One of my personal word nerd-related pet peeves is the use of the word “till” in the place of the word “until” or “to.” It’s silly, I know, but it’s right there with the phrase “a whole nother.” Perhaps this is simply me showing my American-ness, but it just feels wrong. Wrong to say, wrong to write, wrong to read.

Needless to say, when I first saw the title of William Shatner’s autobiography, Up Till Now, I admittedly cringed inside.

Of course, what self-respecting Trek fan wouldn’t want to read Shatner’s autobiography, right? Okay, I have a confession. I’m not that much of TOS fan. What? I was born in the 70s. My Trek Attention Span is pretty much from TNG to Voyager (sorry, Sam, but I know way more about your Leaping than your Enterprising). I am nearly finished with watching all of the original episodes, but my heart remains in the 24th century.

That being said, I also remember growing up in the era of anti-Shatnerism. I remember the SNL “Get a Life” skit and the subsequent nerd fallout. I remember all the rumors about how the rest of the TOS cast hated Captain Kirk, about how he was self-absorbed and a bit of a dick.

Obviously, I came to this autobiography carrying a great deal of Shatner baggage. And I’m not even a fan of the original series!!

I’m so glad I got over my preconceived notions of Shatner, because this is a remarkable read. Shatner is Shatner, of course. Has he changed? Or has our perception of him changed? I don’t know, really. To hear him tell it, he was just misunderstood for a long time. Perhaps that’s true. Or perhaps time smoothed out the wrinkles. Or perhaps it’s because he is quite possibly the most ubiquitous performer alive today. There are very few entertainment corners into which he has not beamed his uniquely Shatnerian light: movies, television, music, theater, advertising…let’s face it, when you’re the Big Giant Head, you can’t help but be everywhere:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMUX_f0hyn0&w=480&h=390]

Whatever it is, I devoured this book. Starting from his childhood in Montr

Inspired by my recent reading of Patti LuPone’s memoir, I decided it was time to dig out that copy of Eudora Welty’s The Robber Bridegroom and give it a go finally. One of LuPone’s first musical gigs was playing Rosamond in the musical adaptation of Welty’s story.

I feel rather badly about this post because I really didn’t like this story at all. I can’t find any objective fault with it. Welty was a skilled writer and her story was imaginative and whimsical…a Brothers Grimm-inspired fairytale embedded into the mythology of Americana by way of the Deep South.

True, there were aspects and attitudes of the tale that I found questionable at best and deplorable at worst, but I know they are merely reflections of attitudes and actions that were at one time considered acceptable by many within this country. Still, Welty was progressive in many aspects of this tale, particularly taking into consideration that she was writing this fairytale as a woman from Mississippi in the early 1940s, a time in which prevailing attitudes toward women’s roles in all aspects of American life were being reevaluated and readjusted, thanks in part to the shift in responsibilities brought about by World War II.

All that being said, I simply don’t like this story. I felt no kinship or connection to any of the characters, I’m not particularly enamored of the particular time in American history during which this story was set, and I simply couldn’t be bothered to feel any degree of enthusiasm at any time while reading this novella. Thank the prophets it’s not long; I don’t think I could have made it through had it been longer than it was.

Final Verdict: I’m sure that those who are fond of Americana and/or fairytales turned slightly on their ears will enjoy this story. However, I’m releasing Ms. Welty’s Robber Bridegroom and all his quirky friends to more welcoming pastures than mine.

I adore Patti LuPone as much as I adore musicals. In fact, a large reason why I love musicals so much is because of LuPone. Hers is a voice of controlled conflict

Bet you all thought that I was finished with my BookBin backlog, didn

I

I hadn

So I bet a lot of you thought to yourselves,

So this is it, denizens. This is what has been the bane of my literary existence for quite some time. True, when the slog became too tedious, I stopped to read some books that I thought I might actually enjoy. Then again, I thought I would enjoy this anthology.

Oh so wrong was I.

I purchased this anthology almost 10 years ago at a charity book sale at my first Big Girl job. I purchased quite a few books that day, including several mint/near mint Stephen King books that I still haven’t read. I believe they might end up on the scheduled reading list at some point this year.

I honestly thought that this more than 700-page tome (which includes more than 100 pages of preface material) would be an inevitable favorite. True, I much prefer to read science fiction than fantasy, but I do enjoy a good fantasy romp now and again. Plus, I’m such a horror junkie that I figured there would be plenty in the mix for me to love.

Right off the bat, I think that the editors of this anthology confused the term “fantasy” with the term “miscellaneous,” because that’s what this collection screams to me. It comprises stories that I wouldn’t in a million years categorize as fantasy stories…and, yes, I do understand that this is already a wide-reaching genre, covering stories from Mary Poppins to His Dark Materials to Edward Scissorhands to Xena. Still, there’s something about several of the stories in this collection that strikes me as decidedly lacking in that fantasy je ne sais quoi. They simply seem to be lacking in anything that would be easily defined as belonging to any other genres as well. So just throw them in with the fantasy grouping. No one will notice.

Also, I’m either far more nonplussed by fear than I used to be, or there are hardly any horror stories in this anthology. I think the only story that really got under my skin in any way was Tim Lebbon’s “White.” Lebbon strikes a strong, disconcerting stride, leaving you descending further and further into a world designed to keep you uneasy, unsettled, uncertain.

Paul J. McAuley also provides a delightfully macabre tale with his “Naming the Dead”; “The Disappearance of Elaine Coleman” by Steven Millhauser was indeterminably chilling; and Gemma Files’ “The Emperor’s Old Bones,” Steve Rasnic Tem’s “Halloween Street,” and Tia V. Travis’s “The Kiss” finally prove that sometimes anthologies do save the best for (near the) last.

Add to this the fact that Neil Gaiman makes two strong appearances, “Harlequin Valentine” and “Keepsakes and Treasures: A Love Story,” and it almost sounds as though I’m not too sure about the fate of this book’s future in my collection. The thing is this though: I recently purchased Gaiman’s Fragile Things, which contains both of the stories from this anthology. As for the other stories I mentioned, as much as I enjoyed them, I feel that the disappointment of the rest of this anthology still greatly outweighs any delight that these few non-Gaiman tales brought me.

Final Verdict: Be gone, oh ye tome of terrific disappointment. I’m tired of dusting you. I will, however, list your Table of Contents so that others might see what you possess and decide for themselves whether or not they’d like to give you a go:

• “Darkrose and Diamond” by Ursula K. Le Guin
• “The Chop Girl” by Ian R.MacLeod
• “The Girl Detective” by Kelly Link
• “The Transformation” by N. Scott Momaday
• “Carabosse” (poem” by Delia Sherman
• “Harlequin Valentine” by Neil Gaiman
• “Toad” by Patricia A. McKillip
• “Washed in the River” (poem) by Beckian Fritz Goldberg
• “The Dinner Party” by Robert Girardi
• “Heat” by Steve Rasnic Tem
• “The Wedding at Esperaza” by Linnet Taylor
• “Redescending” (poem) by Ursula K. Le Guin
• “You Don’t Have to Be Mad…” by Kim Newman
• “The Paper-Thin Garden” by Thomas Wharton
• “The Anatomy of a Mermaid” by Mary Sharratt
• “The Grammarian’s Five Daughters” by Eleanor Aranson
• “The Tree is My Hat” by Gene Wolfe
• “Welcome” by Michael Marshall Smith
• “The Pathos of Genre” (essay) by Douglas E. Winter
• “Shatsi” by Peter Crowther
• “Keepsakes and Treasures: A Love Story” by Neil Gaiman
• “What You Make It” by Michael Marshall Smith
• “The Parwat Ruby” by Delia Sherman
• “Odysseus Old” (poem) by Geoffrey Brock
• “The Smell of the Deer” by Kent Meyers
• “Chorion and the Pleiades” (poem) by Sarah Van Arsdale
• “Crosley” by Elizabeth Engstrom
• “Naming the Dead” by Paul J. McAuley
• “The Stork-Men” by Juan Goytisolo
• “The Disappearance of Elaine Coleman” by Steven Millhauser
• “White” by Tim Lebbon
• “Dear Floods of Her Hair” by James Sallis
• “Mrs Santa Decides to Move to Florida” (poem) by April Selley
• “Tanuki” by Jan Hodgman
• “At Reparata” by Jeffrey Ford
• “Skin So Green and Fine” by Wendy Wheeler
• “Old Merlin Dancing on the Sands of Time” (poem) by Jane Yolen
• “Sailing the Painted Ocean” by Denise Lee
• “Grandmother” (poem) by Laurence Snydal
• “Small Song” by Gary A. Braunbeck
• “The Emperor’s Old Bones” by Gemma Files
• “The Duke of Wellington Misplaces his Horse” by Susanna Clarke
• “Halloween Street” by Steve Rasnic Tem
• “The Kiss” by Tia V. Travis
• “The Beast” (poem) by Bill Lewis
• “The Hedge” (poem) by Bill Lewis
• “Pixel Pixies” by Charles de Lint
• “Falling Away” by Elizabeth Birmingham

I debated whether or not to post Rough Justice: The DC Comics Sketches of Alex Ross to the BookBin. It admittedly contains the bare minimum text possible. If you’re just reading the book, in fact, I’m willing to bet you could zip through this in less than an hour.

However, if you’re a comic art geek like me, you’re going to spend as much time with this book as you possibly can. I received this as an early Christmas present from my California Dreamin’ friend (thank you again, Z), and I haven’t gone a day without picking it up and looking at it since. Why? Because the inside is just as gorgeous as this cover art:

Seriously, I’m such a sucker for beautiful comic art. And, even though I do enjoy abstract or reinvigorated interpretations, comic artist extraordinaire Alex Ross continuously blows me away with his almost photo-realistic renderings of some of our most beloved comic stars. His specialty is obviously Superman, but this book is filled with gorgeous renderings of many of DC Comics’ big hitters and several lesser known players resurrected by Ross either for proposed or accepted revisits to their worlds.

[Loba Tangent: Oh, and before any of you start getting strange ideas about the sadomasochistic quality of the title, it’s called Rough Justice because most of the drawings within are rough pencil or marker sketches. Doesn’t matter though; even with nothing more than a pencil, Ross is an exemplary artist.]

Probably the most interesting of these proposed revisits was a redesign that Ross came up with for Barbara Gordon’s Batgirl. He formulated a new storyline for her and even came up with some beautiful sketches of what he envisioned his new, darker Batgirl would look like. Perhaps she looks familiar?

Yep, Ross’s redesign of Barbara Gordon’s Batgirl costume was slightly modified to become Kate Kane’s Batwoman costume (thankfully said modifications included getting rid of those ridonculous heels).

I’m going to stop here because I realize that this entry will quickly become nothing more than me posting my favorite images from this book if I don’t. Suffice it say, if you are a comic fan and love Alex Ross as much as I do (or are new to the comics world and would like to see some of the best that the best has to offer), then you need this book.

Final Verdict: Wow, I’m 5 for 5 this year. Guess it’s time to return to that anthology. Only 100 more pages to go…

But before I do, one more image. You know I can’t end this post without leaving you with Ross’s take on Wonder Woman, right? Especially with as unenthusiastic as I was about the artwork from The Circle. This should make it better: