Sunday, January 17, 2010

Pandaemonium

by Christopher Brookmyre.
Unbelievable.
Science meets religion meets teenagers ........ Chaos.
A secret scientific facility under a mountain in Scotland has created an anomaly which has led to demons, complete with horns and forked tails, arriving from a parallel dimension. They are captured and put through all sorts of torturous testing in the facility. The Catholic Church has been called in to deal with these demons and Cardinal Tullian is the man in charge, much to the chagrin and frustration of the scientists.
Meanwhile, a busload of Catholic schoolkids arrives at a school retreat outside, on the mountain. They are there to help them deal with the deaths of two of their school mates.
The first half of the book alternates between these two, apparently seperate, stories. There is a lot of scientific theorising and a lot of theological discussion in the early chapters.
This overt academia is interspersed with chapters detailing the journey, arrival and settling in of the school group. The bus ride to the retreat is just hilarious. There are no long descriptions of these kids but I knew each and everyone of them. Brookmyre has written the dialogue and actions so well - these kids come alive instantly.
Eventually the two stories collide. In a nutshell, the demons escape.
What follows is genuinely horrific but also hilarious in a weird way. The blood and gore and horror just keeps on coming as the kids attempt to save themselves from being torn apart by the rampaging monsters - who are not, in fact, demons, but beings from another world sucked into their own version of Hell.
It's not called Pandaemonium for nothing. I couldn't put this book down.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Saturday, January 09, 2010

NASA shot of the current weather conditions in the UK

Poor Holly

Happy Birthday Holly


Fare thee well Holly, originally uploaded by jsarcadia.

24 today. Still in England, will be home at the end of February.



And another birthday today... Jimmy turns 66.
Let the music be your master.....

2010

If all goes to plan this will be a big year. I turn 55 in April and so can finally access my superannuation. Travel, travel, travel. I need to start actually making some concrete plans about where, when, how, etc. Don't know where to start!
Jimmy Page is starting to talk about touring so I will need to make sure I'm in the right place to see at least one of his gigs!!!

I read 32 books last year - a lot to some people, not many to others. The highlights were discovering Christopher Brookmyre and finally getting The Gathering Storm - volume 12 of The Wheel of Time.
I've recently joined the library too. Don't know why it's taken me so long.

Friday, January 08, 2010

Hello blog, you're still here

Friday fill-ins

1. There are places I remember.
2. A mind can blow those clouds away.
3. Standing in the dock at Southampton.
4. I read the news today oh boy.
5. He went out tiger hunting with his elephant and gun.
6. I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in and stops my mind from wandering .
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to trying to sleep in this suffocating heat, tomorrow my plans include keeping cool and Sunday, I want to get out of going to the lunch I have to go to, but I know I can't!
FFI