Authors 'Round the South

When you get a Jon Stewart quote on the cover of your book, you know you're doing something right (like producing The Daily Show with Jon Stewart). I have to respectfully disagree with Mr. Stewart, though, and say that this book is not so much the wolf-raised offspring of a union between The Breakfast Club and War and Peace as it's a cross between The Tin Drum and Dexter's Lab.
Oliver Watson is a dim bulb who would certainly be the number one target for ridicule if he had enough personality to make fun of. He is also a the third-richest person in the world, a massive Captain Beefheart fan, a superb actor, and a self-admitted evil genius. When his distant, self-righteous father waxes poetic about his glory days in student council, Oliver decides to run for class president simply to ruin his father's happy memories. Of course, Oliver has considerable resources at his disposal, so the governments of small countries are overthrown, fighter jets are scrambled, presidential campaign consultants are hired, and hilarity and chaos ensue. Really, really funny and, ultimately, a little touching, too, because deep down, Oliver, like any other kid, just wants to make his dad proud. Perfect for middle-school geniuses, but not too smart for us adults.

Meomi's intrepid underwater explorers are back, and this time.... they're on vacation! Well, at least until they get to their destination and find out that it's become a ghost town; then it's time to relocate a recalcitrant turtle and find out why the city's been bled white. A blend of amazing artwork, sly humor, and timeless messages about community and friendship (without clubbing you over the head with them), the Octonauts are among my favorite children's book characters of all time.

Finn is a starseer, a young man given to fits of hallucinatory prescience, who lives in an endless, inescapable, living prison named Incarceron. Claudia, the daughter of Incarceron's warden, lives in a world dominated by Protocol, a rigidly-enforced veneer of Victorian society over an incredibly high-tech future put into place to prevent The Years of Rage from reoccurring. To the Claudia and the rest of the Outside world, Incarceron is place where malcontents have formed a utopia, but in reality the prison has become malevelont and life is a harsh cycle of violence and betrayal. Convinced by his lack of a past and aided by his visions, Finn attempts to leave Incarceron while Claudia, disgusted with Protocol and dreading her impending arranged marriage, tries to get in, and together they discover that there's a lot more- and a lot less- to Incarceron than they could ever imagine. A dystopic, sci-fi/fantasy/steampunk grown-up story for young adults.

The Something That Happened has left us with a world where a strictly-ordered Collective is based on color perception and Leapbacks in technology are used to enforce Stasis. Enter Eddie Russet, a young Red who, despite having an above-normal level of curiousity, wishes for nothing more than to marry the wealthy Constance Oxblood and stay as far as possible from rocking the societal boat. All this changes, however, when Eddie and his father are sent to
East Carmine, a small city on the fringes of civilization, where adherence to The Rules isn't quite what they're used to....

Shades of Grey starts of almost whimsically, but as the story progresses, the bureaucracy of Head Office shows its teeth, the unfairness of the Colortacracy becomes apparent, and the differences between the Previous (us, of course) and humans become more pronounced, things take a turn for the serious (while remaining seriously funny). Fforde gives us some great characters, an intriguing setting, and enough bits and pieces of our own future
to make me really anxious to find out what's going on.

Fforde brings so much to the table that it's difficult to summarize, but I can easily say that Shades of Grey is one of the best books I've read in the past year.

People (you know, "people") like to bag on Uncle Steve and say he's not a great writer, but dude must be doing something right, because he's sold at least 300 million books. Honestly, I think he's only occasionally a great writer, but he is definitely a consistently great storyteller, and Skeleton Crew collects a number of what I feel are his best short stories- The Mist, The Jaunt, The Raft, and (the) Survivor Type among them- and a few that scared the absolute bejeezus out of a far-too-young-to-read-them me (The Monkey and The Reaper's Image, I'm looking at you ((but only for a split second))). An excellent Halloween read or a perfect entry point for King neophytes.