I never heard of this, but it sounds really interesting:

An encounter with the fortuneteller has caused bland businessman Edmond to confront the emptiness of his life and marriage. His wife complains that the maid broke a lamp, and this seems to be the last straw, prompting him to flee the safe boredom of his home for the vortex of the dark city streets. The strangely liberating act of leaving his wife tilts Edmond into a free-fall that he mistakes for freedom. Stumbling into a local bar, Edmond meets a man who convinces him that sex is what he needs to solve his problems. To Edmond's surprise, hookers are expensive, the pimp he encounters is violent, and the guy running a three-card monte game is a cheat. Still, he wanders the streets, encountering big-city night crawlers, until finally he is robbed and beaten and left bewildered. 'We live in a fog, we live in a dream,' he declares. Screeching racial hatred, Edmond finds a kind of peace in living in that moment. Feeling freed, he goes home with a waitress, Glenna, but their riotous sex play leads to some very deep conversation. When the honesty topic is explored, Glenna refuses to engage, causing Edmond intense turmoil. He asks her, begs her, to rely on honesty, but instead pandemonium ensues. As Edmond spirals on towards personal disintegration, his racism and homophobia emerges -- and he freely expresses it. 'Every fear hides a wish,' he discovers.

I must admit, I love fast-forwarding to my favorite scenes on my DVDs (not so much my VHS tapes because it's really slow). Here's some of my favorites:

1. Shawshank Redemption: FF to Dupree's escape, then watch up to where the Warden blows his brains out.

2. Working Girl: FF to Sigourney Weaver's character getting her comeuppance and Melanie Griffith's character getting that dream job.

3. Aliens: FF to the battle between Ripley in robot suit fighting Alien Mother.

4. It's a Wonderful Life: FF to Bailey asking Mr. Potter for a loan, and watch until the end.

5. Saving Private Ryan: Watch the opening battle, FF to final battle.

I've got plenty more, but I'm curious: What to you FF to?

AC

Since it doesn't seem anyone brought this up yet...any feedback on the new Superman movie? We saw it last weekend (along with the new Pirates movie) and I have to admit I was a bit disappointed. I liked the guy they cast as Superman, but I was really surprised at how unmenacing Kevin Spacey was as Luthor. All in all I thought it was a bit boring.

I found out them. There are very beautiful places, but too cold.:eek:

!Spoiler Warning! If you haven't read HARBINGERS yet, do not see them.


http://yourphotos.explorenewengland.com/...allery=301

This may already be a thread somewhere but the search won't look for the word "first", so what the heck, I'll start a fresh thread even if there is one out there in the past. I've thought of doing this before but tonight I was inspired by the stories on the Keep Game thread, so...

What was your first FPW or Repairman Jack? How did it all start for you?

My story is that I was in a "dollar" store - the modern equivalent of the five and dime - picking up some odds & ends and I saw a book rack, which will always make me pause. I looked at what was there and much of it looked like pure drivel, but one paperback caught my eye and the description sounded pretty interesting. Yep - it was Repairman Jack, specifically The Tomb. I bought it for $1.00.

After reading it and absolutely loving it, I started looking specifically for Repairman Jack books. Once I'd caught up with those, I hunted online until I found copies of the whole AC. Then other FPW books.

I still have a few non-AC books to find, but what a great adventure it has been so far -- and what a thrill to find all the great people on this board too!

At last, Japanese edition GATEWAYS is released at July 27. Japanese title is...


[SIZE="6"]始末屋ジャック / 深淵からの脅威[/SIZE]

Oh, are you askin' for how to read it? It's "Shimatusya Jack / Shin-en karano Kyoui". That meaning is "Repairman Jack / A menace from the abyss"....Wow, that's cool, isn't it?

Once I read it in English. But my English reading was uncertain (Of course I understood storyline ). So I must re-read it in Japanese. Besides, I'm a collector...

I'm afraid I'm done with the Repairman Jack novels.

This isn't a spur of the moment decision. I've only read four of the books (The Tomb, Legacies, Conspiracies and The Haunted Air), and I'm sure I'm missing out on a lot of great storytelling, but I just can't bring myself to continue.

The really perverse thing? I love every facet of these books.

The characters are among the best I've found. Repairman Jack is one of my favorite characters in any series. He's tough, cunning, yet very, very human at his core. Gia is a sweet, sexy love interest and, most importantly, is completely believeable as a character. I'm not too fond of Vicky (I've never enjoyed the baggage a child character brings to an adventure series, but that's just me), but the rest of the supporting cast is great. Dr. Wilson makes each character a person, and that's what carries any book.

The plotting and pacing are top notch. Many young writers would do well to study how each book is laid out. Mechanically, Dr. Wilson is as sound an author as I've ever read, and his dialogue (when not trying to write "street" - sorry, but Charlie Kenton's lingo was awful) is lean, crisp and believable. He also has a great hand at action writing. Rarely do I turn pages as fast as when Jack's doing his physical thing.

The grand themes at play in the series are great. I love the idea of a one-man "A-Team", divorced from society and yet still serving it, cleaning out undesirables like a human white blood cell. I also love the "lone human drafted into a supernatural shadow war" bit. Lots of room there for some gritty, butt-clenching drama.

So if it's all hearts-and-flowers, why am I dropping the series? Simple. I don't like the way they mix.

If Jack stayed within the bounds of the human world, using his "fixing" skills to solve human problems, I'd likely be a fan for life. Dr. Wilson has great writing chops and I'm sure he'd have no problem writing gutwrenching, hard-hitting stories that have no supernatural twist. Likewise, I'd most likely be equally rapt with the "shadow war" stories, knowing how he crafts his stories. As long as the main character wasn't Repairman Jack. They're two great tastes that don't taste great together, sort of like the anti-Reeses's-Peanut-Butter-Cup.

I made this decision while reading "The Haunted Air". Every time the "Otherness" was mentioned, I cringed. Whenever it was Jack "fixing" something, I was rapt. But for me the pain isn't worth the pleasure, and I'm very sorry to say that Repairman Jack has now gone the way of Dirk Pitt, Anita Blake, Remo Williams, and so many others whom I just couldn't bear to hold on to.

Heck of a first post. Don't imagine it'll be well received, but hey - it's just my opinion.

[SIZE="3"]A 4-min promotional film from Thrillerfest. I'm not interviewed here, but you can catch a glimpse or two of me signing books in the first 30 secs or so. Some well-known authors are asked to define a thriller.[/SIZE]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG3GI1e6AUY

[SIZE="3"]This is a light and entertaining frace. It's charm lies in its excellent caste and its refusal to take itself seriously. The only time I FF'd was when the farcical elements piled on a little too thickly.

FF= 1 [/SIZE]

40 minutes too long and relies way the heavily on special effects. Good story continuation though.