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Casey Poma

   ~bio forthcoming~ 
Books: 
Staff Pick Badge
The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Blue Bear By Walter Moers Cover Image
$20.00
ISBN: 9781585678440
Availability: Not in Stock, Available for Special Order
Published: The Overlook Press - August 29th, 2006

Walter Moers’ The 13 ½ Lives of Captain Bluebear is one of the craziest, silliest, and funniest books I have ever read. In this zany tale, Captain Bluebear chronicles his life story and all the wild adventures in which he has partaken in the lands of Zamonia. He's spent time with Minipirates on their boat, talked with waves, lived in the Tornado City, wandered the vast desert, and was even a navigator for a large, near-sighted bird.

Like all of Moers' Zamonia books, The 13 1/2 lives of Captian Bluebear is accompanied by Moers’ own artwork, that does nothing but enrich the text and story. Relevant excerpts from Professor Abdullah Nightingale's "Encylopedia of Marvels, Life Forms, and Other Phenomena of Zamonia and its Environs" help enlighten the reader about all the wonders of the world. With illustrations, enclyopedic excerpts, and prose working together, Bluebear transcends being a mere novel and becomes a work of art.

Comprised of comedic wackiness reminiscent of Douglas Adams’s “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” books and silly illustrations to match, Moers’ work will make you laugh and smile on every page. It certainly did me.

-Casey


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Redwall: A Tale from Redwall By Brian Jacques, Gary Chalk (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Brian Jacques, Gary Chalk (Illustrator)
$10.99
ISBN: 9780142302378
Availability: Not in Stock, Available for Special Order
Published: Firebird - September 30th, 2002

Unsatisfied with the literature he was reading to children at the Royal Wavertree School for the Blind, Brian Jacques set out to write his own story. Thus, Redwall was born. In this first volume, little Abbey-mouse Matthias dreams of being a great, brave soldier like history’s renowned Martin the Warrior. He gets his opportunity when Cluny the Scourge, an evil one-eyed rat with a poisoned, spiked tail, vows to take over Redwall Abbey with his rodent horde.

While the characters of Redwall are all fantastic, most enchanting is Jacques’ world of Mossflower Woods. Here, every creature of the forest is featured, either alongside the virtuous mice, squirrels, and moles, or the villainous rats, stoats, and weasels. Nature seems a character of its own, for trees are never called “trees”, but rather addressed by their names: oak, willow, poplar. And the extravagant feasts by the Woodlanders are so well-described, you’ll be wanting blackcurrant cobbler by the end of the page.

Redwall features a world full of lush woodland, fine friends, good eats, brave heroes, mischievous villains, epic battles, and the classic struggle between good and evil. If you are looking for a grand, epic adventure in a wide, immersive world, then Redwall is for you.

-Casey


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The Corpse-Rat King By Lee Battersby, Nick Castle (Illustrator) Cover Image
By Lee Battersby, Nick Castle (Illustrator)
$7.99
Currently unavailable, email or call for more information.
ISBN: 9780857662873
Published: Angry Robot - August 28th, 2012

Marius don Hellespont is a looter, a corpse-rat, who, after stealing the dead king's crown, is mistaken for the dead king himself. Unfortunately, it's the Dead who make the mistake, dragging him to the underworld and wanting to make him their new King. But Marius didn't have any post-mortem regality in his date book, so he and the Dead make a deal. He’ll find them a new king, or else.

From the opening battlefield to the great, expansive Scorby City, Lee Battersby's The Corpse-Rat King is entertaining and hilarious throughout. Whether it's dialogue or descriptions, Battersby's sharp wit and comedic timing had me laughing out loud the entire time. When it’s not making me laugh, The Corpse-Rat King delights with tight and enjoyable prose. They say it's not about using many words, but using the right ones, and as evidenced by his writing, Battersby seems to only know the right ones.

 

Read as Marius (followed always by his annoying-but-loyal apprentice, Gerd) evades the Dead, walks on the ocean floor, and eventually journeys to the great castle Radican, the top of which sits the sepulchral Cathedral of Bones. With great humor, great prose, and great imagination, this grim comedy had no problem including itself among my favorites.

-Casey


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Splinter of the Mind's Eye: Star Wars Legends (Star Wars - Legends) By Alan Dean Foster Cover Image
$8.99
ISBN: 9780345320230
Availability: Not in Stock, Available for Special Order
Published: Random House Worlds - March 12th, 1986

Years before an innumerable amount of authors would contribute to the Star Wars universe (and, even before we all learned Luke's true parentage in 1980's The Empire Strikes Back), Splinter of the Mind's Eye was released.

Right after the events of Star Wars (oftentimes referred to as "Episode IV: A New Hope"), Luke and Leia, en route to help some Rebels, crash land on the jungle planet of Mimban. But Luke and Leia could not have anticipated that this fog-laden planet is the home of a mysterious Force gem known as the Kaiburr Crystal that would give its owner the power to become invincible; an object that has caught the attention of none other than Darth Vader. 

Although I enjoy Splinter of the Mind's Eye for its quick, adventurous tone, I cherish it mostly for its significance to the Star Wars production mythos. Just in case Lucas’ Star Wars did not make a box office killing, Splinter was written as an idea for its low-budget sequel. After Star Wars became a megahit, Splinter’s story was abandoned and three years later, we got The Empire Strikes Back. Splinter is a look at what Star Wars after 1977 could have been. 

Not only is this a fun adventure, it’s the Star Wars movie that never was. A must for every Star Wars fan!

-Casey


The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure By William Goldman Cover Image
$10.99
Currently unavailable, email or call for more information.
ISBN: 9780156035217
Published: Harper Perennial - October 8th, 2007

“It’s still my favorite book in all the world” are first words of William Goldman’s The Princess Bride. After reading his 1973 classic, I feel like singing similar praises. The Princess Bride tells the story of Buttercup, the fairest woman in the entire world, and the farm boy Wesley, who are each other’s true love. When Wesley leaves for America and is soon presumed dead, Buttercup is devastated, and agrees to marry the mean, hunting-obsessed Prince Humperdinck. But then Buttercup is kidnapped by a quirky trio, pursued by a mysterious, familiar black-masked man following closely behind. . . .

The Princess Bride is one of the most charming and funniest books I have ever had the privilege to come across. Each character, whether hero or villain, is memorable in their own way. There's the vengeful Inigo, who's after the six-fingered man who killed his father, Prince Humperdink, who loves hunting and has his own zoo, and Miracle Max, the disgruntled medicine man, angered at the aforementioned prince for sacking him. Such characters participate in wondrous, high adventure. A castle is stormed, Rodents of Unusual Size are faced, and a fencing match rages over the perilous Cliffs of Insanity.

This fine tapestry of characters and events are all tied together with Goldman's excellent and comedic writing. Because they story is presented as an abridgment of fictional author S. Morgenstern's original, much-longer, boring "The Princess Bride", Goldman's voice often appears with amusing annotations of abridgment and Morgenstern-estate-legal-drama.

Nary a boring moment, character, or scene are to be found within. If you haven't read this book yet, you most definitely, definitely should.

-Casey


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Stardust By Neil Gaiman Cover Image
$15.99
ISBN: 9780061689246
Availability: Not in Stock, Available for Special Order
Published: HarperCollins - December 23rd, 2008

Neil Gaiman proves once again that he is a master of the modern fairy tale with Stardust

At the beginning of this tale, Tristan Thorn is hopelessly in love with Victoria Forester, the prettiest girl in the whole town of Wall, who completely refuses his advances. When a shooting star falls from the sky, he promises to get it for her in return for a kiss. Soon, Tristran finds himself leaving town and crossing over into the land of Faerie, starbound. But the capturing a fallen star is not so easy, and he’s not the only one looking for it. Madame Semele, a witch, and the ruthless Lord Septimus are on their way to use it for their own, separate, sinister purposes. Thus begins a mad dash to retrieve the star, with chases and fights and adventure of the highest kind.

Anyone who appreciates fairy tales will enjoy this more adult yarn, not only for its fantasy aspects, but also for its presentation. Throughout Stardust, Gaiman's simplistic, fairy-tale style prose is like the works of yester-century, with whimsical chapter headings and archaic words creeping back into the text. The story is quick and the adventure is high.

Stardust is enjoyable from start to finish. Collectively, we might not remember the fairy tales that inspired this work, but anyone reading Stardust will quickly learn it won’t soon be forgotten.

-Casey


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Coraline By Neil Gaiman Cover Image
$13.99
Currently unavailable, email or call for more information.
ISBN: 9780061139376
Published: William Morrow Paperbacks - August 29th, 2006

I am not a particularly fast reader, and Coraline is quite short, but I still have to say that I read it in one day. Coraline is a girl who, while poking around in her parents' new flat, travels through a door to a flat just like their own. But this mirror-world is full of strange, alternate versions of places and people she knows. Everything is better and everyone is happy, and Coraline can even be a part of it, if only she allows black buttons to be sewn over her eyes. . .forever.

Neil Gaiman is, of course, a master of the wicked and strange. The juxtaposition of simplistic, fairy-tale writing and unsettling themes works to make a truly unique, dark piece. Gaiman's immense imagination is matched by his exquisite prose, where word selection seems precise and nothing seems wasted.

Coraline is short enough to enjoy in one sitting, but it'll be the entertainment value that’ll keep you reading until the last page is reached. You'd be doing yourself a disservice to not experience the strange, weird world of Coraline.

-Casey