"Marvels" by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross

I realize that it's a bit incongruous to talk about comic books in the context of a "literature blog," but I do read comic books on occasion, and they are books, right?

So here I am with "Marvels," which I just finished reading. This particular comic book was written by Kurt Busiek, and was drawn by the well-known Alex Ross. I'm really not sure what Kurt Busiek has done in the world of comics, but Alex Ross should be familiar to even the most marginal comic book fan.

"Marvels" is a retelling of the early Marvel Universe, starting from the appearance of the original Human Torch and ending with the death of Gwen Stacy. It offers a glimpse of the world of superheroes through the eyes of a decidedly average spectator, as he is swept up in a sort of superhuman revolution. The world is continually on the brink of destruction, and all mankind can do is wait for the Fantastic Four, the X-men, or the Avengers to swoop in and save the day.

In many ways, "Marvels" brings to mind DC's "Kingdom Come," which explored similar themes. Yet "Marvels" isn't quite as dark as DC's book, even if they shared the same artist. All in all, I'd have to say that "Kingdom Come" was a slightly more powerful effort, even if "Marvels" shares the same kind of grandeur.

"Under Pressure" (a.k.a. "The Dragon in the Sea") by Frank Herbert

"Under Pressure" was first serialized in Astounding magazine in 1955-1956. It has also gone by the titles "The Dragon in the Sea" and "21st Century Sub."

It isn't really a science fiction novel. All of the technology introduced in this book has been surpassed, and the submarine which forms the setting of most of the story is downright antiquated when compared to modern nuclear submarines. This book was well-researched, but the details inserted into the drama suggest World War II far more than 2011.

In the early 21st century, the world is divided between the eastern and western powers, both contending for the sake of the world's remaining oil reserves. Beset by saboteurs on every side, a crew of four men pilot a nuclear sub to the arctic circle, where they hope to retrieve oil from a well known only the the sub's captain.

This book is strongly reminiscent of Herbert's Destination: Void, in that we again see a dramatic conflict of universal proportions played out in a small, confined space. There is also a religious element shared between the two novels, though this element is more obvious in "Under Pressure." The captain of the sub often quotes Scripture to get his point across, and in doing so comes across sounding like a low-grade Captain Ahab.

Like Destination: Void, this book also gets quite boring in places, and some of the technical descriptions of the sub's interior seem entirely irrelevant - other than to convince readers of how smart Frank Herbert thought he was. It reminded me a lot of that film Das Boot, except with all of the interesting parts cut out. I never once found myself caring about the characters in this book, and the religious element, as said above, seemed very forced.

I would not recommend this book, even though it is often mentioned as one of Frank Herbert's "better efforts." I guess guys who like military thrillers might find this one more accessible, but it wasn't doing anything for me!

"A Separate Peace" by John Knowles

"A Separate Peace" was first published in 1959, and is the most famous of John Knowles' books. It was made into a movie in 1972, and was also adapted for TV in 2004. It is a book full of angst, and bears comparison to J.D. Salinger's "A Catcher in the Rye."

The book explores the friendship that develops between two young men on the eve of World War II. Phineas, the star of the school, is an avid sportsman and ringleader. Gene, his friend and the narrator of this story, is his co-conspirator and aspires to graduate at the top of his class. Early on in the story, an accident occurs, and the two are forced to reevaluate their relationship.

My mother recalls being forced to study this book in school. It is indeed that kind of book - the book that English teachers love to hand their students. It is short, has an easily discerned moral, and makes few demands on the reader. It is also a lot less controversial than "Catcher in the Rye," even if it is somewhat homoerotic.

This a good, solid book, but it's not particularly deep. It reads like one of those ABC Afterschool Specials, and is about as enlightening. Even so, it has a good heart, and it means well.

"Whipping Star" by Frank Herbert

"Whipping Star" was first published in 1970, and it is part of Herbert's "ConSentiency" series, which lies outside the Dune continuum. The ConSentiency universe is populated by all manner of alien races: some human, and some so remote from our own that communication becomes a matter of life and death.

"Whipping Star" is a kind of detective story, and in some respects it resembles Asimov's later Robot novels. The protagonist has discovered an alien life form, marooned on a distant planet, and the fate of the known universe rests upon his ability to communicate with this strange and incomprehensible being. The villain of the book is one of those "insectoid" women that are found in many Frank Herbert novels, a woman who will go to any length to satisfy her masochistic urges.

I am not a big fan of the mystery/suspense genre, and in this respect "Whipping Star" already has a mark against it. Detective stories usually seem so contrived to me, and no matter how clever the ending, there are always one or two improbabilities that call the protagonist's line of reasoning into question. Combining the detective genre with the sci-fi genre only seems to magnify this fault.

"Whipping Star" is OK, but not a book I would recommend. Herbert wrote better novels, and there are reasons that this one is among his more obscure offerings.

"Voss" by Patrick White

"Accordingly, when they made the midday halt, the German called to his dog, and she followed him a short way. When he had spoken a few words to her, and was looking into the eyes of love, he pulled the trigger. He was cold with sweat. He could have shot off his own jaw. Yet, he had done right, he convinced himself through his pain, and would do better to subject himself to further drastic discipline.

"Then the man scraped a hole in which to bury his dog. As the grave was rather shallow, he placed a few stones on top, and some branches from a ragged she-oak, which he found growing there beside the river.

"From a distance the members of his party could have been watching him.

"'What does it matter?' said Turner at last, who had been amongst the most vociferous in Gyp's defense. 'It is only a dog, is it not? And might have become a nuisance. It could be that he has done right to kill it. Only, in these here circumstances, we are all, every one of us, dogs.'"

"Voss" was first published in 1957, and Patrick White is the only Australian author to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was an argumentative, fiercely individualistic sort of person, and I'm sure that many of his peers found him intimidating.

Yet whatever his personal failings may have been, "Voss" is an indisputably great novel. It explores the relationship between Voss, the German immigrant to Australia, and Laura, one of the newly arrived "colonials" in New South Wales. The two share a brief intimacy prior to Voss's expedition into the Australian interior, after which point they are separated by miles of wilderness and all of the difficulties that beset the German in pursuit of his vaguely defined goal.

Patrick White's style of writing brings Faulkner to mind, though Voss lacks the labyrinthine sentences and book-length paragraphs that continue to make Faulkner a challenge. Both writers share a love of digressions into memory, both individual and racial. Both also share a love of cryptic statements that give one a sense of teetering on the brink of an abyss. Patrick White is a much easier read than Faulkner, yet not something you'd want to skim through. This book requires a higher level of attention from the reader.

I haven't read much Australian fiction, so I can't say how "Voss" stacks up against other Australian classics. I can say that "Voss" is a great book, and it has me wondering what other Australian writers are out there, waiting, unread.

"The Godmakers" by Frank Herbert

"The Godmakers" was first published in 1972, after both "Dune" and "Dune Messiah." It is, however, composed of several short stories that appeared much earlier, and were later combined to form this novel.

As the title suggests, the book outlines the creation of a deity, in the person of Lewis Orne. Lewis Orne works for a galactic organization in charge of maintaining peace, and in this capacity proves his skills admirably. He is promoted quickly through the ranks, and is eventually summoned to the planet Amel, where he learns that he will be the next God, or Messiah, or Prophet, or all three.

Unlike "Destination: Void," this book is more action-oriented, and less focused on explaining things. Herbert never bothers to explain exactly how or why Lewis Orne is the next "God," and I think that leaving this process to our imaginations is one of the book's many strengths. The story flows smoothly from beginning to end, and I never found myself bored by this one.

This novel is something like a streamlined version of "Dune," with all the random philosophizing and political subplots removed. As such, it is an immensely readable book, and probably one of the best things Herbert ever wrote. It has the kind of depth you would expect from a Frank Herbert novel, but avoids the digressions and overcomplicated subplots that bog down many of his other books.