Nerdery

Annie's Nightstand

North 40:  Halloween is over, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy a good scare—and a few laughs while you’re at it. North 40, a comic from last year which I first encountered at Comic-Con this year, is being published as a trade paperback, available this week. It’s from WildStorm comics, an imprint of DC which was shut down this September, although you wouldn’t know it from their website. 

But the publisher isn’t the only thing that’s not quite dead here. In North 40, two kids from rural Conover County unwittingly unleash Cthulhu on their town one evening. Everyone blacks out, and when they wake up in the morning they find that things have … changed. Sheriff Morgan has his hands full trying to keep the peace, not only with his regular troublemakers but also with a new crop of beasties. A couple of outsider kids find themselves entrusted with strange new powers and tasked with binding up Cthulhu before things get too much further along.

The book is a little bit like taking a season of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and condensing it into one jam-packed monster-fest. The artwork by Fiona Staples is quite creepy (and gory), and Aaron Williams’ writing hits the sweet spot with just a touch of humor to go along with the terror. The book ends with a hint at more, but with the current state of WildStorm I doubt it’s likely anytime soon—which is too bad, because Williams and Staples have created a terrific, spine-chilling tale. If you like monsters and prophecies and unlikely heroes, take a trip up North 40. - Wired

On Food and Cooking - The Science and Lore of the Kitchen: Before antioxidants, extra-virgin olive oil and supermarket sushi commanded public obsession, the first edition of this book swept readers and cooks into the everyday magic of the kitchen: it became an overnight classic. Now, 20 years later, McGee has taken his slightly outdated volume and turned it into a stunning masterpiece that combines science, linguistics, history, poetry and, of course, gastronomy. He dances from the spicy flavor of Hawaiian seaweed to the scientific method of creating no-stir peanut butter, quoting Chinese poet Shu Xi and biblical proverbs along the way. McGee's conversational style—rich with exclamation points and everyday examples—allows him to explain complex chemical reactions, like caramelization, without dumbing them down. His book will also be hailed as groundbreaking in its breakdown of taste and flavor. Though several cookbooks have begun to answer the questions of why certain foods go well together, McGee draws on recent agricultural research, neuroscience reviews and chemical publications to chart the different flavor chemicals in herbs and spices, fruits and vegetables. Odd synergies appear, like the creation of fruity esters in dry-cured ham—the same that occur naturally in melons! McGee also corrects the European bias of the first edition, moving beyond the Mediterranean to discuss the foods of Asia and Mexico. Almost every single page of this edition has been rewritten, but the book retains the same light touch as the original. McGee has successfully revised the bible of food science—and produced a fascinating, charming text. - Publishers Weekly

(This was a recommendation from my friend Anjali Prasertong over at The Kitchn and is a really good read for any food nerd out there.)   

Dan's Nightstand 

American Gods : Titans clash, but with more fuss than fury in this fantasy demi-epic from the author of Neverwhere. The intriguing premise of Gaiman's tale is that the gods of European yore, who came to North America with their immigrant believers, are squaring off for a rumble with new indigenous deities: "gods of credit card and freeway, of Internet and telephone, of radio and hospital and television, gods of plastic and of beeper and of neon." They all walk around in mufti, disguised as ordinary people, which causes no end of trouble for 32-year-old protagonist Shadow Moon, who can't turn around without bumping into a minor divinity. Released from prison the day after his beloved wife dies in a car accident, Shadow takes a job as emissary for Mr. Wednesday, avatar of the Norse god Grimnir, unaware that his boss's recruiting trip across the American heartland will subject him to repeat visits from the reanimated corpse of his dead wife and brutal roughing up by the goons of Wednesday's adversary, Mr. World. At last Shadow must reevaluate his own deeply held beliefs in order to determine his crucial role in the final showdown. Gaiman tries to keep the magical and the mundane evenly balanced, but he is clearly more interested in the activities of his human protagonists: Shadow's poignant personal moments and the tale's affectionate slices of smalltown life are much better developed than the aimless plot, which bounces Shadow from one episodic encounter to another in a design only the gods seem to know. Mere mortal readers will enjoy the tale's wit, but puzzle over its strained mythopoeia. (One-day laydown, June 19)Forecast: Even when he isn't in top form, Gaiman, creator of the acclaimed Sandman comics series, trumps many storytellers. Momentously titled, and allotted a dramatic one-day laydown with a 12-city author tour, his latest will appeal to fans and attract mainstream review coverage for better or for worse because of the rich possibilities of its premise. - From Publishers Weekly

In The Xbox

Dan:

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

I mean lost in the best possible sense. As in, “Where did those six hours go?” As in, “I don’t really need to go shopping today.” As in, “Hello, Mr. Sunrise.”

When it comes to offline single-player games, no recent title will draw players in for hundreds of hours as readily as Skyrim. Plenty of games promise to let you unleash your inner all-conquering hero (or antihero), endowed with the power to shape both your own epic destiny and the fate of the world. Almost none deliver on that promise as thoroughly as Skyrim. - NYTimes Games Review 

Annie : 

De Blob 2

Many of you know that I am a confessed Katamari addict and that there hasn't been a new Katamari game in pretty much forever. So when Dan found this game - admittedly made for children but still kinda challenging for me because I'm terrible at video games - I got way too excited about it. This game is pretty similar to Katamari but does lack the little weird details that I personally adore. It is more challenging though which can be fun too in a different way. I have already fallen in love with De Blob but I do have one bad thing to say about it. The 2 player options on this games are pretty bad. I wish the video game universe would figure out that not all gamers are sitting alone in their basements... I mean maybe like 80% are... hard to say without more research but I can say with confidence that I wish there were more coop games for Dan and I to play together.  - Annie

(Yes! I'm now stuck on level 6.)