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Book Review: Robot God Akamatsu by James Biggie, illustrated by Frankie B. Washington

Robot God Akamatsu, Vol. 1  by James Biggie, illustrated by Frankie B. Washington, and lettered by Josh Van Reyk

Zetabella Publishing, 2013

ISBN-13:  9781927384152

Available: Graphic novel hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition

 

Robot God Akamatsu is the first volume of a YA graphic novel series. Back in the days of Atlantis, humanity was protected by the titular Robot God Akamatsu and the three pilots who operated the robot god from a space station orbiting the Earth. To engage the Robot God, they would invoke the term Deus Ex Machina, which translates literally to “god from the machine”.

In the present day, Akamatsu is recovered and brought back online in time to fight his brother, URU. URU is the lord of Kaiju (sea monsters) and is currently exiled to a place called the Abbation plane. Now that Akamatsu has been awoken, URU plots to use the Robot God’s power source to bring URU and his horde of monstrous warriors to Earth. For once, the action all occurs around the city of Boston, and New York City is spared destruction.

This is a very fun graphic novel. I would like to see Biggie and Washington create further installments in the epic battle of Akamatsu and URU. This is recommended for readers of comic books, and lovers of Kaiju and classic robot sci-fi. If you enjoyed Pacific Rim, this is the graphic novel for you. Recommended.

Contains: Comic book mayhem

Reviewed by Benjamin Franz

 

Posted on February 13, 2015 by , Reply

Kaiju Lovers Are The Best: G-Fest Report

The Monster Kid chatting with a kaiju at G-Fest’s Dojo Studios

This past weekend we went to G-Fest, a Godzilla fan convention in Chicago. The Monster Kid comes by his love of monsters honestly– he inherited it from his dad. The Monster Librarian has been a kaiju lover since before I met him, and in our first apartment I couldn’t walk through our shared study without some crazy looking critter falling on me. Boxes more of them in boxes were stacked in the closet until we moved out and my mom, over his intense objections, took all of them out of their original packaging to make them fit better in the packing boxes (all collectors wince now). The monsters were packed away in boxes again when we transformed the study in our first house into a bedroom in preparation for the arrival of the Monster Kid, and when we moved to a bigger house, they were packed into a closet. But not forgotten.

When the Monster Kid was about four, Dylan pulled out a giant tub of action figures and said, “I don’t think I can count on these being collectibles anymore. I want to take them out and play with them with the kids.” I was a little wary of this as toddlers and preschoolers aren’t generally known to be gentle with their toys. But his enthusiasm was contagious. Suddenly the Lego table became a battleground for King Ghidorah, Godzilla, Mothra, and friends (if you can call them friends). It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship between father and son, although, unsurprisingly to me, many of the action figures were battered or broken (Dylan always seemed taken aback). They watched all the movies, then American 1950s science fiction monster movies. The Monster Kid discovered Ultraman, and a new obsession was born. We all discovered (or rediscovered) the coolness of Ray Harryhausen and stop-motion animation. Kaiju and giant robots appeared in the Monster Kid’s drawings and stories. I still have the piece of paper on which he wrote, for the first time, “Godzilla” (the letter z is backwards). Other creatures and characters have come and gone (although Harry Potter has had some considerable staying power), but the kaiju are always there. With the release of Pacific Rim, the collecting kicked up a notch, and interest in creating stop-motion videos caught on (it’s possible that our family is the only one in town to consider Pacific Rim a family film). Before he died, Dylan was building paper-mache mountains, painting models, and going through spray paint at an alarming rate. And for the first time he decided it would be fun to go to a fan convention. He and the Monster Kid were very excited about the movie they were making (the story was never actually written down) and going to the convention. We planned to go as a family. And even though Dylan couldn’t be there with us, we went to G-Fest.

I have to say that going to G-Fest really put fandom in perspective. We went to “Dojo Studios”, where fans were filming an original kaiju movie that they had been working on for something like five years. There was a life-size spaceship cockpit made, basically, out of cardboard, styrofoam, and spray paint. I saw the prices on some of the kaiju the Monster Kid has been playing with (and breaking) which bring a whole new meaning to what it meant for Dylan to bring out his collection for the kids to play with. I saw other kids who were as obsessed as the Monster Kid. I saw a lot of fathers and sons getting excited– in fact, there were several pairs in the costume contest (there were also mothers and sons, and brothers and sisters). It’s possible that this is the only time they get to be around other kids who love kaiju so much. And I saw the incredible font of information that my son possesses on the movies and monsters that populate the world of Japanese fantasy film.

I want to thank the organizers of G-Fest for making it possible for us to come this year, the fans I encountered who were pleasant, generous, and compassionate, and my non-fan friends who gave up vacation time so we could go. Kaiju lovers, and their friends and families, really are the best.

 

 

 

Posted on July 15, 2014 by , Reply

Women in Horror Fiction: Karen H. Koehler

Planet of Dinosaurs, The Complete Collection (Includes Planet of Dinosaurs, Sea of Serpents, & Valley of Dragons)Karen H. Koehler is a versatile writer who has written everything from kaiju novels to paranormal-tinged steampunk and noir. She is the author of  the stand alone novels Scarabus (KHP 2002), Raiju: The Kaiju Hunter  (K.H. Koehler Books 2010), Black Jack Derringer: The Complete Collection (K.H. Koehler Books 2011),  and Tales for 3 o”Clock in the Morning (K.H. Koehler Books 2012). She has also written several series, including    The Blackburn and Scarletti Mysteries and  the Slayer trilogy (both from KHP) , the Sasha Strange Chronicles, the Horrorotica Collection, the Nick Englebrecht books, and the Mrs. McGillicuddy Mysteries (all from K.H. Koehler Books), and the Anti-Heroes serial, written with Louise Bohmer (Anti-Heroes Press, 2013) She is the owner of K.H. Koehler Books. Her short work has appeared in the Bram-Stoker winning anthology Demons, edited by John Skipp, among other places.

 

1.) Can you give our readers a brief introduction?

 

I started writing books going all the way back to second grade, when I wrote, drew and stapled together a dinosaur book (rather unexpectedly, I might add) for my grade-school teacher. By the time I reached high school, I was regularly writing creepy little gothic, horror and science fiction stories all over the place. They were garbage, of course, but they lead me to reading Stephan King, Anne Rice, Ray Bradbury, Agatha Christie, and countless other authors in a huge array of genres. Wonderful brain food for a young girl with a slightly spooky, overactive imagination! Now I attempt to emulate those authors with my own unique twist on the genres. It seemed a natural progression.

 

2.) Why do you write horror?  What draws you to the genre?

 

 
I have a lot of anger management issues, admittedly, and, yes, typing up carnal destruction does help feel the mental alligators. But, essentially, I write it because I believe horror is truly the most psychological of all genres. It’s the genre that dives deepest into the human psyche, tearing loose all the most primal concerns of the human race and putting them on morbid display: loneliness, fear, death, change. I guess I enjoy trying to figure out what makes humans tick.
 
3.) Can you describe your writing style or the tone you prefer to set  for your stories?

 

I’m a fairly eclectic writer, and I’ve been known to change voice and style frequently, depending on the sub-genre of the project or the particular needs of the story. In fact, some readers have trouble recognizing that I’ve written certain books at all, especially my pulp series like The Scorpion or Nick Englebrecht because those books are written in a decided “male” voice, you might say. But overall, when in “horror mode”–as opposed to, say, “pulp mode,” “steampunk mode”, or “mystery mode”–I usually try to convey feelings of isolation and oppression in my work. I’m interested in the inner workings of the damaged loner, the anti-hero, the freak, the castoff from society, the villain. I have to say I love the jaded, reluctant, sometimes even misanthropic voice of the Byronic Hero.

 
4.) Who are some of your influences?  Are there any women authors who  have particularly inspired you to write?

 

I’ve loved many authors over the years (from afar!). Probably the most influential are Poppy Z. Brite, Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allen Poe, and many of the pulp writers like Walter B. Gibson and Norvell. W. Page. More recently, I’ve come to love the ultra-clean, “power-ballad” styles of authors like Louise Bohmer and Christa Faust. They’re like a modern, more sadistic version, of Ernest Hemingway. I secretly owe them much as they have helped clean up my, at times, purplish–or, at least, mauve–prose.

 

5.) What authors do you like to read?  Any recommendations?

 

See above! You cannot go wrong with any of them.

 

6.) Where can readers find your work?
 
My ebooks are available from all the usual suspects, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Nook and Smashwords. Recently, I started offering them at All Romance/Omnilit as well–a wonderful and often-overlooked resource for selling your work, I find.

 

7.) Is there anything else you’d like to share with librarians or readers?

 

Only that I appreciate all my fans’ support and that their feedback is always vitally important to me. Reviews are always welcomed and I love listening to my readers’ opinions. It helps me shape my future works.

 

Want to learn more? Visit Karen Koehler’s blog— it has links to all of her books at a variety of online bookstores.
Posted on February 26, 2014 by , Reply
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