Great Mystery Presses
Rue Morgue reprints vintage mystery titles, mostly from the UK. Many are charmingly redolent of early Agatha Christie titles. Sheila Pim’s garden murder titles, set in WWII Ireland, are especially enjoyable. The mysteries are surpassingly complex with well-written characters and a peek at a life and time so far from my own that I often have to look up terms.
The other press, Midnight Ink, has a slew of excellent series:
Rex Graves Series – C.S. Challinor
St. Just Series – G.M. Malliet
Kate London Series – Susan Goodwill
Whiskey Mattimoe Mysteries – Nina Wright
Darby Farr Series – Vicki Doudera
Odelia Gray Series – Sue Anne Jaffarian
Murder-by-Month – Jess Lourey
I have yet to read a title from either press...
The Pyrates
George McDonald Fraser
Despite some of his later anti-global warming diatribes, Michael Crichton was for the most part an excellent writer. Which is why I’m sure he came to his senses and chose never to release his book Pirate Latitudes. Published posthumously, the book seems to be ripped straight from Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean… the ride. The plot is nearly nonexistent and every pirate related legend is crammed haphazardly into the book. Stories of the kraken and headhunter tribes are tacked on like literary post-its. After wading through this dreck, I had to reread an old favorite (and far superior book) The Pyrates.
Rivaling Terry Pratchett for the...
The Bizarre and Incredible World of Plants, Seeds: Time Capsules of Life, Fruit: Edible, Inedible, Incredible
Wolfgang Stuppy and Rob Kesseler
Kesseler and Stuppy have produced a few of the most beautiful micro-photography books I have ever seen. Focusing on the minutiae of plants – seeds and fruits – they highlight these miniscule life-capsules that we rarely see or think about. Tiny seeds and exotic fruits are blown up into gorgeous art-forms. The text of the books is also quite interesting, but is totally overshadowed but...
In the Courts of the Sun
Brian D’amato
By far the best book I’ve read in months, D’amato creates a fantastic near-future and recreates the lost Maya civilizations. As 2012 nears, the end of the Maya calendar, a large-scale disaster strikes. The disaster, followed by the end of civilization, are both predicted in a Maya codex. Jed DeLanda, a Maya descendant and expert in the future-fortelling Game, becomes involved with a conglomeration of groups interested in stopping the end-time. In short order, DeLanda finds the rich and powerful powers-that-be have the ability to send a copy of his mind back in time, with the hope that he can find out what the final disaster is and avert...
Pheromone
Christopher Marley
On our honeymoon last year we stopped by the gallery in Prairie Edge Art Gallerie in South Dakota. A few of Marley’s insect pieces were on display and we were fascinated. Each piece is a small collection of real, exotic insects. Pheromone shows many of his pieces, along with some additional macro-photography. Often the insects are laid out into a pattern to show wing color gradation or sizing. Other images are show incredibly sharp and clear close-ups of insects so oddly constructed they don’t seem real. All the images are stunning. While Pheromone focuses solely on Marley’s insect work, his online portfolio also contains minerals, sea-life,...
The Quilted Garden
Jane Sassaman
I had seen a couple of samples of Sassaman’s work in the book Masters Art Quilts. Coming from a strong graphic design background, Sassaman’s works are unlike any quilts I have ever seen. The designs are strong and bold, rarely using more than the smallest of patterns in the fabric. Nor are there any of the traditional patterns or maudlin, saccharine themes so commonly seen in quilt art. Sassaman incorporates weed leaves, writhing vines, jagged spikes and more into her nature-inspired quilts. Check out her site for the book, her line of Prairie Gothic fabric and a portfolio of her amazing work.
http://www.janesassaman.com/...