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Thom Dunn is a Boston-based writer, musician, and utterly terrible dancer. He is the singer/guitarist for the indie rock/power-pop the Roland High Life, as well as a staff writer for the New York Times’ Wirecutter and a regular contributor at BoingBoing.net. Thom enjoys Oxford commas, metaphysics, and romantic clichés (especially when they involve whiskey), and he firmly believes that Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" is the single greatest atrocity committed against mankind. He is a graduate of Clarion Writer's Workshop at UCSD ('13) & Emerson College ('08).

Top Ten

It's that time of year again, when every website and blog and news outlet dials up their completely arbitrary criterium and publishes their "Top 10" lists for the year. This year I finally pulled off something I've been meaning to do for a while: a Top 10 list of "Top 10" lists of the year. A comprehensive list of the best of the best of the "Best Of" lists. ME SO META.

"Top Ten 'Top 10' Lists of 2011" at FiveByFiveHundred.com

Wooo! Yeahhhh! Sick Day!

Well so like I had this totally awesome for my writing project today right? But then I somehow wound up with this vicious stomach bug and spent the last 48 hours either (a) on the toilet, (b) with my head in a bucket, or (c) both (not to the mention the awful fever and chills that came along with it). So you'll forgive me for my lack of progress. (I'm feeling better now, thanks)

"Sonnet for the Sick" at FiveByFiveHundred.com

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAwf6wnNNBw&w=420&h=315]

Night of the Living Undead Turkey

Drinking! Family! Revelry! Tryptophan! All the things that make Thanksgiving such a wonderful holiday! But then — what comes after? The barren wasteland full of angry zombies, near-comatose after having gorged on too much flesh and blood. So basically, after dinner time, Thanksgiving becomes kind of a post-apocalyptic landscape, the kind you see in Zombie films or Mad Max. You can figure out where this is going, can't you?

"Post-Turkeypocalypse" at FiveByFiveHundred.com

Attack of the #NaNoWriMoNoceros

We're two-thirds of the way through the annual National Novel Writing Month, and over at Five By Five Hundred, I've decided to offer you a little help in finishing your novel. Don't worry, you don't have to thank me. I did it all out of the kindness of my heart. This 500-word novel excerpt will fit into any and everyone's great book-to-be, regardless of the genre or subject matter. Seriously. No one will even notice that all of you have the exact same three paragraphs somewhere in the book. Go ahead. Take it. It's all yours.

"Excerpt From Your In-Progress Novel" at FiveByFiveHundred.com

Last Caress

Every year, I tell myself that I'm going to do #NaNaWriMo, but sadly, I never get very far. November is always an incredibly busy time of year me, and it's not like I'm not writing or working on other things; it's just a difficult time to focus on cranking out those 50,000 words. Still, I use the time I would otherwise dedicate to #NaNoWriMo to work on any of those other projects, including those kind of horror-punk-rock-young-adult story I've been throwing around (tentatively titled "Last Caress" after my favorite song by The Misfits). Over at Five By Five Hundred, I've included a small excerpt, comparing the local punk rock scene to the creation of a living Frankenstein-esque monster (yes, I realize that Frankenstein was the scientist, not the monster, but it would sound kind of ridiculous if I called it a 'Frankenstein's monster-esque monster,' right?)

"Where Eagles Dare" at FiveByFiveHundred.com

(side note, "Last Caress" by the Misfits is also, without competition, the single greatest pop song ever written about killing babies. Just, uh, just sayin')

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F39UP1mjAnc&w=420&h=315]

Haiku Beer Review — Part 2

In a tradition that began back in January at the Winter Beer Jubilee in Boston, I recently posted the second iteration of my "Haiku Beer Review" series, which is precisely what it sounds like — beer reviews, in haiku form (I also try to tweet Haiku Beer Reviews whenever I try a new brew at a bar). These reviews began as voice memos that were taken by my friends and I at the Mass Brewer’s Fest at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston on September 2, 2011, but I only just got around to compiling the voice memos and turning them into haikus. Anyway, if you like beer and/or poetry and/or drinking, I'd advise you check it out (along with, hopefully, some new beers)!

"Beer Review Haiku part Two" at FiveByFiveHundred.com

There's Nothing To Fear — But Fear Itself

Marvel recently wrapped their latest installment of the annual BigMegaUltra Superhero Summer Event, Fear Itself, written by Matt Fraction with art by Stuart Immonen. First of all, I want to congratulate those two talented creators with putting out the first big event book that shipped completely on time, a masterful feat in and of itself (if past event comics are to be any barometer). I realize that writing an event comic is a serious challenge for creators — the nature of such a series requires the writer to blow over the smaller individual character moments (usually reserved for the tie-in books) in favor of dictating the major action of the storyline. The supplementary titles are merely ribs; the main title is the spine of the story, and as such, is expected to present the major story beats with gusto, while still remaining completely self-contained. It is in this regard that, in my opinion — and I'm not just saying this with blind fanboy rage, but an objective mind — Fear Itself failed to make the mark. (Some spoilers abound. Just FYI)

Some personal history: I have a very fickle relationship with Matt Fraction. When he first came on the mainstream comics scene with books like The Order and Sensational Spider-Man Annual (quite possibly my single favorite issue of a comic book ever written in the history of mankind, ever), I thought he was an absolute genius, combining the wild imaginations of writers like Morrison and Ellis, without ever losing sight of the heart of his stories. I still think that Casanova (especially the most recent volume) is one of the most brilliant pieces of post-postmodern literature I've ever read. But somewhere along the line, it felt like Fraction became so obsessed with trying to out-clever and out-hip himself that he lost sight of what he was doing (his Uncanny X-Men run in particular was especially uneven). While I had not been reading his run on Thor, I decided I would pick up Fear Itself anyway, almost as a nostalgic notion for the bromance that we once shared.

Some Fear Itself history: [...]

And therein lay my first problem with Fear Itself. There was really no buildup to this story whatsoever (with the exception of Ed Brubaker's Book of the Skull one-shot, itself branded as a Fear Itself prologue). An event such as this should of course be able to exist on its own, but it seemed like Fear Itself in a vacuum by itself. There was no indication within the ongoing story of the overall Marvel universe that any of this was coming, or that it even mattered. All of a sudden and without any prior warning, there was this new character, "The Serpent," who was apparently the long-lost brother of Odin, Lord of Asgard (despite there being no previous reference to Odin ever secretly banishing his evil brother and rightful heir to the throne of the Gods, at least as far as I was aware, nor any pre-established Norse mythology surrounding Odin's usurpation of the throne). And he was evil. That was about where the character development ended. The Serpent was evil, and when teamed up with Sin, the new Red Skull (who, conveniently, was also evil), they together were...(wait for it)...evil.

Whereas House of M, Civil War, World War Hulk, Secret Invasion, and Siege all explored some degree of moral ambiguity, the initial threat of Fear Itself was...the bad guys are evil, and they are going to do bad things because they are evil. Granted, moral ambiguity eventually came along in the form of Odin threatening to raze the Earth in order to destroy The Serpent before he was able to let loose and wreak havoc amongst the other Eight Realms, but that felt like a fairly minor and quickly resolved plot point. Meanwhile, the bad guys decide to attack the Earth, because they are evil, and that is what bad guys do, because they are evil. Mystical "evil" hammers are dropped from the heavens with no explanation, and end up possessing those who are "worthy" with the evil spirits of some other long-lost and long-forgotten Asgardian demons. Even this is never quite explained; the possession can be understood through context, as well as their allegiance to The Serpent, but why were these characters deemed "worthy?" While I realize that some of these details were reserved for the tie-in books, I still couldn't help but feel slightly cheated. Were The Hulk and The Thing possessed because of their respective pre-existing rage, or other negative emotions? I mean, I guess that makes sense. But as we eventually learn, "fear" is The Serpent's manipulative emotion of choice, not anger/rage.

This brings me to my next problem with Fear Itself: show and tell. Starting towards the end of Issue #3, we are told that The Serpent derives his power from "fear." From that point on, we are simply told that people are "afraid," and that this somehow powers The Serpent. While the soundbytes from news station were a good idea, they felt too distant to me. So much of the press surrounding Fear Itself has discussed how it's a "street-level" story for the "everyman." But having The Serpent, or some newscaster, tell me that "There is fear!" isn't really good dramatic writing; it's telling, not showing, and therefore betraying one of the cardinal rules of writing. So how do you express abstract emotions such fear in a graphic format without simply telling? That was a challenge that Matt Fraction willingly took on, and while I commend him for taking that risk, I can't help but feel that he lost the trial.

Of course, all dramatic writing is built around stakes; if the stakes are high enough, even the smallest story can be justified. In Fear Itself, we were told there were "stakes" — that this was somehow the worst invasion/attack of all time (in the Marvel Universe, no less!) and that mankind was doomed to fail. But at no point was this ever shown or demonstrated (once again, telling and not showing). How or why was The Serpent so much more threatening and destructive than the Skrulls, or the angry Hulk, or the Void? Is it because he was a "God" — once again, one with no back story or previous buildup? Maybe I had trouble understanding why the people were afraid because I was never sure why I was supposed to be afraid. Each and every Marvel event promises mass destruction and a somewhat Pyrrhic victory; why should this be any different?

Most major comic book events utilize the death of some ancillary character in the beginning (or occasionally the end — RIP Janet Van Dyne) of the second act as a way to prove or justify the stakes of the story. In Fear Itself, Bucky, the nü-Captain America, was killed in the third issue*, a Red Shirt Joe Schmoe casualty to prove to the readers, "this shit is real!" While I certainly appreciate the dramatic notion that Sin, the replacement Red Skull, kills Bucky, the replacement Captain America, the act itself could not have felt any more cheap and contrived. BuckyCap (as he is so affectionately known) had never made a single appearance in Fear Itself until Issue #3 when he was killed. For me, this harkened back to Civil War, but at least then, Mark Millar put Black Goliath (Wikipedia link because you had no idea who he was either until he was dead) to some use in the issues leading up to his death in order to add to the weight of his sacrifice. All personal issue with killing off Bucky aside (that Ed Brubaker did an incredible job of bringing back one of the supposed "no-no" dead characters of comic book mythology, and created an incredibly unique and compelling character as result, etc.), his death felt so cheap and forced because it was so clearly a plot device and nothing more.

That brings us to our climactic death scene: Thor, the Norse God of Thunder. In Norse mythology, Thor ultimately slays the serpent Jörmungandr before taking nine steps and falling to his own death; this is one of the many stations of the Norse Ragnarök, the endlessly cyclical death and rebirth of the Gods. So I understand what Matt Fraction was going for, mining a piece of Norse mythology for his story. Unfortunately, we never shown (or dramatically demonstrated) any reason why Thor would die after killing The Serpent. We saw that he was weakened, certainly; but in the final issue of Fear Itself, an outraged Thor certainly seemed to lay the smackdown on his enemy. Why did he have to die, other than to fulfill some ancient prophecy? In most stories involving prophecies (much like those involving time travel), there's some kind of unspoken twist to the prophecy; a character is aware of his own fate, and does what he can to avoid it, but ultimately his actions, however heroic, lead to his demise through some form of dramatic irony. But this was not the case in Fear Itself. Thor defeated The Serpent in what was certainly an exhausting battle and then...he died. Because he had to, because the prophecy said so. Perhaps the stakes, and the emotional gravitas, would have been higher if we had actually seen Thor visibly sacrifice himself to take down The Serpent; instead he just died, because he had to. Which is dramatic, sure, but not dramatic enough.

(Furthermore, there's the issue that Thor is an Asgardian God, one who has seen this cycle of death and rebirth countless times; despite the fact that he was off-the-board of the Marvel Universe and only recently returned anyway, it is the very nature of his being to return to life, thereby further diminishing the dramatic value of his death. As shocking as it was when Loki was killed at the end of Siege, even he was brought back shortly, simply because that is the nature of an Asgardian God)

Finally, I was disappointed by the "everyman perspective" of the series. We saw in Issue #1 how the current economy had affected those who live in Brockton, Ohio, in the shadow of the Asgardian Gods, and while we were introduced to a point-of-view "everyman" character, we were never given enough to invest in him. Even in the final issue, when Captain America mistakes Rick's aid for that Luke Cage — a touching moment, certainly — we ultimately see the Marvel Superheroes saving the day. "As it should be," you might be saying (in which, I would agree with you). Perhaps my frustration here comes not from the context of the story, but from the media/press/interviews around it. As much as I liked seeing the reactions of the man-on-the-street (although again, there was not nearly as much showing as there was telling), reading about the story was about humans, about the everyman saving the superhero when the superhero fails...I don't buy it. The everyman played a major role in the end of Civil War, as well as Norman Osborn's rise to power during Dark Reign/Siege. So it was a perspective we'd seen. As such, the way it was portrayed in Fear Itself was not much different than the way we'd seen it before, and in the end, it was the superheroes, blessed with Asgardian abilities, that saved the day, not the everyman (as is the nature of any superhero story).

That being said, I will commend Fear Itself for its handful of totally badass moments. The shattering of Captain America's shield, and his subsequent lifting of Thor's hammer? Awesome. Resonant. Great. Giant Nazi Mechs smashing things? Yes please! Iron Man's "sacrifice to the Gods" as he desperately tried to get Odin's attention? Knowing a few alcoholics myself, that genuinely made me shiver. Hell, I didn't even mind an exhausted and frustrated Thor calling the possessed Hulk an "ass," or Spider-Man asking Cap if he could leave the battlefront and be with Aunt May when he thought all hope was lost. But overall, a few great moments could not make up for the larger oversights of this comic book mini-series event. In the end, as someone who doesn't regularly follow the Thor/Journey into Mystery/Asgardian stories, the consequences of the storyline still don't feel so far reaching. Even more insulting was the painfully transparent ending to Issue #7, which consisted consisted entirely of teaser set-ups for other series spinning of the ending. Clearly any major comic book crossover event is going to be a vessel through which to deliver new series to readers, but to make that vessel feel so transparent only serves to further cheapen the experience. The story should still be able to stand on its own, with some kind of satisfactory resolution, while somehow informing or enhancing the ongoing universe from which it was birthed. Valkyrie chasing down the mystical evil hammers of The Worthy? Okay, sure. The Battlescars book, with this mysterious "Marcus Johnson" character? The details are still vague enough that I can't get myself interested (that being said, I will probably be picking up Matt Fraction's The Defenders series, if for no other reason than to read him writing Iron Fist again). It seems to me, the ultimate fallout of Fear Itself suffers from "telling instead of showing," much like the rest of the series: there is damage. That is bad. Thor and Bucky are "dead." People are sad. As far as dramatic writing goes, that's not quite the best place from which to launch your next few years' worth of stories.

I'm not saying "I hate you Marvel Comics you raped my childhood I'm never going to read your books!" again, and I'm not saying "You suck, Matt Fraction!" On the contrary; Matt Fraction and I shall gleefully carry on with our emotionally abusive relationship, and I will continue to read Marvel Comics. I merely felt that, from an objective, critical view of storytelling, Fear Itself was ultimately a letdown. It's like when you're a teenager and you get in trouble with your parents: when they're mad at you, it just serves to further fuel your rage, but when mom or dad says "I'm disappointed in you, son" — well, that's when it really hurts. And quite frankly, I'm disappointed in you, Marvel. But that doesn't mean I love you any less.

*The reversal of Bucky's death in Fear Itself #7.1 was awesome and brilliant and something so clearly planned in advance by the ever-scheming Ed Brubaker that I could not have been more giddy to read it. Although, that being said, while I'm excited about the Winter Soldier's new status quo, at the same point, it also further infuriates me in regards to his poorly-played death in Fear Itself.

The Horror! The Horror!

Halloween. When the dead walk the Earth. Meanwhile, we have protests spreading wide across the country, facing down corruption and police brutality at every turn. But what really matters is OH EM GEE KIM KARDASHIAN AND KRIS HUMPHRIES ARE GETTING A DIVORCE AFTER ONLY TWO AND A HALF MONTHS OF MARRIAGE!

"The Horror! The Horror!" on FiveByFiveHundred.com

Wedding Bells Are Ringing? Ooh, That's Gotta Hurt!

First of all — congratulations to Andrew Sargent, one of my oldest friends in the world, and the newly-christened Mrs. Christi Sargent, on their beautiful nuptials this past weekend. Once I again, I apologize for forgetting my pants at the wedding. ...

That being said, I was hit with a stroke of inspiration during the traditional bridal bouquet toss at the reception, and so this week's Five By Five Hundred post features a sports announcer play-by-play of a wedding bouquet toss.

Or maybe it's just a horse race. I'm not really sure.

"And They're Off!" on FiveByFiveHundred.com

The Silk Spectre of Sex Still Looms

I have a strange relationship with cosplay. I typically find cosplayers to be somewhat annoying, and I don't understand the whole idea behind spending absurd amounts of money on making elaborate geek niche costumes to wear at conventions. That being said, I'm endlessly fascinated at the hordes of people who do feel that urge (and of course, I am entertained by some of the more ridiculous and hilarious costumes that are out there. You know, like BANANA WOLVERINE. Seriously, WTF? Also, hilarious and amazingly entertaining (you'll find my fascination/distaste/totally lack of comprehension for cosplay also sneaks into my full-length play True Believers).

This week's Five By Five Hundred was inspired by a few specific instances at New York Comic-Con this past weekend. First, that I felt weird about inadvertently objectifying women while I was there — some girl walks by dressed as Mystique, covered in blue bodypaint and wearing a tiny bikini top, I'm naturally inclined to look. But then I don't want to be a creep, like I'm just staring at breasts — although certainly my attention is drawn to them because of the nature and design of the costume because females in comic book/anime/pop culture are often scantily-clad and sexualized, and it's this whole crazy internal moral debate I have in my head over the course of 4 seconds (during which I am too busy mentally deliberating to realize that I'm still staring).

But I also saw some cosplayers who would get annoyed when people asked them to pose for a picture, or do any kind of interaction. This was also difficult for me to wrap my head around. Why would you dress up like Power Girl if it wasn't for some kind of desire for attention? And then I realized, that's the same argument used by men who sexually harass women on the street: "she's asking for it." But this particular question was not based in sexuality; hell, there'd be men dressed as Doctor Who that would be equally annoyed at posing for a picture (side note: Doctor Who cosplay appears to be the new Slave Leia at conventions).

Is it about the sex, or is it about the costume? Are these cosplayers objectified — or fictionalized? Well, that's where this week's post comes in. No solid answers, but I thought I'd provide some food for thought.

"She's Asking For It" at FiveByFiveHundred.com

In Memory

2 years ago today, I lost my oldest friend in life to suicide. For my post on FiveByFiveHundred.com, I decided to look at these two years and how it's affected me. There's not much else to write about that isn't covered elsewhere, but it just serves to remind us that is life is precious, and no one's life "isn't worth it." Even two years later, Mike's death has a profound affect on me every day. Sure, I handle it better now — but suicide never goes away. It never gets better. So think before you act, whether you're experiencing your own feelings of self-harm, or whether your actions might have that affect on someone else. I miss you, Mike.

"The Stage or the Curtain" at FiveByFiveHundred.com

(If you're looking for some more not-so-light reading, I wrote a [fairly abstract and Beckett-esque] play about this as well. It premiered in Hollywood in April of 2010 — too late, of course, for Mike to have ever seen it. But theatre was his only real salvation in life, so maybe somehow, I can keep him alive on the stage, because I think that's how he would have liked it.)

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/9404866"]

Guest Blog: Chess Motifs

I've been doing some guestblogging for Quirk Books, publishers of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and that soon-to-be hit Broetry (what you mean, you haven't bought a copy yet?!), and my first post is up today. It's a countdown of one of my favorite character types in pop culture/literature: the Chessmaster, that brilliant strategist who plays 50 moves ahead of the rest of the cast in the story, and always seems to have some grander scheme in mind that we as readers/viewers/audience can hardly even begin to comprehend. And they always know how to manipulate and play the other characters into going along with their plans, whether they realize it or not. We're talking Nick Fury, Ben Linus, Dumbledore, the Cigarette Smoking Man — you know the type. Check out the full list at the link below. Agree? Disagree? Let me know on the Quirk comments!

"Life Is A Game Of Chess: Top Ten Chessmasters in Pop Culture & Literature" at Quirk Books

@Horse_Ebooks: The Poem

@Horse_Ebooks is my latest obsession — a spam twitter account intended to sell, well, eBooks about horses. In order to avoid being deleted as a spambot (which it is), @Horse_Books tweets random phrases from...well, no one's really sure. Sometimes, they're obviously sample lines from various eBooks about horses. Other times, they're just little two-word bursts, like "Boating Needs." If you're really lucky, you'll get some brilliant non sequitur gem like "I wanted to make love to her like a crazed weasel. I wanted to make love to her like I was an aroused teenage boy at a drive" (Yes, that was not a complete sentence, which makes the whole thing that much more ridiculous and hilarious) I decided to scroll through the @Horse_Ebooks twitter account and compile a list of some of my favorite 2-7 word incomplete sentence tweets, and turn them into a Found Poem. It was a lot harder than I expected it to be — some of those tweets make no sense whatsoever, and are even hard to string into some kind of narrative logic — but I'm pretty entertained by the results, and I hope that you are too!

"The Collapse of the Theory of Evolution in 50 Themes" (yes, that title is a complete tweet in and of itself) at FiveByFiveHundred.com

(also — follow @Horse_Ebooks, because it's hilarious, and I guarantee it will brighten up your day)

Let's Kill Hitler M. Night Shyamalan!

It's a classic time travel question: if you had the ability to change history and travel through time, would you go back and kill Baby Hitler to prevent the Holocaust from ever happening? But then, what has innocent little baby Hitler ever done — could you possibly raise him in a way to stop him from ever becoming the monster that he does, without killing him? It's a great thought problem, but I propose a better idea: Going back in time to kill M. Night Shyamalan, around the time that Signs was released. Because if you think about it, you'd actually be doing everyone a favor — including M. Night himself. He would be the victim of a mysterious murder, and remembered as a young auteur filmmaker who died before his time. He'd be remembered for such greats as Signs and Unbreakable, and the rest of us would never have to suffer through such insipid crap as Lady in the Water or The Happening.

This week on Five By Five Hundred, I explore this exact scenario.

"I Kill Dead People" on FiveByFiveHundred.com

T-Shirt of the Dead: In Shocking 3D!

Apologies for missing last week's post on Five By Five Hundred — my good friend Moose got married over the weekend (congrats, buddy!) and between the bachelor party, the wedding itself, and the various in town for the same festivities, I kind of forgot that Monday was a holiday, and that I had a piece due. Whoops! Better late than never right?

My new entry for last week ('cause, ya know, I'm a time traveller n' shiz) was inspired by Fashion Week — and, more specifically, the fact that t-shirts and Facebook pages have all but replaced gravestones as the default memorials of our deceased friends. So it's a slightly surreal prose/poetry meditation on the fact that dead friends are now fashionable. But not like, wearing the skin of dead people — that's just weird, man.*

"We Will Become T-Shirts" on FiveByFiveHundred.com

*Unless you're some kind of Nordic Barbarian or something, in which case, well, to each his own, I guess. Who am I to judge?

Freshman Weekend; or, Beer Beer Sex Shots Shots Shots Shot Puke WHOOPS

Here's the thing: I'm 25 years old, just over 3 years out of college. I stay out late, I drink (and make) lots of beer, I work in the arts, and show up at my job most days in cut-off jean shorts (or "jorts," if you will) and a t-shirt. I don't feel that old — I'm not that old — and the idea of college doesn't seem like it's so far away. But biking from Harvard Square on Friday night, I discovered that college was indeed back in session, and that I have apparently become a jaded old man. It was the first weekend of college for many freshmen at Boston's countless universities. It was a beautiful night as well, so the frosh were out in droves, playing at adulthood by making lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of obnoxious (but incredibly fun) mistakes from which they will (one day) hopefully learn. "Freshmen Weekend," as I like to call it, is not that day. My bike route brought me past Harvard, MIT, Boston University, Northeastern, and Wentworth University, as well as plenty of off-campus student abodes. You know those 13-year cicadas? It was kind of like that.

So mid-bike ride (I swear, it was totally safe), I recorded this poem, which I then fixed up when I got home. Enjoy!

"Freshmen Weekend" on FiveByFiveHundred.com

Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Heralded as "the next Twilight" (take that as you will), The Night Circus tells the story of a supernatural traveling circus at the turn of the 20th century, and the many bizarre performers that inhabit this magical world — specifically, two young magician apprentices, bound from a young age to compete in a vaguely-defined duel to the death but who inevitably fall in love instead. Basically it's like LOST, but with a circus tent instead of an island — with pretty much all of its strengths as well as its shortcomings. I had the pleasure of meeting the author, Erin Morgenstern, at a lovely book launch party in Concord, Massachusetts (where much of the book is set — they had magicians and fortune tellers and everything! Also sesame chicken NOM NOM NOM). This is her first novel, and there's already a film adaptation in production (from the producers of Twilight, no less!). I'm sure the book, with its fantastical imagery, will actually do quite well, and I wish her the best of luck with it. For now, however, you can read my full review over at DailyGenoshan.com.

Review: "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern on DailyGenoshan.com

The Night Circus is available Tuesday, September 13, wherever books are sold.