1394. A Matter For Men

 I became a science fiction reader because of my friends - in particular my best friends. I was raised in a very religious, very conservative household. However, the truth was that my father allowed us to read. He never locked the home library away, and we were allowed to pick any book from it to read. Most of it of course was christian themed. The highlight of that library was some literature and a set of Encyclopedias, bought when I was around eight years old from a traveling encyclopedia salesman. Yes, we still had those where I grew up. Before I turned ten I had read through the complete encyclopedia and all the literature in that library. Still, I wanted my horizons expanded further. 

To further my reading horizons, along came comic books and my best friend Yiannis T. (Ioannis in Greek parlance). His family was not as heavily into the religious book reading and so, they read pulp novels. The idea of pulps, originated in the U.S. of course, but in the late sixties and early seventies, really took off in Greece. A lot of these were "adventure", "mysteries" (like Agatha Christie), and "Science Fiction" stories, translated and reprinted in the greek language. The other thing that was very popular of course were the Greek Language versions of romance stories. So, my best friend Yiannis, introduced me to science fiction. And by the way, not all of the science fiction that I read was from US authors. One of the first science fiction books I ever liked was "Τhe Black Blot" (La Tache Noire) by French Author Robert Clauzel. Suffice it to say, I read all the adventures of Claude Eridan. At age thirteen I got my first "library card" and borrowed the translation of  "The Illustrated Man" by Ray Bradbury. I have not looked back since then.

Why do I share the story above? Well, when I finally got my first job on my own, in this little corner of Alabama, my new best friend, Mike H., was an avid science fiction reader. By the time we became best friends, we had read many of the same books, and had very similar interests in authors, as well as type of stories. But while I had read a David Gerrold book back in the 80s, I had not read this particular series, The War Against the Chtorr. Mike had the first 4 books. Mike also refused to lend me his copies of the series to read, even though we had lend each other books from our respective libraries. To this day of course, Mike has not returned to me my hard cover copies of The Foundation series by Asimov.

So many years later, in part because I see a lot of the books that come in to our bookstore, as a member of the Friends of the Library group at our local library branch, I got my hands on the first two books in the series. And let me tell you something, the wait was worth it. "A matter for men" is the first book in the series.

Was the wait worth it, you might ask?

Yes. This is one of the best books I have ever read. And in many ways very frustrating. I am not saying that it's frustrating to read because of the way it's written, or because of "language", or because of any other literary virtue. No. It's frustrating because of the lessons Jim McCarthy, the hero of this tale, has to learn.

Jim McCarthy is your average young Biologist with a bright future. It's just that when he was a young kid, various plagues hit the world, decimating (or worse) the population. He lost much of his family. Eventually, the plagues were discovered to be aspects of an invasion by alien organisms which are eventually called "The Chtorr." Are the Chtorr intelligent? Are they trying to conquer the planet? Whoa, slow down there cowboy. It appears so, but so far I've only read book one. I'm not sure that's the conclusion the author wants you to reach. What is fascinating is the way humanity as a whole deals with the problem of the Chtorr. There are parallels to many crises we face today, especially "Climate Change" (what we used to call the Greenhouse Effect.) There is a certain inattentiveness, inaction through words, a certain "shrug your shoulders, what can we do" type of reaction. This is very evident in  "A matter for men."

The reason I got frustrated was not only this human indifference to events (and this might be a spoiler for some - so, don't read the rest of this paragraph, ok?), but....

[ Attention: SPOILERS BELOW]

...the way Jim McCarthy was manipulated by some of those in power and some of his superiors. Used? Don't get me wrong, REALLY GOOD WRITERS will do that to you (er, I mean their characters.) But pulling the curtain back and dispelling the reader's misconceptions is very dramatic in this book. Because, although this book starts as a standard "us" against "them" adventure sci-fi story, it becomes something else, something better by the end. Without giving anything away, I can say clearly that your expectations will be subverted.

Did I get OR did I understand everything the author was going for in this book? Probably not. But, just as Jim McCarthy learned more about himself and about the enemy, so did I learn something about myself. And, I also learned that the simple act of writing good characters is a lot more complicated than what I, as I attempt to write my own fiction, can even envision, let alone master. (No, I won't quit writing.)

"A matter for men" is an exceptional novel that deserves a read, even 30 plus years since its publication. I plan to review individually subsequent parts of this story.

Easily, a five star read.

1301. My Favorite Thing is Monsters, Book One

What can I say about this book that would not sound corny or extreme to either side of the graphic book reading public?

This book is a Graphic Novel.
This book is a Regular Novel (at almost 300 pages)!

Does it succeed in being a Graphic Novel?

Apparently, Emil Ferris, first and foremost is an artist, mainly a graphic artist. Yet, she in not an graphic book industry veteran. She has not worked for Marvel or DC Comics for years. So, in other words she's not a Comic Book artist. Yet, as a Graphic Novel, this book succeeds beyond expectations. In reality, it reinvents the Graphic Novel. Ms. Ferris, not being associated with the comic book industry has done something here that has never been done before. She writes a novel, turns it into a graphic novel and in so doing rewrites the tropes and manners of writing a graphic novel. Her pencils are incredible. She has a style that I have seen before, but I have never seen them done so well, with such humility, and such perfection. There are pages that buzz with so much detail it forces you to dive into the page. Literally run your eyes up and down every single pencil mark.

And the drawn characters sparkle with an authenticity, with an individuality and with a humanity all their own. I was astonished at the crispness of the looks of the main characters. I could read emotions and thoughts in their faces. Those faces have so much to tell. And what a telling it is!

But does this book work as a story, as a traditional Novel?

Beyond any one's wildest imagination. This is a complex story, mainly centered around young Karen Reyes and her notebook drawings of monsters as she investigates the death of a neighbor. Her story covers many events that took place in the 1960s, but also flashes back to 1930s Berlin, following the life story of the dead neighbor. Between those two places, Ms. Ferris weaves a surprising griping drama, that is part family drama, commentary on society, historical retrospective and a monster story.

There are monsters in all of us the story seems to say...but we fight to keep them at bay. For some of us though, the monsters are what propel us every day, hiding our true faces, or maybe, after consideration, revealing that the monster is our only face.

If you have never read a Graphic Novel in your life, this is the one to pick-up.
If you want to read a really good book, get this one.
And, if you want to take a peek at your own monsters, read this book.

I can't more highly recommended it than giving it a 5 star rating:

Bravo, Ms. Ferris. Bravo!