Spiderman: Wanted Dead or Alive

craig show gardner
hardcover, $23.95
284 pages plus spidey chronology, an illustration leads off each chapter

Spidey had seconds to act before the thing would blow up in Victor's face, kill him instantly, and spread deadly shrapnel throughout the crowd.

This Spidey tale has a mastermind, a superpowered villain, and a strong supporting cast of everyday folks from Peter Parker's life. In 19 zippy chapters, plus a prologue and an epilogue, Gardner presents a busy week in the wall-crawler's life. For those of you who need to know when this story happens in relation to other Spidey stories, editor Keith R. A. DeCandido includes a handy chronology of the various Spidey books and stories that have appeared outside of the comics.

Gardner isn't a master prose stylist, as you can see from the quote. Though his writing is sometimes wooden, he does convey a sense of danger which helps move the reader forward through the book. The plot is tight, and all the obvious holes have been filled. The characterization is solid, if uninspired at times. Spidey, master of the quip and fast come-back, comes off as a mediocre patter-pusher in this presentation. Several of the villain's minions come across vividly, however, so all is not lost.

If you're a Spidey fan, and you haven't checked out any of the Spidey fiction that has appeared in recent years, this is worth a look. The hardback price is a bit steep, though a must for collectors (no doubt why there is a hard cover version in the first place). The trade paperback version of the book shouldn't be too far behind, though, and the price for that should drop to about $13.

The Soulforge

margaret weis
hardcover
348 pages

I will do this. Nothing in my life matters except this. No moment in my life exists except this moment. I am born in this moment, and if I fail, I will die in this moment.

Smack in the middle of Reagan's reign in Washington, some TSR folks got together to design a series of scenarios for a variant of AD&D - Dragonlance. As an accompaniment, two TSR staffers co-authored a trilogy of novels to go along with the 12-part Dragonlance scenario saga. It didn't take long for the tail to wag the dog. The books shot to the top of the best-seller's list. That trilogy told the story of a group of adventurers fighting the good fight against the minions of darkness.

The Soulforge goes back in time to tell of the beginning of the adventurer's lives together, in particular the tale of Raistlin Majere. While the beginning of this prequel does show the human characters as children, this is far from being "The Dragonlance Babies." The story moves quickly to the human character's teenage years, and the gathering of the adventurers who later meet at the Inn of the Last Home at the very beginning of The Dragonlance Chronicles.

Handling multiple points of view is one of the most difficult aspects of writing fiction that reflects a RPG sensibility. Weis handles this problem with aplomb. Although all the major characters have their hand in the narrative, each is clearly distinct, and the overall flow of the novel is smooth. Do you need to be familiar with the Dragonlance world to enjoy this novel? No. All the information a reader needs is presented in the novel. In fact, the only weak elements of the novel come with these "info dumps." Overall, Weis's prose is compelling and effective.

While a standalone, there is a sequel prequel in the wings - paperback in 1999.

literature is my utopia
-- helen keller