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Well, LOST does not disappoint in the season opener. Creepy, interesting and well worth 40 minutes a week (with TIVO). If the pilot is any indication, My Name is Earl has a great promise. After all, it stars Jason Lee and Ethan Suplee, two View Askew alums. The jury is still out on Surface and Invasion, both of which seem to be trying to grab the creepy throne from LOST. Of the two, Surface looks like the best bet so far.

If you want to catch the best sci-fi show on TV, be sure to see Battlestar Galactica. It is currently wrapping up an excellent second season. Excellent writing and acting. Taut, intense and thought-provoking storylines. Feature film special effects. This is not your father’s Battlestar Galactica.

Last but not least, the heir-apparent to NYPD Blue is not a police procedural. Rather, it is Rescue Me, which is also wrapping up it’s second season. Dennis Leary is excellent as FDNY firefighter struggling with alcoholism, Catholic guilt and dysfunctional family members in post 9/11 New York. Equally hilarious, heroic and heart-wrenching, Rescue Me is the best straight up drama on TV, bar none.

Finally, you owe it to yourself to to check out Dies The Fire by S. M. Stirling. The first of a planned trilogy, Dies The Fire asks the interesting question … What would happen if electricity, gunpowder and combustion engines suddenly stopped working? I was first introduced to Stirling in the Niven/Pournelle Man-Kzin Wars series of books. His writing is very strong and I really enjoy seeing him working in a world of his own devising.

Since picking it up, I’ve had a terrible time putting it down. Others like Donald McQuinn (Warrior), Gordon R. Dickson (Wolf and Iron), Nevil Shute (On the Beach) and Walter M. Miller Jr. (A Canticle for Leibowitz) have written along very similar lines. I’ve read all of these books and think Dies The Fire may be the best of the lot.

Enjoy!

While waiting for Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson to arrive from Amazon.com, I dug into Hellboy: Lost Army. As with Hellboy: Odd Jobs, Hellboy: Odder Jobs and Hellboy: The Bones of Giants, Christopher Golden weaves a story well worthy of the trust given him by Mike Mignola, Hellboy’s creator.

In addition to breathing new life into old legends (the lost army of Persian warlord Cambyses), Golden gives Hellboy a romantic life only hinted at Mignola’s work and Guillermo del Toro’s film. Finally, I know who the hell Anastasia Branfield is!

I’ve come to enjoy Golden’s writing style, so I plan to check out his non-Hellboy work. Now, to start with Of Saints and Shadows (vampires) or Wildwood Road (ghosts)?

I just finished this book. Christopher Golden really handles Mike Mignola’s “Hellboy” universe with amazing skill. As with Hellboy: Odd Jobs and Hellboy: Odder Jobs, short story collections edited by Golden, The Bones of Giants expands the Hellboy story in a natural, organic way. Hellboy and Abe Sapien speak as if Mignola had written them himself. The story moves forward with clean, quick pacing and the holds one’s interest from the first page through the last.

If you are a fan of the Hellboy graphic novels or the Guillermo del Toro film, you owe it to yourself to check out The Bones of Giants. Next up on my “reading for fun” list is Hellboy: The Lost Army. But first, I have to finish Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro. My future father-in-law introduced me to the book and I’ve found it a fascinating read.