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INTERVIEWS

Peter Higgins, author of Wolfhound Century

Myke Cole, author of Shadow Ops Series

John Brown John, translator of the Zamonia Novels

Jim C. Hines author of Libriomancer

Nick Harkaway author of Angelmaker (review here)

Martha Wells author of The Cloud Roads

David Tallerman author of Giant Thief

Mazarkis Williams author of The Emperor's Knife

Rob Ziegler author of Seed

Steven Gould author of 7th Sigma

Douglas Hulick author of Among Thieves (review here)

Mark Charan Newton author of Nights of Villjamur (review here)

Kameron Hurley author of God's War (review here)

Brent Weeks author of The Black Prism (review here)

Anthony Huso author of The Last Page (review here)

Brandon Sanderson author of The Way of Kings (review here)

Lou Anders Editor of Pyr Books

Ian Tregillis author of Bitter Seeds (review here)

Sam Sykes author of Tome of the Undergates (review here)

Benjamin Parzybok author of Couch (review here)

Kristine Kathryn Rusch author of Diving Into the Wreck (review here)

Ken Scholes author of Lamentation

Cherie Priest author of Boneshaker (review here)

Lev Grossman author of The Magicians (review here)

Character Interviews

Alexia and Lord Maccon from Gail Carriger's Soulless

Lord Akeldama from Gail Carriger's Soulless

Eva Forge from Tim Akers's The Horns of Ruin

Atticus from Kevin Hearne's Hounded

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My BlogCatalog BlogRank Wikio - Top Blogs - Literature

MINI REVIEW | Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon

Inherent Vice is Pynchon letting himself loose and just having a good time, which is exactly what you'll do when you read the story of Doc Sportello, would be PI, as he wanders around greater Los Angeles, usually stoned, on odd ball cases. Pynchon works in bad cops, even badder pimps, druggies, and ladies of the evening, but he makes it all feel appropriate with a levity few authors have mastered.

Doc is an immediately likable character and Pynchon has done his homework as he works in minuscule period references throughout the narrative. Nearly every chapter Pynchon squeezes in a song from the time, including the lyrics which was a bit overdone by the end especially since I knew so few of them. But the dialogue is what you'll crave as Sportello takes every opening to snake in a joke.

More and more cases fall into Doc's lap as the stakes keep getting more dangerous. Somehow most of the pieces fall together in the end yet somewhat haphazardly, but you'll be grinning all the way to the slightly lackluster ending. If anything the story suffers from Pynchon trying to squeeze too much in with aimless additions such as visiting relatives. Comparisons to The Big Lebowski are quite apt, but Doc is his own beast and is a much better detective than The Dude ever could be. I give Inherent Vice 7.5 out of 10 Hats. If you're in the mood to see LA ala Dragnet style from the hippie's point of view this is definitely worth the trip. I'd also venture to say that this is Pynchon's most accessible read ever and not only because of the trim page count.  Great vacation read material.


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