Fairy Tale Spotlight: Babes in Toyland [Book Review]

[Some minor points are spoiled about this story.]

"Babes in Toyland" is a book written by James Howe. It was published in 1986, but it is actually based on an operetta from 1903.

Right off the bat, I want to say that this book is a hidden gem. I had no idea how fun this one was going to be. I wanted to read it because I was a fan of the Disney movie from 1961. I liked the whole idea of a dastardly villain and his henchman trying to ruin people's lives and even kill people to suit their selfish desires. Where the movie did indeed have these ideas, the book takes it a step further that I never expected.

The thing that surprised me was how evil the evil people were. They were so quick to kill people, even relatives and children if it would only make them feel better. Barnaby was the villain of this story, and he was trying to kill the lover of Contrary Mary so that she would be forced to marry him. It was all just so devious. The things people do for sex, jeez!

The whole story is set in a fairy tale world where characters from nursery rhymes are sort of just living normal lives. There are still fairies and magical things present, but it all seems normal and expected to the people encountering them. Even the addition of Toyland, the place where all the Christmas toy come from, felt like just another city. It's really a very interesting setup for a story.

One major difference from the movie came by way of the Master Toymaker. In the movie, he was extremely lovable and even invented a special toy that was already pulled apart for children who always broke their own toys. He was lovable and endearing. But in the book, he is a murderous old man who is constantly plotting to murder the children he makes the toys for. I was so shocked by this. Apparently this is how it was with the operetta too. Disney just changed it.

Honestly, I like both versions, but the book is definitely my favorite. I also want to give a big shoutout for the superb illustrations. They were done by someone named Allen Atkinson, and they really brought everything to life with these very detailed paintings.

"Babes in Toyland" is a wonderful fairy tale, and I do recommend it. This book is a bit obscure, but it is still floating around out there. If you are a lover of fairy tales with dastardly villains going against courageous heroes, then you should definitely not pass this one up. It was just so much fun to read.

This blog was written on March 15, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Yankee in Oz [Book Review]

[Contains spoilers for a story nobody reads anymore.]

"Yankee in Oz" is the forty-first book in the Oz series started by L. Frank Baum. It was written by Ruth Plumly Thompson and published in 1972. Yep, she's back and an old woman now!

"Yankee in Oz" follows a little dummer boy named Tompy and a space dog named Yankee through their travels in Oz. Yes, a space dog. It's actually a dog that was sent in an orbit around the moon, but when they tried to land the capsule back down, it ended up in Oz. This is great because the dog can talk now, and he is pretty darn patriotic about the American Air Force throughout the book.

The book follows Ruth's usual formula for sending people through Oz before getting to the actual story. They have to pass through a bunch of randomly themed locations that tend to want to capture them, but it's not as bad as in some of her earlier works.

The real plot comes in with the return of what is clearly one of Ruth's favorite characters, Jinniky the Red Jinn, a middle eastern themed wizard from Ev that is about as nuts as he is friendly. I've always liked this guy personally. He reminds me a lot of the Genie from the Disney Aladdin film but with more control over his life and destiny. He is the ruler over his domain after all. He also considers him a direct competitor to the Wizard of Oz and is always trying to show him up.

The villain of the story is a creepy caveman with way too much power. He has this magical net that he can cast anywhere in Oz and pull whatever he wants to his lonely mountain. He usually uses it to capture princesses to do his housework and cooking for him. The only silly thing is that his name is Badmannah, which strikes me as lazy naming.

Yankee is a decent character and worthy of being the book's titular character. One funny thing about the dog is that he is always trying to tell his and Tompy's story throughout the book, but nobody ever has time to listen to him. This always makes him crestfallen, but he always tries to do it at the next meeting. I found this aspect of him especially cute.

Two things stood out to me in this one. The first was a very strange place where people in a town were broken down into powder and stored away when they weren't needed. When their talents were required, you would mix them with water and bring them back. This was both creepy and cool.

This Oz book also does something very rare. It stays with Tompy after he returns to his home for a fairly long chapter dealing with the idea that his dog won't be able to talk anymore and what that means. It is all fairly well done here, and I liked how the author resolves this awkward situation.

All in all, it's not a bad book. I do recommend "Yankee in Oz" to Oz enthusiasts. It surprised me in some places. Although not her best, it's far from her worst. It's full of neat ideas that are executed in a decent manner, making it a perfect addition to the Oz library.

This blog was written on March 11, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Purloined Letter [Short Story Review]

[Some spoilers included but not the ending.]

"The Purloined Letter" is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe. It was published in 1845. This is the third detective story in the Dupin series which has been the bane of my existence since I began them. I don't hate this one, but I don't like it either.

This seems to be the shortest one of the series and has a rather interesting premise of an important letter stolen from a woman in order to gain certain power and privilege. It's a tad vague on how this works, or maybe it wasn't. The story is exceedingly overwritten to the point that it overcomplicates what is actually happening. I get the gist though.

The fun of this story has to do with the prefect and how he did everything he possibly could to find this letter. He seems to have been more than thorough enough, but couldn't seem to locate where it was. He then leaves it to Dupin who finds it easily. The mystery revolves around how the heck Dupin succeeded in this, which I won't spoil.

It's readable. There was one detail that Dupin quotes in some other language, and that was annoying. And the very last line was in another language too. I translated it and still had no idea what the joke was, so that kinda makes it worse than how the first story ended. Much of it was overwritten and overthought and just lasts longer than it really needed to be. Even though it's a little more palatable on the whole, I still don't really recommend "The Purloined Letter." Just because it's an improvement doesn't mean it's good. Moving on.

This blog was written on March 3, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Rat [Short Story Review]

"Rat" is a short story written by James Patrick Kelly. It was published in 1986. I came so close to ripping on this story in this review. I got half way through it and was so angry. But something happened that changed how I felt about it.

The only reason I read this story at all was because I was such a fan of "Think Like a Dinosaur." I wanted to look into the other titles that James Patrick Kelly had written. Really, that story charmed the hell out of me. When that sort of thing happens, I sometimes peek around a bit to see what else is out there.

Being a fan of rats, I saw a title that suited my own personal interest and picked it up. A story about a rat. I can deal with that... or so I thought. My first session with this story was fraught with confusion. I made it half way and had no idea the details and scale of the story. It was a confusing mess, and I was pretty angry. Realizing I only had halfway to go, I was already preparing to write a very mean review, ripping it apart.

I thought better of myself though. I wondered if the confusion was my fault. I went onto the internet and began reading reviews. It was very mixed. A few people felt the same way I did. Everything in the book felt random and disconnected. It was a bit like reading a jigsaw puzzle that had not been assembled yet. But then something changed everything. I happened upon the synopsis, and this is what it said:

In a hard-edged cyberpunk future, a courier has stolen a load of the most dangerous, most dazzling drug ever invented and is smuggling it into New York City. Pursued by a hired hit woman disguised as a young girl and a federally-appointed vigilante, he must find his way through the mean streets of Manhattan to his lair. He is ruthless, amoral, and a rat. Not just figuratively, but literally: a two-foot-long, walking, talking rat. Hearing is believing.

This synopsis actually acts as a cypher for the complete story. If you read it, and then immediately read the story... it all makes sense. It's like unlocking the keys to your comprehension! Why did he do it this way?

The last line of the synopsis, "hearing is believing," really spells it out. This is a story about ridiculously unrelated thing all assembled in a surprising cohesive manner. It all works, but if you aren't ready for it, it's going to sound like gibberish. In order to understand this story, you simply must believe everything it says even if you normally wouldn't. That's the trick. It's a story all about suspending your disbelief.

In that sense, this is actually a great example of bizarro fiction. Bizarro fiction is all about taking a ridiculous concept and then writing it as seriously as you possibly can. "Rat" completely does this, and, for that reason, I recommend it. It's a good science fiction story too to the tune of Blade Runner. Just make sure you read the synopsis first. You're gonna need it.

This blog was written on March 2, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Moon Zero Two [Book Review]

"Moon Zero Two" is a book written by John Burke, and it was published in 1969. It is based on the movie of the same name, but this book is actually pretty special for what it is. I've been looking forward to this review.

The whole concept from the ground up was to have an actual western set on the moon: traditionally called a moon western. The idea is that during the Cold War, the U.N. ends up building a city on the moon, and everyone just ends up putting their differences aside to participate in it to some degree. Trust me, I know anything involving the U.N. doing anything cool is unrealistic, but it only serves as a raw setup in the story, and, to be honest, it gets more criticism in the story than praise, since they tend to be aggressively bureaucratic throughout the book. All said, it's not really all that important.

The fun of the story revolves around Kemp who was the first man to land on Mars during man's space exploration days. But like many ventures, it falls apart because of money or lack of interest. Now all he does is do scavenging and ferry work around the moon... and he hates it. This part is sadly realistic. Every time humans do anything amazing, it always ends up going nowhere once people realize they are spending too much money. It's pathetic, and the writers of this story probably understood that.

Kemp just wants to go back to exploring. And when a corrupt business tycoon shows up and makes him an offer that might get him a new ship and possibly a chance to explore again, it was too tempting to pass up. Here we end up having plot-points indicative of a standard western. The tycoon wants to try and land a 600 ton asteroid made of pure sapphire on the far side of the moon in order to strike it rich. I don't really want to spoil any more than that though since the story is a constant stream of very interesting twists and turns.

As a western, everything you'd want is there: gun fights (using realistic Gyrojet rocket pistols), bar room brawls, and even a scary trek through a dessert. There is also love and loss as characters clash into one another. The only western trope that seems to be missing is the whole stand-off, but I didn't really miss it.

The thing that makes this book so incredible is that the author was allowed to put his own creative spin on it. It was surprisingly written in first person. Trust me on this, that... never... happens... not in literary adaptations anyhow. This book is also a great example of a book written off the original script. The movie sadly had a few places that broke my emersion. The story itself is mostly hard scifi, despite trying to be a western, but there are moments where they break the perception of this: such as having some scenes in a vacuum with sound effects... or having a clearly marked anti-gravity switch placed in the barroom in order to have a fight set in 1/6th gravity!!! (Seriously, why wasn't that switch placed in a secure area rather than around a bunch of drunk people?!)

The book doesn't make any of the mistakes that the movie makes. Not even one. Not even half of one. It's hard scifi from beginning to end. Everything in a vacuum is eerily silent, and there isn't even artificial gravity at all in the moon city. This book is extremely solid and surpasses an already good movie by a wide margin. Not to mention that giving the author the ability to relate in first person with his own character is such a great way to present him to the reader. His thoughts and feeling throughout the book were so witty and enjoyable.

Much more than the movie, I whole-heartedly recommend the book for "Moon Zero Two." It is a near perfect execution of a "moon western." It is also a hard scifi with a lot of startling realism for a plot that most everyone else would not have had the heart to take seriously. I may never find another literary unicorn like this again.

This blog was written on February 28, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Think Like a Dinosaur [Short Story Review]

[I do not spoil the ending of this story.]

"Think Like a Dinosaur" is a science fiction short story written by James Patrick Kelly. It was published in 1995, making it one of the rarer reads for me. I tend to read stories from much earlier, but something about this one called to me quite hard.

The whole idea of the story is that you have a race of aliens that look a little like dinosaurs. Although they have emotions, they are very cold and pragmatic about everything. However, the thing that is the most important to them is balance. Everything must exist in a state of harmony, and the equation must always be balanced.

This is where the concept of teleportation comes into play. The aliens have a technology that can do a complete scan of a person and then transmit that information to another world in the galaxy. From there, the entire person will be assembled and brought to life. But here the dinos have a problem: there are now two copies of the person, one on each side of the transmission, causing the equation to become imbalanced. A button is pressed, and the person on the transmission side is quickly vaporized/murdered, bringing harmony back to the equation. Interesting, yeah?

This kind of gets into the whole Star Trek transporter debate as to who is really on the other side once the transmission is complete. You might also say that the person on the transporter pad is being killed at the moment he is transported away. It's something I have thought about for a long time, and this story tries to deal with it in a clever way.

The main character of the story is a human named Michael who is charged with being the human liaison with the dinos in helping other humans migrate back and forth between Earth and the other planets. The dinos constantly see humans as "weepy," or, in other words, they just don't have the maturity as a species to mess around with teleportation technology. They equate human sensibilities with their own immature children. To think like a dinosaur, you have to embrace the cold logic of balance.

Michael's ultimate test comes when there is a mistake made by the dinosaurs during a transmission. The dino thinks that it was not successful, so the passenger, a young woman, is removed from the machine. But that was a mistake. She did actually arrive on the other side. Once this is confirmed, Michael then has to make a difficult decision. The dinos want the equation to be balanced. If Michael cannot murder this woman in cold blood, the dinos may likely pull all teleportation technology away from the immature humans forever. What will he do? Will he retain his humanity.... or will he think like a dinosaur?

I entirely recommend "Think Like a Dinosaur," but it is a little hard to find on its own. Even though it is still available in the written form, I would like to point out that there are a couple of other ways to experience this story. There is an excellent episode of "The Outer Limits" that tells the entire story without alteration. It is the 8th episode of Season 7, in case you are wondering. You can also find an audio drama of this story from the excellent Seeing Eye Theater series. All versions of "Think Like a Dinosaur" are good, and I recommend them all. Enjoy!

This blog was written on February 26, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: In Search of the Castaways [Book Review]

"In Search of the Castaways" is a large three-part novel written by Jules Verne. It was published in 1867-68. I read this one because I grew up with the action-packed Disney movie of the same name.

The story is about Lord Glenarvan and his quest to find the lost captain of the Britannia, Captain Grant, after finding a message in a bottle... this bottle found inside of a captured shark. The message, although written in three languages, was so waterlogged that it was nearly impossible to interpret. Having so little to go on, they still sail out on a steam yacht to go find him.

Right at the beginning of the story, the extremely entertaining character known as Paganel, a Frenchman, accidently bumbles onto their vessel and joins their party. The son and daughter of Captain Grant also join the crew, for it is for them and their father that everyone if fighting so hard. There are others too, and they are all very interesting in their own right.

The story spends most of its time just describing what everything is like in various parts of the world, as that silly message in a bottle takes them all over the globe. Action scenes are few and far between, but when they happen, they are absolutely extraordinary. Insane things happen to this crew which make up for much of the slow storytelling. And to be fair, the light-heartedness of the adventure is not really bad. It kept my interest well enough.

The main reason the adventurers end up traveling the entire globe is due to the constant misinterpretation of the original message in the bottle. It was mostly Paganel's fault, but it's hard to be upset with the man since he really is the story's comedy relief. Honestly, the story wouldn't be much without the Frenchman. He keeps everything so lively and fun throughout the book.

I mentioned early on that I read this book because I was a fan of the Disney movie. Although the book is better, there was one aspect of the film that I was sad to not see in the original work. There was this old man named Bill Gay that was probably the most entertaining person in the entire film. Unfortunately he wasn't anywhere in the book, and that made me a little sad. That said, the movie really does not reflect the book well at all and goes out of its way to make Lord Glenarvan look like a fool. Very inaccurate and even a little insulting. At the very least, they got Paganel... mostly correct.

All in all, I totally recommend "In Search of the Castaways." It's a long read though! If you start this one, be prepared for a commitment! I am chuckling at myself though. I have been trying to read more science fiction lately, and the two Jules Verne books I've read so far are anything but science fiction. Whoops!

This blog was written on February 22, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Immortality, Inc. [Book Review]

[Some spoilers included.]

"Immortality, Inc." is a science fiction novel written by Robert Sheckley. It was published in 1959. This book is a wild ride with so many odd ideas that compiles into one of the strangest visions of the future I have ever read about.

The story is set in 2110, but actually starts off in 1958. Thomas Blaine ends up getting in a car accident but then wakes up in a future in the wrong body. It was an illegal time travel experiment where a person's soul can be ripped out of the past and into the future, placed in an entirely new body. From here, Thomas experiences the very strange world of 2110 which is not really as much of a dystopia as it seems at first.

Humans have colonized other planets. Hilariously the Chinese has taken over Mars. People can buy bodies to switch into if they are going to die. Zombies are a thing, although they live down in the sewers of New York and keep to themselves. Also the afterlife has been scientifically proven. All sorts of crazy stuff has happened in all that time!

The whole thing with the afterlife is the main aspect of the book. Because people found out that there was life after death, people became a lot more cavalier with their lives. Suicide became more commonplace. But as it turns out, you have to train your mind to be stable enough to pass on to the other side, which is why they actually sell insurance for it: Hereafter Insurance. I'm not joking.

You can actually buy insurance that will insure that you will go to the other side when you die. This story has almost nothing to do with how Christianity is presented, by the way, but it does leave the question as to what is actually on the other side of life. People know it exists but they don't know what form it exists in. Very interesting.

This book also takes some beats from the 1924 story "The Most Dangerous Game." Because some people know they are going to have an afterlife, it becomes legal to murder them. Hunting humans is actually a sport in this world. It's not considered real murder because they technically keep living. Crazy, right?

Aside from taking inspiration from a different story, this book also seems to have inspired other things as well. Remember the suicide booths from Futurama? That was pulled directly from "Immortality, Inc." There was even a line leading up to one that Thomas accidently stands in.

The zombies also seem to have inspired Futurama as well. Zombies are just dead bodies that spirits are "driving" after they die. It's like if a poltergeist jumped into a body and began wearing it like a suit. Nobody likes them, so the government allows them to live in the sewers of New York, which is very similar to the mutants of Futurama.

Another thing that this book may have inspired was Stargate: Universe. Universe had this annoying thing where people could exchange bodies with people on earth. They even had a scene where someone would use the host's body to have sex with someone. Very inappropriate, but a similar thing happens in this book as well. Who knows? They may have been inspired by that scene.

Oh, and if any of you are curious... Yes. This book was made into a movie in 1992. It was called Freejack, and it is a great film. The movie does, however, do its own thing. It is mostly a loose interpretation, but I still loved it.

I would warn you however that this book does deal with a lot of dark themes, mostly of the suicidal variety. Life has very little meaning to the people of 2110. You got to prepare yourself for that, but it still somehow all works believably as a work of fiction. I liked it.

I recommend "Immortality, Inc." It'll knock you around with all kinds of drama and action. There's murder, mystery, chase scenes, and all kinds of philosophical content to keep you interested from the first to last page. And if anything, you can read this hidden gem which clearly was an inspiration for a lot of other stories we have seen in other places. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I'm sure you will too.

This blog was written on February 20, 2023.

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Mystery of Marie Rogêt [Short Story Review]

This is actually more of a rant than a review, but I guess that happens sometimes.

"The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe. It was published in 1842. It is also the sequel to his story "The Murders in Rue Morgue." I have already reviewed the latter and didn't like it. So what do I think about this one? I don't like it either... but for entirely different reasons.

Dupin is back to deduce out a new murder mystery, which he does in the most over-written way possible. The good news here is that he keeps the majority of it in English. This was a huge improvement. I understood everything I was reading and found myself invested in the story that was being examined. Unfortunately, Dupin does constantly and unnecessarily over explain his analysis to the point of being heavily redundant. I grew tired of him making the same point several times within the same paragraph.

The whole story was very interesting, but I started to get a bad feeling part ways into it. Unlike my other Poe stories, this one was riddled with footnotes, and I didn't understand why. Since all the footnotes were found at the end of the story, I was kind of ignoring them. I just wanted the story to speak for itself, but the good times did not last. It caught up with me. Something bad was happening, and I didn't realize it until I got close to the ending.

Dupin brings you right to the point where they are soon about to uncover the perpetrator of the murder. I was excited about this because the first story has Dupin confronting the culprit personally, and it seemed clear that the same thing was about to happen. It doesn't. Instead, you get a note from the publisher of the book stating that that entire scene has been omitted. The ending of this overwritten story... wasn't even there.

As it turns out, this story was a near 1-to-1 telling of an actual murder that took place in New York. Poe set the whole thing in Paris to keep himself from looking like he might be involved. Not a bad idea, I have to admit. That kind of makes this more of a true crime story presented as a fictional one. Cool!

What was not cool was that the ending would not inevitably be included, likely so that the publishers could avoid any similar trouble. What that leaves us with is an unfinished story that was kind of an annoying read. I'm tired, folks. I can only handle so much.

As with the first story, I just refuse to recommend "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt" to anyone. Dupin is an interesting detective character, but I just prefer Sherlock Holmes far more because it lacks all this writing drama. I'm getting tired of Poe, guys!

This blog was written on February 19, 2023.

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