rid of it, this book has no short cuts.

Anyway, Chester Mill is just like your ordinary town, having a nice old day, nice young man, your average cougar, the pretty prom queen, your doctor, the town drunk, the town slut, the town addict and so on and so forth. And it amazes me that SK mentioned a lot of famous NYTBS authors within the book. Even Gregory House and Lost was mentioned. I kept on waiting for Supernatural and the Winchester Boy's to be mentioned but to my disappointment, nope.

The main events that happened under the dome was actually because of the actions of the power hungry corrupt 2nd Selectman Rennie. If it weren't for him the whole town wouldn't be like that town in Silent Hill by the end of the book. Even though SK have more then a dozen characters of his book, he never failed to build up character. I guess that's the reason why the book was so darn thick with size10 fonts.

What i didn't like about this book is how SK was so detailed down to the animals when the inferno happened inside the dome. For me it was horrifying to see birds and squirrels and woodchucks specially pets like dogs and cats trying to run away from the fire, from suffocation and from the poison air only to find out that they couldn't because of an invisible dome tramped them inside. The way SK wrote the gory details made me cry because of those poor animals.

The moral of the story, (oh yes there is a moral of the story and a pretty good one) but unfortunately i won't mention it. Coz if i do, I'll be giving away information about why there was a dome and how they got rid of it. Hey, i read through that darn thick book, so you read it too without any short-cuts. I tell you, if your a fan of the genre then its worth the time. ^_^

IT meets Leland Gaunt

Yes you read it right. If Stephen King was to fuse the book IT and Needful Things this would be it. But i wouldn't be surprised coz Straub and King are good friends and as they say good friends think alike. *shrugs*

Anyhoo, the story is about 5 old men who created the Chowder Society where they meet twice a month to tell stories. When Edward Wanderley died the 4 remaining friends started to tell ghost stories. What's scary about this that the ghost in their stories came to life. It was just like IT in the S.King's novel IT. IT takes form of your worst fear... in this book it takes form of your dead relatives, dead friends and dead neighbors and it will drive you crazy.

It all started when a girl named Eva Galli came to their town 50 or so years ago. Her fiancee died after cutting his arm on a farm equipment. He bleed to death shouting words like "Kill her", "Cut her to pieces", etc. Then this girl mysteriously disappeared in town. Later in the book you would know that the Chowder Society members that time merely out from being teenagers accidentally killed her.

There are a lot of strange scenes occurring in the book. Like when Sears (one of the CSmemebers) saw a pale boy on his stairs staring at her. And how they all dreamed about themselves being chased by a monster and seeing their friend's dead faces.

I say its like Leland Gaunt at S.K's Needful Things novel is because Eva Galli is more or less like Gaunt or shall I say her kind. They introduce themselves as the originals of the human supernaturals, that they appear as to how human's persive them. At first i thought the books is one of the classic Vadic type of books coz every time they tell a story the story comes to life or the characters come to like.

Reading this book made me jumpy whenever i hear things and I have to admit kinda make me paranoid coz you will really feel as if someone is lurking behind you just like Ricky felt or like Lewis felt when he took that job in his forest.

I have never read a book that scared me, not since IT and now this is the second book that creeped me out.

Kali - Goddess of Distruction

This book was one of the books that was chosen by Orionbooks UK to republish under their collections of literally horror novels along side Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Peter Straub and four more world reknowned authors of such genra.

I have picked up this book because of the title, not knowing that Dan Simmons is a famous horror novelist along side the great Stephen King.

Song of Kali, i know the name, since i am a fanatic with mythologies, with the different Gods and Goddesses on all types of civilizations and beliefs. Kali is the Hindu Goddess of Death and Destruction. The story of the book even took place to a very interesting place in India, it is in the heart of Calcutta. One of the slum cities in India, known for its corruption, disease and misery. It was the story of Robert Luczak who was sent to Calcutta to find a famous Indian Poet who was presumed dead but now a local organization has claimed this famous Indian Poet is very much alive.

I though the book was all about supernatural, horror, something that will give you nightmares and would make you think twice in going into the city of the dark goddess. Any moment i was waiting for Kali herself to appear. But to my disappointment nothing like that happened. Instead it was all about stupidity and idiocy. There was no horror in the story. I think the only grotesque thing that happened in the pages is when Robert finally found his lost baby son only to find out that his son's body was used to smuggled jewelry out from Calcutta. Think about this scene, a local woman pretending she was holding her baby only to find out that it was only a baby's head she's holding and underneath the clothes and wrappings of the so called baby body is all illegal jewelries.

I say it was stupidity because Mr. Luczak brought along his wife and infant son along to his Calcutta assignment. I mean c'mon, Calcutta isn't a place for a vacation or for another honeymoon. He was warned by his friend but still he didn't listen and whatever disaster he has come in Calcutta is because of his stupidity.

The book is a perfect example of a western tourist being totally fooled by the local people in the city he has visited. I can't see the point on the remarks that was made about this book. NO, it was not one of the most brilliant first novels i read. and DEFINITELY NOT the best novel in years and in his genre. and TOTALLY NO horrors in the pages only pure stupidity.

Or maybe i have read too many horror and gruesome books already that this book reads like bedtime stories for kids to me.

In the end a cockroach became a senator

So i'm going through the bargain books at the 31st manila international book fair. Once again i oogled myself on books for only a dollar or less which were originally $14 or more. One of the books i found was Kockroach. It caught my attention not because of its cover but because of its title. And as i read through the brief description of the book by the back cover, I found it interesting since it did say that a cockroach woke up as a human on one of the low class hotel at time square. For a person who hates and fears cockarachas this book should be something i should not pick up, but the words gangs,violence, politics, money and sex is something that i am always drawn into.

Now, here's the yacky part. I though the book is like a metaphor. You know the word cockroach is often used to describe a human being. To may horror, the book is literary about a cockroach (the yacky icky insect that it is) waking up as a human. So I found myself reading through the first chapters about how a cockroach think, their traits and eeeewwww.. how they have sex. I have learned a few triva about this icky things... If you cut their head off they will still be alive for 3days. If there's a nuclear blast annihilating the earth they will still live. Now after this book i have learned that european cockroack likes long foreplay in sex while american cockroaches just like to hump the female right away. >.<

But here's the interesting part, as i read through the pages of the book, i have come to admire Kockroach now named, Jerry Blatta. He has became rich and famous among the streets of New York because of his buddy Mite whom found him on the streets. Mite has taught him the ways of men and as a cockroach that easyly adopt change and their greed and hunger for food and for sex (coz it was said male cockroach has only two things in mind... he is always hungry and always want to mate). So not long did Kockroach and Mite rise up into the greek gangstars. Unfortunately, Mite is a treacherous bastard. With Kockroaches ambition to be the top boss and Mite's jealousy on Kockroaching who was mating his girl, he betrayed him. Thus ended their life as top gangsters.

Now eight years has passed and Mite has come back to New York only to find out that his former friend and boss is now almost own the whole businesses in NY. From being a gangster boss, Kockroach has risen as a businessman like the likes of Trump and Bronson. Even though he knew Mite betrayed him he still took him under his wing. Although Mite promised that he won't betray him again Kockroach told him "Don't bother, we are what we are." Now this is one of the many lines i like about the book. But Kockroach still isn't satisfied about being a rich businessman. Towards the end of the book it shows that he is running for the U.S Senate which i believe he has successfully achieved and maybe if the author wrote further U.S might have a cockroach turn to human as their President.

I have come to like the book, even though its giving me the icky details of the life and times of a cockaracha. But there is a story to be told. We are what we are as Kockroach said to Mite. No body ever change somehow your true self will always peek into the world we build in and will tumble it down. No matter how we work hard and finally thinking we have it all, something will always come down and take it all away from us living us to start all over again. There is also a sense of brotherhood. I see that Kockroach is a true example of a real friend. Even though he knew that Mite betrayed him constantly he still consider him as a friend, his palsy, his brother. A lot my say his stupid by not killing him, even Mite thought Kockroach will kill him. But Kockroach accepted him as who he is and since Mite was the one who actually taught him about human society. When Mite asked him why.. Kockroach simply answered him... "I am who i am because of you."

The women of Luxe

I have been interested in this book ever since I saw it on the shelves of Bestsellers in Robinson's Galleria. Not because I have read its short description of the back of the cover but because of the gowns that the women in the covers wore. I have always called this book the Gossip Girl of the turn of 19th century New York.
When finally i have come to buy this book, I couldn't put it down. As a person who likes to socialize and host parties, I have come to love this book. Along the pages of the book you would find out that what ever era we are living the social classes in New York always acts the same.

For book one: The Luxe, enter Elizabeth Holland. The eldest among the two Holland sisters. She is fresh from Paris and just turned 18. Due to their unfortunate financial drop Elizabeth was forced to marry into money rather then love. Enter Henry Shoonemaker, son of the wealthy William Shoonmaker who almost own all of New York. However, Penelope Hayes (bestfriend of Elizabeth Holland) has eyes on Henry who surprisingly fell in love with Diana Holland, sister of Elizabeth who hasn't even turned 18 yet.
Elizabeth didn't really love Henry, in face she loved Will Keller, their coachman. So with the help of Penelope, Elizabeth staged her own death and elope to California with Will.

On to the second book: Rumors. Rumors is Elizabeth isn't really dead. Penelope thought with Elizabeth out of the picture she can have Henry, but no, Henry is head over heels with Diana. So, when she found Carolina Broad (former hand maiden of Elizabeth Holland) homeless since she was fired from the Holland House, Carolina became her source of black mail to Henry into marrying her.

Third book: Envy: Penelope successfully blacked mailed Henry into marrying her. But Henry isn't even sleeping with her nor talking to her. They have acted civilized wife and man in front of the public eyes. Meanwhile, Carolina Broad has became an overnight socialite when a rich old bachelor left her his entire estate (talk about gold digger). But this girl didn't even came to love nor care about the old bachelor, instead she went out seeking for a different young bachelor that she fell inlove with

The final showdown: Splendor. By the end of Envy, Henry sent Diana a letter stating his going off to the army. Carefree as she is she followed him. They did have time to themselves until Henry's superior found out and ship them back to New York. Meanwhile, Penelope went after a European Prince and thought the Prince actually fell inlove with her which on later on the end of the book she was dump (talk about karma) And here is the good stuff i liked about the book. Henry and Diana didn't live happily ever after. In the end they still love each other. Even though Henry has divorced Penelope, Diana still can't see herself as a second wife to Henry Shoonemaker. She wanted Henry to come with her to Paris and live a new life. Unfortunately Henry didn't love her enough to do it.

Moral of the story? Well, don't be a Penelope coz one day or another Karma will knock on your door. ^_^ I love the book,  the glitz and glamour the fame and glory, the freedom to be able to host parties that the newspapers will print the next day or people that will talk about for days. To where fancy clothes... I dream of that life. Too bad I need lots of money to do that. And money is what i do not have. *sigh*

Necroscope Fever

Its Robert Ludlum meets Anne Rice, or Micheal Crichton meets Laurell Hamilton. But really, Brian Lumley wrote his Necroscope series back in the 80s. Hell, I wasn't even born yet when he wrote his first Necroscope series.

Here is book two of his Necroscope series. It tells about the origin of Thibor Ferency, the vampire who lured Boris Dragosani in book 1. If we have read the 1st book we know that both has died and that our hero, Harry Keogh (whats with the name Harry anyway? There is Harry Potter, Harry Dresdan o.0).

In this book, we also found out that aside from Dragosani, Thibor manage to place a part of his self to a certain baby. It goes like this, one night a couple came tumbling down his hills. Man died for Thibor has drank his blood through his wounds. The girl survive but Thibor grope her with his vampire tentacles.(talk about tentacle hentai lol) But this book ain't one of those porny paranormal books i usually read.

Anyway, while the 1st book is like Russian E-branch vs. British E-branch, this time the two heads of both organization works together in able to annihilate the vampire horde. Well at least what remains of it. In Lumley's Necroscope series, his vampires are not like Rice nor Hamilton's vampires. His vampires has tentacles and parasitic. The way his vampires pro-create is to plant a part of themselves into their victim and slowly that part will grow inside them and become one of the human. The human is called the host. The vampire part will consume the human mind thus creating one mind. But for Wampyre, they can only make a true wampyre once in their life time. They produce a seed that they plant into their chosen human host to be their son or daughter. Also, they are like starfishes that when you cut them up, the pieces will grow into something else until they can find a host. (talk about go forth and mulitply).

But all well that ends well, they manage to destroy both Thibor's remains in his graveyard by blasting the crucified hills. That is how the wampyre could be killed. A stake through the heart, Cut of its head and burn everything down to crisp.

Chains

Three girls have a dark past left behind just before they went for college. 15 years later, these girls still have the nightmare of the night that scared them for life.

Renee, prom queen, the perfect girl, a family which is more concern about there society preserve them. Lacey, the tall blond girl who is no closer then a bimbo became a professional photographer. Then there's the famous Sheera, who is a bestseller author.

Although the book is divided into three books focusing on each women but  the book only tells one story in the perspective of these 3 female character.

I have to admit, the story line is a cliche. How many books and movies are out there with stories that started when they were in senior high and had an unfortunate event and then coming after a couple of years back to the very place the event took place. There was king's It novel, and there was Valentine movie.

Honestly, i bought the book coz i miss reading porny books. The story about Reene was quite interesting... coz she was into bdsm but not entirely into the lifestyle. That is about the more interesting sex scene of the book. The other scene is just normal sex.

I talk to dead people

I have came across this book 2yrs ago when i was searching for good paranormal books. Now i could say, aside from Anne Rice's pretty vampires and Laurel K Hamilton's gorgeous sexy vampires, Brian Lumley's vampires are a different kind of breed. Now, we all heard about what necromancer can do, they control dead people, raise dead people and ask them of thier secrets. With Lumley's book, necromancers are a disgusting lot. They literally dissect people, learn their secrets through their guts and brain. The Necroscope is more humane. They simply talk to dead people and the dead talk to him. They teach him things that they have learned through their dead life.

No on to the book. The book started when the British E-branch head dead of a heart attack which later on we know that it was not a natural cause of heart attack. You might be asking what E-branch means. The Russians call it ESPionage, with the emphasis of ESP. Its a government branch of the British, Russian, American and Chinese branch that trains people with pyschic abilities. Its like the X-men, but with more closer to truth abilities based on paranormal powers. Along the way, an age old vampire is caught between the "war" or rivalry of the British and Russian E-branches.

Somehow the book doesn't appeal to me much but I do want to buy its series though. Necroscope is like Robert Ludlum meets Laurel Hamilton meets Neil Gaiman. Also as i was reading along the way, i could not help but think that the plot of the book is somewhat more like the t.v. series HEROES. Secret organization who has supernatural powers. A person with an ability to see the future and a person who could travel time. But instead of save the cheerleader save the world, its kill the ambitious right hand russian of E-branch and save the world.

FYI: Necroscope was written and published in the 1980s. And i'm sure i would be expecting another "twilight" fever on this. People in hollywood is planning to make a movie with Necroscope. If they play there cards well and would emphasize with the love story of Harry and Brenda, choose the right actors (oh i hope they won't get that annoying sparkling vampire) they could make it a blockbuster hit. C'mon guys we all know that unknown books get to be famous if they are turned into movies.

i thought this was a chiclit.... o.0

When i hear the name Jennifer Cruise, i think a chiclit. Turns out this books isn't much of a chiclit and there was sex on pages. lol

The story started when Maddie found a crochless panties in her hubby's car and she decided to divorce him right there and then. As you read further, you'll find out that it was not the first time her hubby had an affair and she had enough of it.

Towards the end, looks like the hubby was not cheating with his wife, instead he was cheating the company he owns one quarter of. He has been cheating his business partner with money. Because of this, he got himself shot. *sigh*

Lesson learn, hubbys don't keep secrets to your wife. Keeping secret means your wife will think you are having an affair and you will end up dead.

This book, i couldn't discribe it in words. why? coz i was expecting to read a chiclit. But i ended up having a mystery book. ^^j

Angels....

^^j i thought there was divine interventions in this book. But through the middle of the book i realized the reason why the book was titled angels. Looks like, if people live in Los Angeles, they are often called "Angels".

Now, i wouldn't recommend this book if your happyly married or happily in a relationship, it will give you "what if" thoughts with your relationship. I think i bought this book when i was broken hearted and hated the thought of being in a relationship. The book started when Maggie realized that her husband was having an affair because of the comment he did on the chocolates she bought. Right there and then, she left him and went refuge to her parents house. Then later on flew to Los Angeles to spend some downtime with her best friend. There she tested new waters, and as the story is told in every page you will get to learn where her marrage started to crumble down. She had a miscarrage twice, and people are giving her thier sympathys and she had develop a self-pity attitude that she forgot that her hubby is also suffering from depression due to the lost. That drove him to have an affair. You might not agree that this is a valid reason to have an affair, but if you are depressed and someone takes notice of you and make you happy and do things for you to make you happy, an affair is not a surprise. Believe me, its not. A depressed person needs attention and loving care, again believe me, been there, done that.

Towards the end, i found maggie to be quite stupid. But i couldn't blame her, what can i say... shes a typical girl. I did fell sorry with the husband Garv. He really took care of her, he was very understanding even though he knew his wife still longs for her high school lover who disappeared on her and he thought this was the main reason that she choose to go to Los Angeles.

But in the end, they have reconciled. Understood each other. As the ending says, there is no perfect relationship. You will sometimes find your self fighting with each other. But what matters is that you remember your vows to each other. "To sickness and to health, through good times and bad, till death do us part."

Ultimate fetish to the extreme (not for minors)

I was on my way to get the new LKHamilton ABVH book when my friend told me I may like this book. Ok, its an anthology and hey... Neil Gaiman is here. So I read the back of the book and considering i have  a taste of mystery,occult and the supernatural in literitures i said, heck, i'll buy this one too. Anyway, i have heard about Clive Barker and his Hellraiser but i never actually watched the movie. Maybe i did when i was a kid, i do remember watching the T.V with pinhead in it and some girl being chased by cars.

So reading through the book, I first found out that Mr.Gaiman was a journalist in his early years. So say in the forward of the book written by Mr.Barker himself. He narrated how he made the movie Hellraiser and the famous Pinhead.

Now on to the book. There are some stories that are confusing, i simply do not understand or just plane ... grusome for me. If this were a movie i would have walked out from the movie house already or turned off the T.V and gave my dvd to friends who are into human mutilations. I am into BDSM but i am not into gore, my limits are no slicing no blood. Some people would want to watch other people mutilate other people like the movie SAW, Wrong Turn, Hostel and whatever grusome movies there is out there. Ok... now imagine those movie having sex in it. That is exactly what this book has. The ultimate sex and pain that extreme Saddist and Masochists love to experience. Well for the norms they would call them Pyschopaths.

Mostly the stories revolved around one theme, the Cenobites. The beings from hell who comes into your world when you manage to complete the lemarchad configuration. These Cenobites aren't genes. They like to torment you with pain and sex feeding into your most desire fetishes. They remind me of the Vadecs, demons who posses writers into writing them and making them real in our world. In this case, the Cenobites possed Lemarchad a toy maker into building these puzzles that could summon them into our world and then take you into thier world of pain and sex.

I actually like the book, but i won't be watching any hellraiser movies, i can read gorey books, hell i read a book about an old woman eating children, what's a book about mutilations different to that. But i don't watch them on screen, i might end up loosing what i just ate.  Maybe if they will turn it into anime i would watch, but not live action.

Mirror, mirror on the wall... who is fairest of all?

It has been awhile since i have stopped writing in my blogs. But here i am again. Since i have a lot of free time now being a full time photographer, i can get my blogs going again.

Here's the book that i have already read twice. Yes, people it is the story of the wicked queen step mother of snow white. This book is published under disney publications and around 1/4 to the last of the book tells about the disney version of snow white.

Upon reading this book, you would find how it is that snow white's step mother has been so wicked and vain. How her vanity pushed her to kill her step-daughter. She was the daughter of a famous mirror maker in her land. She grew up with her father that disliked her for her mother died giving birth to her and all her life she has been called by her father as ugly and useless. When her father died she married the king thus becoming snow white's step mother. It all started perfectly fine until the king died and battle and the queen found the comfort of the magic mirror. The queen's story is i think the best example of the saying "Vanity becomes of her, Vanity kills her." In her obsession to be the most fairest and beautiful in the land she grew insane and well we all know the story, eventually wanted to kill snow white.

Twice i read this book as i have mentioned in earlier on this post. Not because i came to the point that i didn't have much money anymore to buy new books. But I somehow could relate to the queen. I have been fat and in where i am people think fat is ugly. I am vain as vain as i could be. In when i was reading this book i simply asked myself. what if i get married and have a daugther, and that daugther of mine will turn out pretty... would my vanity eat me up in will make me hate her? Coz you see, jealousy and vanity are sisters and they could kill. But then again that is only what if.... ^_^