I recently read the Serenity Falls trilogy and decided to check out author James A. Moore's website afterwards (http://www.jimshorror.com/). It was a truly nice surprise to see James talk about his favorite authors, including FPW.

(If this has been posted before, I apologize in advance.)

-Luthie

F. Paul Wilson

You're likely to find a trend running through a lot of my featured author lists. Aside from the fact that each of the writers listed is, in my opinion an excellent writer, many of them are also really, really nice people. I know this, because in many cases I've had the distinct honor of meeting the writers in person. That's a bonus in my book, a pleasant side effect of being in the industry.

F. Paul Wilson is no exception to the list when it comes to being a genuinely likable person. He's "good people" as my mother is fond of saying. And, of course, he's disgustingly talented. As I have said before and will say again, I am jaded. I've been reading horror for years, and I have been STUDYING horror for almost my entire life. Be it movies, television shows, comic books, novels, short stories or just plain a gathering of people recalling fond ghost stories and legends they've heard in the past, I have been on a constant diet of horror for as long as I can remember.

My mother raised me to be a gentleman, while my brothers (Thank you Kurt and Steve) fostered within me a passionate love of the macabre. The end result is that I can admire even the worst attempts at horror, but very few of them ever give me a genuine chill.

What, exactly is my point here? My point is simply this: F. Paul Wilson managed to scare the crap out of me on a couple of occasions. He actually had me physically shuddering, and pausing in the middle of an intensely satisfying read to give serious contemplation to the full ramifications of the scene I'd just finished reading. I read it again and the same thing happened again. It wasn't a fluke, it was a moment of true fear and honest to God terror. It almost never happens to me, not when I'm reading and not when I'm watching a movie. But Paul did it, he scared the hell out of me.

That, ladies and gentleman, is a rare accomplishment. I forgot that I was reading a collection of words on paper, and was swallowed whole by the images and intensity generated by those words. What an absolute delight!

Which book? Well, I did say twice, didn't I? Both of the books are in The Adversary Cycle: Six books long, and I find myself wanting to read them again, despite the lengthening list of books I still have to read. The books, just for the record are as follows: The Keep, The Tomb, The Touch, Reborn, Reprisal and Nightworld. Find them, read them, and savor them. They are a treat of absolutely epic proportions. Hollywood couldn't touch 'em on a bet, and the one time they tried with The Keep, they made an excellent movie that was still an extremely pale reflection of the depth and power of the original material.

F. Paul Wilson has the almost unnatural ability to make a reader sink into the story and forget that there's a world waiting beyond the pages of a book. And The Adversary Cycle is just one (or six, depending on your opinion) example of his talent. Every character he writes is ALIVE, and that is a rare and precious gift. His medical thrillers like Implant and The Touch (Though Paul might disagree with me on that last one), his science fiction novels, like Dydeetown World and Masques (With Matthew Costello another future featured author) and his short stories are all just as richly embroidered as his supernatural horror novels. Simply put: He's one of the best writers around right now.

Oh, and before I forget, he's also the creator of my all time favorite hero in any book, Repairman Jack. Repairman Jack is everything a hero should be. He's fast, he's intelligent, he's seriously capable of causing massive injuries to his foes and he's human. I'm in the process of finishing Legacies, where we FINALLY get to run across Jack again. (He's also shown up in The Adversary Cycle, along with a cast of equally human and wonderful characters.) And I have once again found myself in a world that is just slightly richer than the real one, just a touch more real than most writers ever manage to create.

A reviewer who recently reviewed my forthcoming novel Under The Overtree gave me what is, to date, one of the finest compliments I have ever received. He told me he's love to see Jonathan Crowley (One of the main characters in the novel) teamed up with Repairman Jack. I had a grin for hours afterwards. That anyone in one of my novels could even be mentioned in the same breath as my all time favorite hero in a novel is enough to give me hope that I'll get the hang of his writing thing one of these days. If you haven't read F. Paul Wilson, you should. If you HAVE read his works, then nothing I've told you here is likely to come as a surprise.

Did I mention, by the way, that Paul is a really nice guy? He is. I wouldn't lie about a thing like that.

Three down. Just finished Legacies and i am as thrilled with this one as the others. Wonderful stuff. I love the characters and the little stings and scenarios Jack sets up in all of the stories. It does not get bogged down in technical terminology and not highly complex. Proof that you do not need to get crazy when trying to do something no matter what it is. The simplest answer is usually the best answer and i love that as much as anything about the RJ stuff. Not a lot of sophiscitaced computer stuff going on and the toys he uses are wonderful.

Conspiracies is next and i cant wait to start it.

$$$$$ SPOLIER $$$$$

I Loved what he did to The Nail, the whole dress like santa thing and the horns and all. I burst out laughing at my desk and my co workers thought i was nuts. And squeegeeman is someone i am sure we can all identify with .....

$$$$$ END SPOILER $$$$$

George Lucas is giving in to demand. In September, Han shoots first. On DVD.


http://comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=14373

(a post a friend put up in another forum. And I might add, that I really need to pay more attention to the world... I had no idea that there was a town called Metropolis outside of the Superman comics. Granted its as big as Smallville is in the tv show.)


June 8-11 is the Superman Celebration in Metropolis, IL. The real Metropolis is more like the size of Smallville than the comic/movie/TV Metropolis. Every year they have the celebration there are contests, guest stars and of course the riverboat casino is in town too.

This year, the guest list includes: Michael Rosenbaum (Lex), Noel Neil (the original Lois Lane), actor Scott Cranford (he won a contest 6 years ago and has been playing Superman for the celebration ever since), comic writer Marv Wolfman (Former Editor-In-Chief of Marvel Comics) and Steve Rude (http://imdb.com/name/nm1668658/).

Last year, John Schneider was the main guest, along with Noel Neil (who comes every year) and Margo Kidder (the movie Lois Lane).

Metropolis also boasts the Superman statue in front of the courthouse.

Here is a link to info about the celebration http://www.supermancelebration.net (but they don't have all the content up yet).

I grew up 20 minutes from Metropolis and have attended the celebration many times. There is no admition fees to the autograph signings, although some individual guests may charge for extra items or pictures. Last year, John Schneider signed pretty much everything we brought (lots of old Dukes of Hazzard stuff and one of his records) and didn't charge anything.

Hey there. I picked up Gateways on a whim at the grocery store last month and loved it. I've since started making my way through the rest of the Repairman Jack books. I've finished The Tomb, Legacies, and I've just started Conspiracies. Loving them bunches.

I have a question about The Tomb though:

What is the significance of the title? I don't remember a tomb playing into the story at all. The home of the rakoshi in India was more temple than tomb. The ship was more of a hideout. Is "the tomb" some subtle reference that completely escaped me?

Don't forget Lost fans! A New Lost comes on in half an hour! Michael is back!

First, let me state how awesome this story is.

But the reason I started this was because I either spotted an error of am confused.

*********Spoiler Alert*******************

The story is broken up into sessions and a couple of conferences. While reading it at lunch today, I noticed that the story goes from Session Five, to Session Eight, to Session Ten, Conference at which the Definitive Therapy is proposed, but then it proceeds to Session Nine-A and then to another Conference at which the Dr tries to backpedal and then Session Nine-B. That's where things go bad.

So was Session Ten supposed to actually be Session Seven???

I was reading a hardcover library copy, so maybe this has been corrected in later printings. I have a paperback copy of the Adventures of the Joker (is that correct name?) at home, so I haven't checked to see it that one is identical.

Thanks,

Jim

Another winner from the Allen drama stable. As always, the writing is razor sharp in this dark, pyschological thriller, but it was quite a departure in terms of subject matter and look from his previous films. I thought all the actors performed admirably and I couldn't help but project Jonathon Rhys Meyer and Scarlett Johanssen(Ooh La La) as Jack and Gia. Most definitely worth the rent.

I guess I was a little out of the loop on this one, but I can't wait until this movie comes out:

http://www.clerks2.com/

I'm pretty stoked for this. Looks frickin' cool! And I love that it picks up after the second movie (ignoring movies 3 and 4).

Superman Returns Preview