Never too late for the SANDMAN
Mood:  accident prone
Now Playing: the dozens
Topic: Focus on Author


(crossposted from Another Point of Singularity, because it fits here)

I missed out on the "Sandman Craze" when the popular comic book series was being published from 1989 to 1990-whatever. I never took to "Goth stuph" when I was younger; I suspect I was too old for serious Goth lifestyle changes, and had been through that phase before it was even called "Goth". Since so many Goth-wannabees were aping "Dream" (the titular character of the series) in style and dress, I kind of turned my nose up at it. Big mistake, as it turns out. I deprived myself of a very good read for a long time.



The other night, I was in the library over at Pohick, and noticed that A) they are carrying graphic novels; and B) they have almost every one of the Sandman books.

Now, that's a cool thing. Because I find spending 14.95 plus on a graphic novel trade cover just little bit much, considering 9 out of 10 of them get recycled to a used book store or library book drive. I think my only "keepers" have been KINGDOM COME, THE WATCHMEN, BATMAN: YEAR ONE, THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, MAUS, DAREDEVIL: GANG WAR, and BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE). So I don't "do comics" like I used to. Being able to check them out of a library is a big bonus. Among Pohick's graphic novel collection (which is, alas, mostly Manga), is almost all of the Sandman milieu that saw print.

I currently have out on loan A Game of You (a sort of Alice through the Looking Glass meets Steven King's Dark Tower series), Fables and Reflections (all short stories with different graphic artists. My favorite so far), Dream Country and the Kindly Ones (both not read yet, but that is a fault soon remedied). I also picked up A Season of Mists at a garage sale some time back and posted good things about it in my book blog.

What can I say (further) that hasn't already been said, in gushing detail?

I'm impressed that writers that I respect and admire, such as Gene Wolfe, Harlan Ellison and Samuel Delaney find this series so awe-inspiring that they all have written, intricate, thoughtful introductions (my favorite so far is Wolfe's, but I love his writing). The story line appears to have a connecting thread througout (concerning "Dream's" unusual family), but it really doesn't matter that much. Each book stands and falls on its own. I particularly like the way Gaiman adroitly weaves characters and pieces of myth into his storyline; each story is like a subdued trivia test as I read and recognize this or that clever literary reference.

So I like them. I like them quite a bit.

What's the lesson for today, kids? Just because an item is the darling of the culture vultures, DOESN'T neccesarily mean that it sucks.

TWO ROMANS
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Nothing
Topic: Literary Survey

Hail, Caesar

My two favorite historical mystery writers, John Maddox Roberts and Steven Saylor, have released new series novels almost simultaneously, and that's great news indeed!

Roberts' "Roman Detective" is Decius Metellius, a Roman senator that lives right about the time of the end of the Roman Republic and advent of Julius Caesar. He is patrician, from an old and noble family, and a struggling politiician. The series is called "SPQR" (For the Senate and People of Rome), and the latest volume is THE PRINCESS AND THE PIRATES. I'm almost done with it, and have been enjoying it immensely. This is a nautical adventure where the thirtyish Decius is sent to Cyprus to unravel a mystery involving pirates, an exiled general, and the young princess Cleopatra.

The other "Roman Detective" is Gordianus the Finder, a creation of Steven Saylor. Gordianus is a plebian Roman citizen of good if undistinguished family who is a "finder" (analogous to private eye) to various important Roman citizens, including some of the lights of the era: Caesar, Pompey, Cicero, Catiline, Cato, and many other important historical figures routinely show up in his stories. His latest, A GLADIATOR ONLY DIES ONCE, is a collection of short stories, some of which I have seen compiled elsewhere (in Historical Whodunits, for example), but it is good to see them all in one volume like this. I'm about halfway through this, and all of the stories (including the ones I've read before) have been uniformly good, some better than others.



Needless to say, since I already said it, I like the authors quite a bit, and can't say which I prefer. My recommendation is to check them both out of the library as fast as possible, like I did, before some other selfish bastid gets in front of you.

THE BOTTOMS, by Joe Lansdale
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: The Gorey End by the Tiger Lillies and Kronos Quartet
Topic: Book Review
THE BOTTOMS is a powerful novel, one of the many by Joe Lansdale (Who else, lately?) that I've read lately.

From the blurb:
Deep East Texas in the Great Depression. A place where poverty is as prevalent and devastating as tornadoes. When young Harry Crane discovers a mutilated body in the river bottoms, a cold fear grips the region and racial tension nears fever pitch. Harry believes the killer is the Goat Man, a monster of Texas legend, made all the more real to Harry because he has actually seen him on his nocturnal wanderings. In the dark and gloom of the Texas night, and with no suspect in sight, the body count rises, a man is lynched, and the local law—Harry's father—intensifies the search for a savage killer who may be closer than anyone dares imagine.


There are many elements that thread throughout Lansdale's novels, some of them being a childlike first person perspective (as in A FINE DARK LINE), taking a moral stance (as in SUNSET AND SAWDUST, A FINE DARK LINE), ferocity towards evil-doers (every Lansdale novel written), the power of memory and country-style justice.

THE BOTTOMS takes up these themes in Lansdalian style and delivers a fine, scary tale set in (where else) East Texas during the Depression. The underweaving threads of loneliness, poverty, and memory perfay pervade throughout. Many of Joe's books look back on a vanished America, usually set in a Depression that he isn't old enough to have witnessed firsthand. It's a perfect setting for dread and suspense... not just for the evil that occurs in the novel (and it's pretty nasty) but also the underlaying dread of poverty and hunger that is in the background of it all.

THE BOTTOMS reminded me strongly of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD for some reason. The stories aren't all that similar but the perspective and settings are not all that different.

I strongly recommend THE BOTTOMS, it might be my favorite Lansdale book yet.

A FINE DARK LINE, by Joe R. Lansdale
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: with myself
Topic: Book Review

Joe Lansdale is the writer that brought us "Bubba Ho Tep" and he actually narrates it in the expanded bits on the DVD (with his authentic East Texas shitkicker accent). I'm on a Lansdale reading binge at the moment, having gone through (rapidly): FREEZER BURN, SUNSET AND SAWDUST, MUCHO MOJO and now A FINE DARK LINE. Like most of his books, this one is set in Texas and in times gone by. In this case, the year is 1958 and the protaganist is a 13 year old boy who is pretty wet behind the ears. His inadvertant discovery of an old box of letters sets in motion an investigation to an old murder and coverup.

Lansdale is masterful as a dialogue writer; his choice little inserts and conversations are the real reason to read his fiction (I'm compiling a list of these on my "Staring at my feet" blog). Any writer who can come up with "I've got a growth on my pecker"-- Bubba Ho Tep is probably going to come up with choice material, consistently.

What I liked about AFDL, more than the murder story, which is good, but somewhat conventional, was the social consciousness of the book. AFDL speaks to racial divisiveness with a clear voice. Although there is only one POV character in the novel he is in contact with several black characters (good and evil) that present an alternative view to the 1950s white man's world. I could tell that there might be a little bit of this in Lansdales' own past, perhaps.

In any event, A FINE DARK LINE had me laughing and it kept me engrossed. Having lived in the South (and in Texas for small stretches) it really sounded authentic to me. I hope they makes some of Lansdale's more conventional stuff into a movie some time...

Mister Joe Landsdale of East Texas, he can surely turn a phrase
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: Carmina Burana at loud volume
Topic: Focus on Author
One of my favorite new fixations is the fiction of Joe Landsdale. He is a writer from East Texas, and it's hard to really place him in any genre-- he's written SF, Horror, Westerns, modern crime, thrillers and mysteries. In recent months, I've read MUCHO MOJO (featuring two recurring characters, Hap and Leonard, who live in, you guessed it, East Texas). Much of what I've read so far has been framed as either a period thriller or a murder mystery. Landsdale's work is good in its own right, but new readers will treasure the way he can turn a phrase.

I'm keeping a list of memorarble Lansdale quotes from the books of his I've read so far. Here is a partial list:

Joe Lansdale quotes

From: FREEZER BURN

That guy had a wart for a dick. A thing like that can give you a pissed-off attitude,

It was as hot and sticky as the crack of a fat man's ass

As creepy as a masturbating fat girl on a nude beach.

As lonely as the last pig in a slaughterhouse line.

A woman like that, she could make you set fire to an old folks home and beat the survivors over the head as they ran out.

From SUNSET AND SAWDUST

(Sunset in a rape scene, page 2, Pete gets killed)

When he snapped his gun belt free, he tossed it nearby, and while he was on her, tugging at his zipper trying to put the mule in the barn, Sunset reached over and slipped his .38 revolver from its holster, and without him being aware, put it to his head, and gave him one to the temple.

When she pulled the trigger the shot was loud as Gabriel blowing her up to heaven, but it was Pete who went to heaven. Or departed, anyway. Sunset liked to think he got a nice chair in hell, right next to the oven.

Pete went limp, not in the organ he had intended to use, but all over. He said not a word, no “ouch” “oh shit”, or “can you believe that?” Things he liked to say under normal circumstances, moments of surprise and duress. He just took the hot load, cut fart near loud as the .38 shot, collapsed, and rode on out on Death's black horse.

(Jones has just killed himself with a giant crosscut saw at the lumber mill. Zack, a black lumber mill worker, has found Jones' wedding ring during the cleanup)

Zack thought about giving it to Mrs. Jones, then thought it might be better to take it into town and sell it. But if someone found out he sold the ring, it could go bad for him. So he put the ring in one of Jones' boots after removing what was left of ankle and foot. Interestingly enough, both boots were in good shape. No cuts, or tears, just bloody inside.

Later that night, at home, Zack thought about the beating Pete had given him and the way that Jones had made him carry the body (of Pete) back. He thought about the ring again and wished he had kept it.

A week later, Zack found a chunk of Jones, possibly a testicle, under a log fragment in the mill house. He kicked it around for a while before using a stick to toss it out to the one-eyed stray cat that hung around the mill.

The cat took it in its mouth and ran away into the woods.

(later)

It was Clyde Fox. He had removed his cloth cap and his black hair hung down, almost covered one of his eyes. He was big enough to go alligator hunting with stern language.

(later-- Sunset is attracted to “hillbilly” her deputy)

Sunset knew Hillbilly’s pat on the leg and remark were unnecessary and an excuse to touch her thigh, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything against it. She wished she could say: “put your hand here, your mouth there, twist one of my legs behind my head an make me say calf rope”

(later, Clyde the other deputy thinks Sunset is cute)

Clyde took a chair, watched her write. He liked watching her do most anything. Her hair was so red and long and smooth, flame-like, but much prettier in color than the fire that that had licked his home to death. Her face was smooth and pink-cheeked and she had about the most beautiful nose and mouth he had ever seen. He really liked her mouth. Last night, in his dreams, her mouth had played a prominent part. He even liked the way her feet fit in her work boots; there was something, so damn cute about those little feet in those work boots. And that thick gun belt. He shouldn't think of that as cute, but he did. If she had suddenly bent over and farted out “Old Man River” to the beat of her tapping feet, he knew he would have found that cute as well.

(Deputy Rooster encounters a blonde prostitute at McBrides apt)

He had seen her before (though he was now seeing a part of her he hadn't seen before), but he didn't know her name. When the blonde turned away, leading, her naked ass moved from side to side like a couple of happy babies rolling about.

(deputy Clyde again)

When they finished eating, Clyde said, “I think I'm going to be the first ass in that outhouse. I feel it coming”

from: MUCHO MOJO

I drove into town and rented a VCR and checked out a couple movies. Jaws, which I'd never seen, and Gunga Din, which I saw when I was head high to a cocker spaniel's nuts.

The big black cop didn’t' look at the white cop. You got the idea they did that kind of dull banter all the time, just to keep away. The black cop got a turd-colored cigar out of the inside of his coat and put it in his mouth and chewed it.

It was so dark in the back of the place you could have pulled your dick out and put on a rubber and no one would have known it.

(Ilium is dead, but the speaker doesn't know it)

“yeah, he runs all manner errands for the church. He's a real do gooder, that Illium. That sonsabitch dies, he's gone sit on the right hand of Jesus and Jesus gone give him a juice harp, personal like, let him play a few spirituals...

I figure Illium was probably twanging out a rendition of “the Old Rugged Cross” even as we spoke. I thanked the old man, paid up and started back to the house.

Hanson took a deep breath. He tried to smile but he had a face like a man that had just found a dog turd in his mouth.

In quite a different way, next door to us, operating against the law, but not restrained or bothered b it, a whole houseful of ball sweats were doing a similar thing, and we weren't stopping them.

She pointed the pistol at my groin, and I reached down and scooped it aside with my palm and jumped in close and grabbed her head with both my hands, and gave her a knee in the face. I figure I'd hear from the Southern Club for Manhood for that, but I didn’t give a shit, you try to hurt me, and I'm gonna hurt you back

---

For a real treat, check out an Audio interview with Lansdale
at the "Agony Column" website.

TWO TRAINS RUNNING by Lucius Shephard
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: Lucius Shephard interview on Agony Booth podcast
Topic: Book Review
Lucius Shephard is one of the few real true characters working in fiction today. Reading interviews about his life and work makes his real life adventures come off as cool as anything he writes about in his stories.

I first became a fan of Shephard with the publication of his near-future stories in F&SF magazine; these were in turn anthologized in the Gardner Dozois "BEST SCIENCE FICTION OF THE YEAR.." series. Shephard's stories are haunting and familiar, like they are taking place in a mirror image of reality but only a couple years later than today. Much of what he predicts in his fiction (smart suits, combat drugs, seeing eye gun tracking) has either came to pass or is in the works for the next generation of soldiers. Much of his story arcs concern themselves with an imagined war in Central America (a part of the world that he is very familiar with), and were later novelized on their own as LIFE DURING WARTIME and THE JAGUAR HUNTER.

The book I just finished, however, is not about a future war, and only a little bit of it is even fiction. TWO TRAINS RUNNING is three bits; the first bit is a lengthy article about hobos and the FTRA (Freight Train Riders of America), an alleged "hobo mafia" that might or might not have harbored homicidal maniacs at some point. The other two bits are short stories utilizing the settings and characters out of the FTRA story.

Frankly, the best part of the book is the non-fiction bit. It's humorous, wry and pointed. I like the fact that Shephard went out on the road with hobos and "catched out" to hop freights with them.. still, he doesn't pretend to reshape them as noble savages (as they probably would themselves). Shephard appreciates the romance of the hobo lifestyle but wouldn't trade his life for theirs for any money. And that's how most of us would react, too.

The stories are .. okay.

My next Shephard project is finding and reading COLONEL RUTHERFORD'S COLT, which appears to have some promise!

THE NARROWS by Michael Connelly
Mood:  cool
Now Playing: Black Flag
Topic: Book Review
Harry Bosch is back again, in all his cool, hip and noir glory. This is the big tie-in novel for all of author Michael Connelly's serial characters-- virtually every P.O.V. character from every series is tied up in a neat package here.. Harry Bosch (all the Bosch novels), Terry McCalleb (Blood Work et. al), and Rachel Walling (the Poet) all intersect as their plot lines come together for one big orgy of noir, sex and violence. What can I say? I think a lot of the "I'm gonna share universes and put all my characters together for a special novel" schtick is artificial, and the plot line strikes me as the most contrived Connelly book ever. There are so many POVs running simultaneously that it's hard to track. Still, Harry Bosch is Harry Bosch, and Harry Bosch is cool, violent, principled, unyielding. The character makes up for the deficiency in the plot. It's always a good time reading a Bosch novel...

The Other End of Time and The Siege of Eternity, by Fred Pohl
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: For time
Topic: Book Review
I like Fred Pohl's books generally speaking. JEM, GATEWAY, MAN PLUS, and THE SPACE MERCHANTS were great, fun, reads. Fred Pohl is a prototypical science fiction writer with a career spanning the Golden Age, the "New Era" and onward. His fiction usually revolves around an interesting idea (For instance, what if ancient aliens left behind an orbital with a host of exploration vessels capable of jumping into space, but nobody knows exactly where they are going?) Alas, it would seem that his output has declined in the last decade or so, though the penchant for a single cool idea is still present.

So when I picked up THE OTHER END OF TIME at the library (Audio Version, Cassette, Books on Tape) I had reasonable expectations. This is Fred Pohl, after all. THE OTHER END OF TIME is the first book in a series called Eschaton (the moment the universe collapses, when everyone who has ever lived will be reborn and live for eternity). Pretty heady concept.. but the execution in the first novel is glacial. The future is dystopic, economies on the brink of collapse. There's a wide gap between haves and have-nots in this future. A government agent is sent to spy on a space mission to a derelict satellite. He, and the rest of the mission, are kidnapped by aliens, taken through a dimensional portal, and held captive in a featureless 'no space" for a looong time. Much of the book takes place during this captivity. We learn there is a galactic war going on over "The Eschaton" (the universe collapse/rebirth thing), their captors might be good guys, bad guys or indifferent guys. They escape at the end, and that's about the sum total of the plot.

Interesting plot points (the big Pohl idea): instead of travelling someplace physically, the aliens use a tachyon transmitter to send digitized copies of beings instead. The hangup of course, is that you leave a perfect copy of yourself (or is it the original?) behind.

SIEGE OF ETERNITY takes up about five minutes behind the first novel. Pohl focuses most of his efforts on portraying an unrepentantly selfish world dealing with an unprecedented crisis. His world is politically unstable, with widespread terrorism, runaway inflation and rampant crime. Even most of the likable characters are more concerned with personal gain than with the larger problems of dealing with the alien threat, which doesnt seem to be taken seriously, at least inthis novel. Pohl is also very effective at presenting the Horch and Scarecrows as aliens, rather than funny looking humans.

SIEGE OF ETERNITY does pick up the pace quite a bit for all of that, and has given me the impetus I needed to finish the story.

Polaris, by Jack McDevitt: Marie Celeste in space
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: my banjo
Topic: Book Review
I love the archeological stories of Jack McDevitt, even when he's gone to the well many times, as he does in the Omega/Chindi/Engines of God sequence. McDevitt writes either mystery/thrillers with an archeological edge (A TALENT FOR WAR, POLARIS) or xenoarcheology pieces (ENGINES OF GOD, OMEGA, et. al) or a mixture of both. McDevitt used to share a rare honor of being on my "short list".. authors, like Ian Banks, George Fraser, and George Martin, that I usually pick up "keeper copies" of their novels and read more than once. Lately, however, I've found much of what he has written to be increasingly repetitive. That is not to say it's dull-- McDevitt may be a one-trick pony, but that pony can still perform.

POLARIS brings us back to the milieu of McDevitt's greatest book so far, A TALENT FOR WAR. The myth debunking hero of TALENT, Alex Benedict, returns as a secondary character along with the POV character of his lovely assistant Chase Kolpath. It's 60 some-odd years later, and we are presented with a plot similar to the old mystery of the marie celeste-- the ship that was found devoid of crew or passengers floating adrift in 1872.

In POLARIS, the titular ship is preparing to jump out of an solar system during a spectacular stellar event (with a passenger list of celebrities). Nothing happens. The ship is recovered, with no crew or passengers, suits and lifeboat intact. What happened?

Polaris is a great "whatdunit" in the classic McDevitt form, which means a very good read but also a formulaic one for this author. I wish Jack M. might consider branching out one of these days-- I love the archeology theme but he's done it to death. If this had been his first or third book, I might have sang the choir celestial over POLARIS, but as it is his sixth or seventh novel sharing this theme, I can merely shrug and give it a casual thumbs up.

I see by reviewing McDevitt's Bibliography that I've missed two small press books, HELLO OUT THERE and STANDARD CANDLES. The first is a combination of A TALENT FOR WAR and THE HERCULES TEXT, two unrelated novels. The second appears to be short stories. I'll keep an eye out for it!

Flashman, Rated by me
Mood:  mischievious
Now Playing: GeekBlog Podcast, boardgame geek
Topic: Literary Survey

I'm an unabashed fan of George Macdonald Fraser's FLASHMAN series, covering the career of one Harry Paget Flashman, who existed in literature as the swaggering bully of the somewhat unreadable TOM BROWN'S SCHOOL DAYS. Fraser's conceit is to examine what the career of Flashman might have been like had he pursued a career in the Victorian Army of the late 19th Century. Need I point out that nice guys finish last in a Fraser novel?

Flashy rogers, romps, fights and runs away over the course of 11 novels (so far) and there's every sign that the series will continue, with FLASHMAN AT THE MARCH (the Abysinnian Campaign) coming out this Spring. I look forward with baited breath.

Even a bad Flashy novel is better than a lot of drek that gets published these days. Yet I still have my preferences, which I'll voice here (along with a survey of the series so far). The covers represent the BRITISH version of the Flashy books (and they are quite handsome indeed!). I'm using them since I found this HTML table ready-made by a British fan, why reinvent the wheel, after all? However, the words are my own. Note Bene, my "ratings" really are just and indication of what I call the best and worst of the series, and they are simply my own opinion. Your mileage might vary. If I don't say it's either a favorite or least favorite, that means that Fraser did a workmanlike job on it.

1. Flashman Flashman's Early life, Afghan uprising 1839-1842. My third favorite, FLASHMAN is our introduction to the series and to Flashy's deplorable character. In a few short chapters, Flashy gets expelled from Rugby for drunkeness, rogers his father's mistress, joins the 11th Hussars, rogers a colleague's mistress, fights a rigged duel, and gets sent to India in time for the disasterous Kabul Expidition. I'm not even doing the story justice...

2. Royal Flash Lola Montez and Otto von Bismarck 1842-43; Schleswig-Holstein controversy 1847-48. A retelling of the PRISONER OF ZENDA, perhaps my second least favorite Flashman novel. Still, it has some wonderful moments, as ALL Flashman stories tend to have. Lola Montez and her penchant for hairbrushes comes to mind. Royal Flash also is one of the VERY few (tsk tsk) novels in the series where Flashman stands and fights, albeit briefly.

3. Flash For Freedom! American slave trade 1848-49. Not in my top 3 but definitely in my top 5. Flashy again gets involved in a contremps over cards, loose women and cheating, and flees England for a while at the instigation of the villainous Morrison (his father in law).. on of all things, a slave trading ship! The best part of the book is toward the end, with Fraser's droll observations about Americans through the voice of Flashy. And Flashman gets to meet a very young Abe Lincoln at the end!

4. Flashman At The Charge Crimean War (Charge of the Light Brigade), 1854; Central Asia, Battle at Fort Raim 1855. My absolute favorite Flashman novel, due to it being chock-full of historical personages and events, and just the sprawling bigness of the thing.. A reluctant Flashy gets sent to Sevastapol, to take part in no less than The Thin Red Line, the Charge of the Heavy Brigade and the Charge of the Light Brigade. Natch, he also rogers lots of doxies along the way, and even has a drug-induced moment of heroism at the very end!

5. Flashman In The Great Game Sepoy Indian Mutiny 1856-58. This, or Dragon, usually make my second favorite Flashman novel of all time. The great Indian mutiny of the late 50s.. Flashy poses as a native to avoid getting slaughtered.. and manages to roger the Rhani of Jhansi along the way.

6. Flashman's Lady Borneo Piracy, Madagascar 1842-45. This one is down there at the bottom. I don't know why, it just comes off as filler for the rather uneventful years between 42 and 49 for some reason. Still, Flash manages to have his lady wife kidnapped, rescues her, becomes the consort to the Queen of Madagascar, meets Rajah Brooke, and manages to roger a terrified member of a hareem in the middle of a battle.

7. Flashman And The Redskins The 1849 Gold Rush 1849-50; Battle of Little Big Horn, 1876. Probably my fourth favorite. Love the subject matter but I suspect it would be better served expanded into two standalone novels rather than one book made up of two half-novels. Still, there's a reason he does this and it's best that I don't reveal it here. Let's just say that the first part (the 49s) has a passage that, for me, represents the most despicable thing Flashy has ever done to a female, and part two (the Little Big Horn campaign) has all the chickens coming home to roost, as it were. Another great romp through American history..

8. Flashman And The Dragon Taiping Rebellion, 1860. My second or third favorite, depending on how I feel that day and who's asking. I love Chinese history and especially the TaiPing rebellion (this book inspired me to find out more about Frederick T. Ward... read THE DEVIL SOLDIER sometime, it reads like an improbable adventure novel!). Flashman gets involved in the thick of things, desperately involved in A) dodging a clumsy blackmail scheme B) romancing a giant bandit queen and C) taking part in the Allied Punitive Expedition. Another rare moment where Flashy actually stands and fights, this time against none other than Sang-Kol-Insen himself!

9. Flashman And The Mountain of Light Indian Punjab, Sikh Rebellion 1845-46. Fun, but not in the upper pantheon. Another filler book for the late 1840s, this one focuses on the Sikh rebellion. Again Flashy rogers his way to greatness. More forgettable than some of them, as I am currently drawing a blank on the details. Perhaps it's time to re-read this one.

10. Flashman And The Angel of the Lord John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry 1858-59. My fifth favorite, and a great improvement over Mountain of Light. Angel shows a much more humane and introspective Flashy.. he's absolutely mournful in his reminsciences here-- This is a very focused, tight story and of note due to the constant references to the giant gaping hole in the memoirs.. Flashman's experiences (on both sides) during the American Civil War (the book all Flashy fans want to see). Flashman's portrayal of John Brown is humane, charitable and even sympathetic.

---