BOOKS | 10 Best Southern Gothic

Look: 10 Best Southern Gothic books. Or at least, a list of recommended Southern Gothic titles to read!

The Little Stranger

One of the titles that I am looking forward to for 2009 is Sarah Waters's The Little Stranger. I love how she manages these historical pastiche so well.

The publisher website has just made part of the first chapter available for preview.

www.sarahwaters.com

CHALLENGE | Signing up for R.I.P. III

Mystery.

Suspense.

Thriller.

Dark Fantasy.

Gothic.

Horror.

Supernatural.

I've decided to ignore my earlier hesitation and sign up for R.I.P. III anyway. My initial concern was about access to the books, since most of them are already packed and sealed in boxes. And I've just packed most of my stuff for Dubai in the 75 litres backpack - space is definitely an issue. I still need to find space for 2 pairs of work-shoes and more work-clothes.

If need be, I will hand-carry the books onto the plane. What are they going to do about it?

The only concession to the situation is my selection. I have chosen 3 titles from my library that I will bring with me to Dubai. I do not intend to bring them home with me.

Here is my modest pool of titles for R.I.P. III:

1. The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco.
   Some of you may be familiar with the film adaption of this title which starred Sean Connery and a very young Christian Slater. The year is 1327 and the English monk, Brother William of Baskerville travels to an abbey - one with a grand library - to unravel the mystery behind a series of murders that has been taking place there.
2. Asylum, Patrick McGrath
   This has also been adapted into a film, starring Ian McKellen. The elegant and intelligent Stella Raphael is married to her dull, unimaginative husband, Max. The husband is a psychiatrist at a maximum-security mental hopsital, where Stella is rapidly seduced by the sculptor Edgar Stark - who is confined to the mental hospital for the brutal murder of his wife. A gothic tale of lust, betrayal, madness and obsession. Honestly, I have no idea why I have not read it yet.
3. The Ghost Writer, John Harwood
   Carl's list reminded me that I have an old paperback copy of the book in the stash.
   A young boy, Gerard, growing up in Australia, begins a correspondence with a young girl, Alice Jessel. Her parents died in an accident and she was crippled. She now lives in an institution. They grow up, only communicating through the letters they sent each other, until they eventual fall in love. The story promises twists and turn, as Gerard discovers his grandmother wrote ghost stories, and these stories resemble his own life with uncanny accuracy.

I'm not certain if I can finish at least one of these titles, so I will start modestly with Peril the Third - to read one book. If circumstances permit, I will move on to Peril the Second.

R.I.P III runs from September 1st through October 31st, 2008

Visit http://ripingyarns.blogspot.com for more R.I.P. III book reviews.

Closing on Readers Imbibing Perils II Challenge 2007

R.I.P. II Challenge
1st September 1st ~ 31st October 2007

Original reading list posted here.

Completed reading list:

1. 30 Days of Night
   by Steve Niles & Ben Templesmith
2. Night Watch
   by Sergei Lukyanenko
   [Translated by Andrew Bromfield]
3. Hellboy: The Troll Witch and Other Stories
   by Mike Mignola, P. Craig Russell & Richard Corben
4. The Last Wish
   by Andrzej Sapkowski
   [translated by Danusia Stok]
5. Twilight Watch
   by Sergei Lukyanenko
   [translated by Andrew Bromfield]
6. Dracula by Bram Stoker

I have finally finished my last book for the R.I.P. II Challenge with Bram Stoker's Dracula. Once again I have deviated a little from my original reading list - which is proof that I can never follow a straight path. Heh.

I have managed to read a good mix of titles, even if the list is a little short. Among my readings I have managed to read two Russian novels, one Polish collection of short stories, two graphic novels and the father of all vampire novels - Dracula. I hope to do better next year (is there a next year, Carl?) - with a wider range of reading stuff. And maybe get around to writing more book reviews. (This year has been a year of over-commitment for me.)

[R.I.P.ing Yarns: The Official R.I.P. II Review Site]

R.I.P. II | Hellboy: The Troll Witch and Others

Reading for The R.I.P. II Challenge:

Hellboy: The Troll Witch and Others
By Mike Mignola, Richard Corben & P. Craig Russell
[14/09/2007]

Last we saw of Hellboy, he had resigned from the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD) and was on a walk-about, trying to find out more about his destiny and the enigma behind his Right Hand of Doom.

Hellboy: The Troll Witch and Others does not pick up the trail of our demonic crusader. Rather, it is an anthology of stand-alone Hellboy stories from the days when he was still with the BPRD. Some fans may be disappointed, as some of the stories have been collected in other Darkhorse anthologies. But there are a few original tales, and once again Mike Mignola retells folklores of monsters and demons, using his badass red demon prince from hell as the hero.

Mike Mignola had also roped in P. Craig Russell and Richard Corben for two stories in this collection, and their renderings of Hellboy are superb. I love Mignola's stark artwork -- but sometimes it can be refreshing to see one of my favourite comic protagonist through another artist's interpretation. Corben's Hellboy was drawn with smooth, elegant lines. It felt natural, a big red demonic hero in an African tale.

My personal favourite is Richard Corben's illustrations for Makoma. Mike Mignola stumbled across the story of Makoma in one of the Andrew Lang Fairy Books. It became a seed of an idea for a Hellboy story, and when Richard Corben agreed to do the art for a Hellboy story, the story was written.

Makoma is an archetypal hero's journey set in old Africa. In 1993, Hellboy came face to face with an African mummy found in a lost city. The mummy called out to Hellboy, told him a story, perhaps of a past life when the land was young and Africa knew him then. They called him by another name which he gave himself: Makoma, which means "He Who Is Without Fear". He was cast into a deep pool of black water when he was still a child. The pool was full of crocodiles, but he emerged from it fully grown -- and holding in his hand an iron hammer. Makoma has come to deliver the world of evil powers.

So Makoma, in the form of Hellboy travelled. He vanished many creatures, and carried the vanished creatures with him in a bag -- given to him by an old woman. The vanished beasts within the bag became his friends, and they helped him along the way. His friends praised him constantly: "MAKOMA IS GREAT!" To these cries, Makoma just shouts, "Quiet!" It was funny, in a pure Hellboy way.

Finally Makoma comes to the end of the world. His friends trapped within his bag have offered up their flesh as feast for Makoma, before his final battle. Makoma weeps when he realises what had happened. And he battles the Dragon, the ruin of all things that live, land, sea, and all flesh. They battled for a long time, until their strength finally fails them; they fell together. Makoma has delivered the world from evil power, as he had promised.

[Click on picture to enlarge]

Hellboy is what happens when folklore, good story-telling and great art come together. I love Hellboy. Always will.

R.I.P. II | Nightwatch

Reading for The R.I.P. II Challenge:

The Nightwatch by Sergei Lukyanenko
Translated by Andrew Bromfield
[28/08/2007 ~ 13/09/2007]

I picked up The Nightwatch because of the awesome film adaptation. Having watched the film will not spoil you for the novel, as film and book share only minor storylines. The plots in the book are far more complicated than the film. Not necessary better ― just more complicated.

The story is an urban dark fantasy, set in Post-Soviet Moscow. Night Watch spins the mythology of the Others ― a race of supernatural beings (shape-shifters, vampires, magicians) divided between the Light and the Darkness. Each side has a Watch that serves to keep the other party in check. The Night Watch represent the Light, and they operate in the night; the Day Watch are serves the Dark, they watch in the day.

Each violation of the treaty by one side allows the other to a similar infraction. So, because of the treaty, the Nightwatch and the Daywatch are forced to take their battle onto more subtle, more complicated levels. The heads of the two forces play complicated games, pawns are sacrificed, the agenda is never clear – and until the end, you don't really know what was at stake:

"A complex maneuver," I said, glancing at Boris Ignatievich. "From both sides. The Day Watch sacrifices its pawns, and the Night Watch does the same. For the great goal. … But there's an end that justifies the means. Two great magicians who have opposed each other for hundreds of year cook up another little war. Amd the Light Magician is in the toughest spot … he has to stake everything. And for him to lose is more than just an inconvenience; it's a step into the Twilight, into the Twilight forever. But still he stakes everyone's lives. His own side's and the other's…"

The novel is a collection of three loosely related stories, all held together by first-person narrator, Anton Gorodetsky, who is more fleshed out in the novel. He is an normal person who was put in an extraordinary position as an Other, and as a reluctant field agent of the Night Watch (thankfully without being annoying angsty). He just wants to do his best, but his neighbours are vampires, from the Dark. He wants to be friends with his vampire neighbours, but they are wary of him.

He is also the character who pieces the conspiracies together, through guesswork and blind chance (or destiny) — but here is where the novel is most ineffective. There is never convincing evidence of how Anton figures out the political maneuver between the heads of the two Watches. He reaches his conclusions almost out of thin-air. Sloppy.

We see things through his eyes, we hear him question the ambiguity of the Watches: "All of us have to struggle, not just against the Darkness, but against the Light. Because sometimes it blinds us"

Night Watch is an old-fashioned fantasy story about the struggle of Good and Evil, and how one has to make choices. In between are some humanist messages, about how intentions do not always justify the choices. In doing good, we might serve the path of the Dark. How can one make any kind of choice with this realisation?

How many of you there still are, girls and boys of various ages, raised by naïve parents in the sixties. How many of you there are, so unhappy, not knowing how to be happy. How I long to take pity on you, how I long to help you. To touch you through the Twilight—gently, with no force at all. To give you just a little confidence in yourself, just a tiny bit of optimism, a gram of willpower, a crumb of irony. To help you, so that you could help other.

But I can't.

Every action taken by Good grants permission for an active response by Evil. The Treaty! The Watches! The balance of peace in the world?

Truth is, The Night Watch is an absorbing read. There is enough intrigue and interesting stock characters to keep a reader turning the pages. Some of the cheesy plot devices can make a more demanding reader cringe, of course (the fate of the world hangs in the balance, on a piece of ... chalk?) ― but my advice is to just ignore the cringe-worthy moments and allow yourself to enjoy the ride.

It is amazing how familiar yet different an urban dark fantasy set in Moscow can feel. The Watches are structured within a rigid bureacracy, almost like the 19th century Russian civil service that readers of Dostoevsky, Bulgakov and Gogol will find familiar.

When was the last time we get to read popular fiction from Russia? Consider it a cultural experience that is also entertaining. After this, I'm dying to pick up Day Watch and Twilight Watch ― the later books in the series.

{Housekeeping: The Nightwatch is also included in The Armchair Traveler Challenge, as it is set in Moscow, Russia.}

COMICS | Fallen Angel: Back In Noire

I just finished Fallen Angel: Back In Noire by Peter David, J.K. Woodward & Kristian Donaldson. While reading it, I realise I missed volume 2 of the IDW run of the Fallen Angel series, so there were some minor plot details that I'm clueless about.

BACKGROUND TO THE SERIES:

Fallen Angel: Back In Noire is the third installment of the IDW run of Peter David's graphic novel series about Liandra "Lee", the Fallen Angel. She is a sort of superheroine in the city of Bete Noire, "the city that shapes the world". As the back story was revealed in Fallen Angel: To Serve In Heaven, she was a former guardian angel (of the heavenly sort, with wings and all) who fell from the grace of God and found herself as the Court of Last Resort for the desperate in Bete Noire. She has the power to enforce her will, but all who comes to her are subjected to her judgement. She may help you if she finds your cause worthy, but she will just as soon hasten your end if she deems it so.

According to Lee, God has no say over the city of Bete Noire. Instead, it is ruled over by The Hierachy, through the power of the Magistrate. The Magistrate has dominance over everything within Bete Noire. It is a position passed from father to first-born son, and a ritual is performed on or after the son's 18th birthday to seal the transfer of power. Bete Noire is later revealed to be the Biblical city of Enoch, and the Magistrates are direct descendants of the city's founder, Cain.

The Magistrate bears the mark of Cain and none may harm the Magistrate. All injuries attempt on the Magistrate shall rebound unto the perpetrators. While the position protects the Magistrate, it also bounds him to the city. One day of every year, The Magistrate is allowed a "day off" ― the only time he is allowed to leave the city, which possesses a sentience of its own. On top of that, the Magistrate is cursed with the constant voices of the city, which he cannot blockout and causes him unending suffering.

BACK IN NOIRE

Last we left off, Lee's son, Jude, had taken over as the Magistrate of Bete Noire. Jude is a priest and he still wears the collar. He is new to the city and he believes he can use his power for good, not realising the corrupting influence of his new position.

Back In Noire explores Jude's new role as Magistrate, and how it creates a conflict of interest with Lee when Jude arrests the local drug lord, Asia Minor, and placed him on trial. Lee on the other hand, needs Asia Minor's help to save a man's life. The story is resolved a little too conveniently, but it has Jude compromising his ethics for a way to end the incessant voices in his head. He has taken the first step to condemning himself, and it is hinted that darker factions are waiting on the sidelines. And they are patient.

Fallen Angel has a great backstory ― rivalries between agents of divine and mystical powers, as well as an interesting protagonist with perpetual PMS. The story opens with a vampire-like attack, and the Fallen Angel makes her entrance with these earth-shattering lines:

It's nearly sunrise.

I haven't slept in two days.

And I've got cramps.

I am so not in the mood for this shit.

Even when Jean Grey was the Dark Phoenix and threatening to destroy earth, you still wouldn't catch her admitting to cramps.

Lee is something of a reluctant heroine, as you can tell. Unfortunately, Fallen Angel still only has something of a cult following only, and I truly believe it deserves a wider readership. Perhaps not everyone has patience with a comic series that takes time to unfold little backstories and drop small hints of future things to come.

Fallen Angel even has a premise similar to Garth Ennis's Preacher on the subject of divinity. When Jude asks Lee why Evil exist, she replies that God wants to die. Humanity was intended to be God's crowning achievement, and God was prepared to move on after its creation. However, the constant prayers of people on Earth prevent him from being able to do this. For centuries, God has been sending disasters to Earth in the hope that people will stop believing in Him and let Him pass. It is an interesting concept ― not to mention daring. It is also one of the reasons why Peter David remains one of the more interesting writers around.

Finally, Back In Noire has a second story where Lee's predecessor ― a young girl named Lin ― returns to Bete Noire. It develops the idea further of the sentience of the city, as well as explore a story of the darker history of the city. A long time ago, the Magistrate one day decides to neglect his duties. This power vaccum led to the emergence of newer factions, and the Fallen Angel (Lin) arrived as a balancing force.

SUM UP

On the whole, the stories in Back In Noire are not as strong as the first volume, To Serve In Heaven, and I don't think there was much explored in the conflict of interest between Jude and Lee ― although there was some freaky incestuous stuff happening between Jude's half-brother, Jubal and Jubal's mother. The stories seem to serve only as fillers in the on-going power struggle for dominance of Bete Noire, but weak plot, and little forward movement in the storylines. And they probably will not make sense unless you are already a Fallen Angel fan.

CHALLENGE | Readers Imbibing Peril II

For the R.I.P. II Challenge, I'm going to go low-key. I will be undertaking Peril the First - which just requires me to read 4 books of any length, from any subgenre of scary stories that you choose.

So, the goal is to read at least 4 books from this list:

1. Baltimore,: Or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire by Mike Mignola & Christopher Golden

   Mike Mignola is one of my favourite artist/comic writer. I loved the moody starkness of his signature artwork, which just brings out his well-researched tales of monsters and supernatural terrors. I have the hardcover of this illustrated novel sitting at my desk right now. Come 1st September I will purchase it and read it.

2. Hellboy: The Troll Witch and Other Stories by Mike Mignola, P. Craig Russell & Richard Corben

   This is supposed to be published in October, but let's see if I can throw it in. Hellboy is my hero. A demonspawn, a Prince of Hell summoned by the Nazi to bring about the Apocalypse, he grew into his own man. The two round stumps on his forehead are the stumps from his broken hell-horns - horns that he broke off in declaration of his own Free Will, against his demonic destiny. I love my Hellboy.

3. The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers

   Had wanted to read this earlier this year, but just never got around to it. A historical fantasy starring the Romantic poets Keats, Byron and Shelley. Now, where did I put that book?

4. 30 Days of Night by Steve Niles & Ben Templesmith

   Vampires visit a far northern Alaskan town that experience 30 days of continuous nights. Blood. Murder. Mwhahaha!

5. The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

   This is a new Polish author I picked up from the bookstore. I know very little about him but the synopsis at the back looks interesting:

   Geralt was always going to stand out, with his white hair and piercing eyes, his cynicism and lack of respect for authority ... but he is far more than a striking-looking man. He's a witcher; his sorcerous powers, enhanced by elixirs and long years of training, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin. ...

   In his role as guardian of the innocent, Geralt, the witcher from Rivia, meets incestuous kings with undead daughters, vengeful djinns, rancorous maidens, shrieking harpies, love-lorn vampires and despondent ghouls. Many are pernicious, some are wicked, and none are quite as they seem.

6. Angelica by Arthur Phillips

   I've been eyeing this title for s while now. Since I managed to get my paws on a library copy this week, I think I shall add it to the list. From the New Yorker:

   Phillips’s third novel, set in Victorian London, starts as a ghost story. When Joseph instructs his wife, Constance, to have their four-year-old daughter, Angelica, moved from their bedroom into a room of her own, Constance becomes convinced that a seductive spectral force is preying on the child. The catastrophe that follows is relayed from the perspectives of Constance; of her supposed redeemer, an actress turned exorcist; and of Joseph—each view ultimately being rendered by the adult Angelica. What at first appears a rather glib ghost story predicated on Victorian clichés of sexual repression and patriarchal tyranny turns into a spectacular, ever-proliferating tale of mingled motives, psychological menace, and delicately told crises of appetite and loneliness. Phillips sustains a pastiche of Victorian writing and ideas with enticing playfulness, and without making his characters or their complex fears and desires laughable

As usual, I may add to this reading list when something interesting comes along. And if I can squeeze it in, I shall attempt Dracula by Bram Stoker.

Challenge is from 1st September 1st ~ 31st October 2007.

Also visit R.I.P.ing Yarns: The Official R.I.P. II Review Site.

Looking For Blood

Anyone has a good murder mystery thriller to recommend? Something with intriguing characters and suspenseful plot-twists? I'm totally fine with violence in fiction.

I'm in that kind of odd mood where I'm looking for a little blood in my reading. I've been reading some devotional literature recently, and maybe it's just the dark side of my character that is acting up in response to all that heavy spiritual stuff. I'm looking for a good bit of violence and complicated plots. I used to read Patricia Cornwell - but I've stopped since she gone to seed.

Meanwhile, I've picked up Jeffrey Deaver's The Cold Moon. I've been a fan of Deaver's since I first read The Bone Collector - the first of his Lincoln Rhyme novels. Later, when they released the movie adaptation with Angelina Jolie and Denzel Washington, I started reading his Lincoln Rhyme novels with the two stars pictured in my head. I met Deaver a few years back during one of his book signing tours. The Brat (a friend of mine) and I took a picture with him, as fans do during book-signings. I wonder where's that photo now?

News is, Deaver will be back in town soon to promote his new book, Sleeping Doll. I think I might just drop by again to get my books signed - again.

I've also picked up Val McDermid's The Wire in the Blood from the library. I've heard so much about McDermid's writings over the years, but just never found the time to pick up one of her books. Wire in the Blood features one of McDermid's regular characters, Dr Tony Hill, a psychological profiler. She's supposed to be a writer who doesn't flinch from the gruesome details. Anyone read her books before?

I'm also tempted by the Dexter novels. Because I am a big fan of CSI, a colleague recommended Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Apparently there's a TV series based on the Dexter novels. I'm going to get the DVDs of the series, because it's about a blood-spatter specialist working for the Miami Police Department who's also a serial killer - but he kills serial killers, so it's a twist in the usual format. Oh, I'm also going to watch it because it has Julie Benz, who plays Dexter's girlfriend. Julie Benz, who will always be Darla of the sultry voice, the vampire who sired Angel, and who redeemed herself at the end by sacrificing herself so that her son may live.

And I'm always on the lookout for vampire stories. Vampires and me will always be good friends.

I'm going to try to pick up the 30 Days of Night graphic novel soon, in anticipation of the movie. I like the premise: somewhere near the Arctic Circle is an isolated Alaskan town that is plunged into complete darkness for a month each year when the sun sinks below the horizon. As daylight falls, the town is attacked by a bloodthirsty gang of vampires bent on an uninterrupted blood orgy.

Sounds like a bloodfest that I can watch without the strenous use of my brain cells.

It's directed by David Slade, who also previously directed the disturbing Hard Candy. Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, the people that also brought us the epic(!) that was Xena: Warrior Princess, are producers for the show.

I've just seen the trailers. It looks so-so. But I have hopes for more blood.

This and Daywatch, I'm a happy puppy for a while.

CHALLENGE | Threshold

Once Upon a Time Challenge 2007

Threshold by Caitlin R. Kiernan

Caitlin R. Kiernan is an author I've been wanting to pick up for a while. She has some impressive authors giving her cover blurbs. Among them, Neil Gaiman calls her "the poet and bard of the wasted and the lost." High praise enough to pick up this novel, I guess.

Threshold is a dark fantasy that invokes the terrors of H.P. Lovecraft. Set in modern day Birmingham, Ala, the story revolves around paleontology major Chance Matthews and her friends. The story opens one night, while Chance, her boyfriend Deacon Silvey and their friend Elise, were stoned out and decided to break into the water works tunnels for kicks. What they saw in those tunnels that night was too horrific for them to talk about it. Later, Chance and Deacon broke up, Elise killed herself and Chance lost the only family she had when her grandfather died.

Out of all this enters a haunting albion girl, Dancy Flammarion - who claims an angel told her that her destiny is to slay monsters. And now, Dancy needs Chance and Deacon's help. It has something to do with what Chance, Deacon and Elise saw in the water works tunnel - it costed Elise her life, but neither Deacon nor Chance are willing to revisit that terrible night. In fact, we are never told what was so terrible in that water works tunnel that night. Everything is left to the imagination of course, but towards the end, I just don't give a damn.

I understand that the author may be trying to evoke a sense of horror more implied than shown, as time and again Dancy tells Chance Matthews that the monsters cannot be understood, that is it older than the land and alien. But I'm afraid the menace of this ancient evil just failed to come through, and we are left with a bunch of sad losers running around trying to comprehend something they are not meant to understand. And the readers are none the wiser.

Most disappointing is the misuse of the character Dancy Flammarion - a 17 year old albion girl with the ability to see and slay monsters? That is a promising premise - if nothing else, Caitlin R. Kiernan knows the power of symbolism and imagery. Dancy Flammarion is the most interesting part of the book, and the readers expect she will be the pivot of the storyline. No, instead Dancy Flammarion disappears halfway through the book, and the main action is left to the less interesting characters. It is an unexpected plot-twist of course, but a weak one, because the plotline just slows down the moment Dancy disappears. Without spoiling anyone, I can only say the solution to slaying the monsters is too conventional if we are to imagine them as powerful creatures older than memory. It is wrapped up too conveniently, and the truth is - I actually think the author has the potential to do better than this.

After Threshold I'm hesitant about picking up another book by the same author. Maybe I will, in the near future. Maybe this is not the most representative of her best works.

CHALLENGE | Southern Reading Challenge Begins

Maggie's Southern Reading Challenge 2007 starts today!

Challenge starts 1st June, until 30th August 2007. The challenge is to read 3 Southern books by Southern authors. One may substitute two movies based on a book/play by a Southern author for one book

As usual, if I don't own the books, I will try to get the books from the libraries or from friends. No buying of new books for the challenges.

My Reading List for the Challenge:

The Complete Stories Flannery O'Connor
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers
The Color Purple Alice Walker

Options:
Orpheus Descending Tennessee Williams
Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady Florence King

Film Options:
Slingblade
Monster's Ball
Fried Green Tomatoes
Cold Mountain

Gabriel Knight

I'm not sure if anyone out there still remembers the computer game Gabriel Knight, released by Sierra On-Line (the company responsible for King's Quest, Leisure Suit Larry and Half-Life)?

The series was written by Jane Jensen, a computer designer who understood the importance of story-telling for computer adventure games. Three Gabriel Knight games were produced: Gabriel Knight 1: Sins of the Fathers [1993], Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within [1995] and the superb Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned [1999].

In Sins of the Fathers, you play Gabriel Knight, a New Orleans bookstore owner/unsuccessful writer/successful "love 'em and leave 'em" womaniser, started having a series of disturbing nightmares of voodoo and strange symbols. Through the game, he realised that he is the last in the line of a German family of Schattenjagers - Shadow Hunters. To save his soul, he has to become a Schattenjager, and atone for the betrayal committed by one of his ancestors. In his journey, Gabriel is assisted by his beautiful and very intelligent (but of course) and witty friend, Grace Nakimura. There is some sex, some gore (a character has his heart cut out for a sacrifice) and an alternative ending.

The Beast Within has Gabriel Knight coming to his new role as Schattenjager. He is uncertain about his duties, and the darker side of him is rebelling against the duties of the Shadow Hunter. Jane Jensen wrote a story about werewolves, interwoven with a story about King Ludwig II of Bavaria, and featuring a lost Wagner opera.

The third installment was exceptionally powerful. For Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned, Jane Jensen centred her story around the mystery of the Knight Templars, the Priory of Sion, the bloodline of Christ, with vampires - and our sardonic hero, Gabriel Knight in the middle of it all. She researched the material thoroughly, and wrote a more intelligent plot with more credible characters than Dan Brown ever did.

I loved all 3 Gabriel Knight games, but the last game was my favourite; Jane Jensen wrote a good story, with a heart-wrenching ending for the fans of Gabriel Knight and Grace Nakimura.

The series had a huge international fan base and we communicated online - through the fan forums, the fan websites, and there was even a weekly scheduled iRC chatroom. (There was one time on iRC , some of the GK fans from Italy, Netherlands, India, Singapore, England and Mexico started to discuss the World Cup - and the Americans had no idea.)

I was also part of the Gabriel Knight fanfiction community back then. I wrote a fanfic of my own, and even started a small fanfic archive on GeoCities for the stories I liked. We started a proof-reading mailing list for fan-writers who wanted some feedback on how to improve their stories. We discussed Gabriel Knight fanfics we would like to read. We even wrote slash. We were fans who had fun sharing our interest for a computer game that inspired our imagination, and whetted our appetite for horror mysteries with a paranormal twist. We made friends, us all geeks and loving it; those were the days of X-Files and Gillian Anderson was a sex-symbol.

After graduation, I found a job, and as they say, I put aside childish things. I stopped updating my GeoCities website, where I kept the Gabriel Knight fanfics. After a while, the site was removed, and I forgot all about Gabriel and the story I wrote. I simply stopped writing stories, something that used to keep me sane even though I wasn't very good at it.

How it all seems like another lifetime ago.

COMICS | B.P.R.D. Universal Machine

B.P.R.D.: The Universal Machine
By Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Guy Davis
Graphic Novel

I always thought the Hellboy spin-off, B.P.R.D was a steady series in its own right — it continues in the vein of occultic and gothic themes that Hellboy is known for. As Mike Mignola is still contributing and overseeing the project, the writing is still solid, with enough loose threads for the readers to stay interested. The ensemble members of the Burea for Paranormal Research and Defense are also interesting in their own capacity and varied talents. So while I was cutting down on my comic buying, B.P.R.D. still remained on my "Must-Buy" list.

B.P.R.D.: The Universal Machine is volume 6 in the series. Last we left the team they (probably) contained the apocalyptic plague of frogs but they lost one of their team member (Roger the Big Friendly Homunculus.)

As a team that is always out to save the world from mystical threats, you would think the B.P.R.D. team is used to losing a few operatives from time to time. But this being a comic book, characters death are rarely permanent, especially for a major character like Roger. I believe this is where Mignola and his co-writers are playing with the readers' expectations, because there always exist this lingering possibility that they might bring Roger back.

The Universal Machine starts the story with Kate Corrigan setting out for a book that might help resurrect their homunculus friend. But in-between the other team members come to together for a round-robin session of story-telling. We find out a little bit more how the Captain came to be dead for three days, and then not. It involves a military mission into the depth of a South-American forest; it involves a Jaguar cult.

It's another one of those loose threads that may be picked up later down the road for another story. Maybe.

The Universal Machine is pretty self-contained in its storylines. There are none of those big, looming plot threads this time, just a few short stories to tell. But Abe Sapien shares a little story of a previous mission with Hellboy in Ontario of 1990. So in flash-back, Hellboy makes a guest appearance. It is a case of a Wendigo, and Hellboy settled it with his usual streetwise panache. And it was nice to see the big guy again, looking at a pile of flesh and bones, and just summing it up, "I think it's puke."

How I missed Hellboy. I wish Mignola would write more Hellboy comics, featuring the big red demon prince himself. And for a brief moment B.P.R.D. felt a little diminished without Hellboy. It felt like just a spin-off.