Various Non-Comic Book Rapid Reviews

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett, illustrations by Brett Helquist. A decent little book with some twisty mystery and a bit of genuine art history thrown in for the fun of it. While it seems at moments that it's trying to be the Da Vinci Code for kids, it doesn't lean that far into the realm of impossibility. On the other hand, Charles Fort is a major aspect of the plot, and not entirely in a Fortean way. I liked it, and kids will enjoy it, but it's probably a bit light for many adults, who will find the way the plot wraps up a little disappointing.

The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian by Robert E. Howard. An extremely well-done compilation of the early Conan stories, with a nice chunk of scholarly excerpts and information, including maps, in as an addendum. This book is the perfect introduction to Howard's creation, and the place for a beginner to start. Or for a person whose only exposure to Conan so far has been the Kusiek/Nord comic book series. If there is any problem with this book, it's that Nord's artwork on the comic has spoiled me so much that the illustrations in this book, good as they are, are disappointing in comparison. Highly recommended.

The Bloody Crown of Conan by Robert E. Howard. Only three stories, compared with the dozen or so in the previous volume, but wow, what stories! In addition, there are synopsis of never written stories, and fragments from unfinished tales, along with explanations of why the stories were written as best as scholars can figure. I can hardly wait for the third volume of this series, which won't be out until next year some time. Definitely a must for any Conan fan, or anyone even mildly interested in the history of the REAL Conan.

Farscape [2-09]: Out of Their Minds: An alien weapon causes the crew members to switch bodies. Hubby-Eric has a pet peeve with this particular sci-fi TV cliche. Namely, the voices always switch along with the bodies. From a dramatic point of view, this allows the audience to recognize who is in which body, but from a physical point of view it makes no sense. So hubby would be happy to watch this one, in which the voices are only enhanced for a short time after the first switch, after that it's all the effort of the actors, and their actions as characters. Yes, they do pull a little trick to make it easier on themselves and the audience. As for the bad guys, aren't they refugees from Dark Crystal? Overall, a cute episode with a seriously overused concept.