1985 / Audiobook / 382 pages / USA
**
By the end of his illustrious career, Heinlein was mainly writing for himself and established fans who still cared. I've read some of the shared universe books that this one references, but that didn't lend any goodwill to this pervy retro farce. It doesn't take itself seriously, but it's never actually funny either.
Evan Dorkin based on the story by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
1991 / Ecomic / 75 pages / USA
***
It's not exactly a cinematic classic, but the Bill & Ted sequel was one of the defining films of my childhood and the one I'd most like to see in a restored director's cut, incorporating the various randomly deleted scenes that are still present in this premature comic version. It also fascinatingly suggests that Bill Sadler's Death was going to be an unwieldy skeleton of some kind, seemingly something of a last-minute decision after they'd got more important stuff like the costumes sorted. The adaptation was efficient, I get more of the references now than when I was six.
Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham, Miracleman Book Four: The Golden Age
****
Alan Moore left this comic in a right state, but Gaiman embraces the disconcerting utopia, telling disparate tales of people, gods and resurrected android replicants trying to find their place in the new world order. By focusing on the little people it's more relatable than Moore's Miracleman became, but without those three volumes of context I imagine it would be pretty impenetrable. It's hard enough when you're following along.
Harlan Ellison, The Voice from the Edge Vol. 4: The Deathbird & Other Stories
1957-2010 (collected 2011) / Audiobook / USA
****
These audio anthologies are a long way from scraping the barrel yet, with most of these stories and novellas being winners or nominees of some prestigious award or other. The tone's generally pretty grim, but nothing you should take too seriously.Faves: 'The Deathbird,' 'The Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore,' 'Count the Clock That Tells the Time.'
Worsties: 'Ellison Wonderland,' 'The Creation of Water,' 'The Beast Who Shouted Love at the Heart of the World.'
2014 / Audiobook / 383 pages / Canada
**
Blindsight is one of the best modern sci-fi books I've read, so I had reasonable hopes for the sequel that didn't take long to get dashed. The author continues his philosophical discourse through transhumans and unconvincing technology and pushes the space gothic vibes further, but he neglects to make the story entertaining this time around.
