Last week, we recommended a few DVDs and Blu-Rays for your holiday consideration. Now we’re back with the next installment of our gift guide to tell you about some other cool items you can get the genre fan in your life (or put on your holiday wish list).
Books
Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson – If you know someone who considers themselves a fan of epic fantasy and they are not familiar with Steven Erikson, run, don’t walk to your computer (unless you’re already there, in that case, click the frakkin link!) and buy them this damn book. It’s the first of a 10 book series (Malazan Book of the Fallen) that’s dense, complex, funny, brutal and my favorite fantasy series ever. I love it more than Glen Cook’s Black Company series, even more than Roger Zelazny’s Amber and I never thought I’d say that. Erikson has a seriously detailed plan for his world, know’s exactly what’s happened over several millennia and let’s us watch it all unfold through the eyes of some extremely messed up but fascinating and well-written characters. With the 10th and final book due to come out in February of next year, now’s the time to get started on this brilliant series. If you’re feeling bold, invest in book 2 as well. Deadhouse Gates is my favorite of the series and the one that cemented my deep and eternal love for Mr. Erikson. (Recommended by Sam Roberts)
Night of Knives & Return of the Crimson Guard by Ian C. Esslemont– If you’re already a fan of the Malazan series but haven’t read the novels in that same world by Ian C. Esslemont, you’re really missing out. Steven & Ian developed the Malazan world together (as role playing gamers!) and divided up between each other who would write which stories. Night of Knives & Return of the Crimson Guard are great entries in that universe and accomplish the neat trick of fleshing out the details of 2 significant events in the Malazan timeline that are often referred to in Steven Erikson’s books but are never fully explained. You’ll want to start with Night of Knives and then move on to Return of the Crimson Guard (Recommended by Sam Roberts)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season Eight — I know you’re saying but ther ewere only 7 seasons put out!? WROOOOOOOOOOOONG! Joss decided to keep on chugging with Buffy in graphic novel format. Excellent story telling with all the Scoobies.They are up to 7 trade paper backs so far. (Recommended by Brian Brown)
The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back – Best movie of the series. Seriously. This is an indepth book and that might turn off some folks especially the talk about how production was done, setting up of shots, etc. etc. Seriously take a look and see if this sort of book does it for you. I have to laugh at the Amazon review that whined and complained about the font that was used… REALLY!? SERIOUSLY? You, sir or madam, need to get out a LOT more. (Recommended by Brian Brown)
The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher – First three all boxed up for you. One of my favorite series of books and every year I wait anxiously for the latest to appear in April. I’ve met in person Jim and talked with him about this series and I like Jim not only as a person but as a writer he has some fantastic ideas and direction for this series. Harry Dresden is a PI but he’s also a wizard.. oh and his godmother is really a faerie godmother. Spells and Bad guys and LOTS of things that go BUMP! in the night. (Recommended by Brian Brown)
The Walking Dead: Compendium One – HOOOLLLLY CRAP! The first 8 volumes of this AWESOME series. If you’ve been watching the FANTASTIC AMC adaptation of this, then you owe it to yourself to read the source material. It’s the story about a group of survivors in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. That’s really just the dressing on it, the real story is much more about what happens to society, its morals, laws and standards when it’s just hard enough to survive day to day. It’s a huge character driven graphic novel and zombies, although present, are just a part of the whole. (Recommended by Brian Brown)
The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold — Space opera at its best with a flawed hero in Miles Verkosigan. Bujold returned to the saga this year with a new installment Cryoburn, but you may not want to jump in there. Catch up with Miles in the first installment to feature him, this collection of two novels and one story. The books only get better and each one is unique. (Recommended by Michael Hickerson)
Games
Zombies!!! 2nd Edition – In this epically entertaining board game, you are one of a number of hapless individuals trying to escape a zombie infested town by getting safely to the helipad. Unfortunately, it’s a one-person chopper and the zombies are hungry! Never play the same game twice with this one because you build the town as you play and there are also a number of expansions available that add to the mayhem (Mall Walkers, Zombie Corps(e), etc). This one is a serious good time and a staple among my board gaming crew. (Recommended by Sam Roberts)
Killer Bunnies — I love this game. Intensely, deeply, eternally love it. It’s simple really, you try to protect your bunnies while attempting to kill everyone else’s. There’s Sinister Bunnies, Cyborg Bunnies, evil green jello, magic spatulas, ebola, nuclear weapons…I could keep going. Trust me. It’s just awesomely absurd and you want to play it. BTW, this is the card game, not to be confused with the board game, which may also be awesome, but is not what we’re talking out here. Also, there are many, other colored booster packs. They are chock full of wacky cards that add to the fun. I highly recommend them as well. (Recommended by Sam Roberts)
Ticket to Ride – Ahhh… a family favorite. Now we’ve always played board games in my family. Clue, Monopoly, Risk, Careers, Sorry, etc. etc. I continued my love for board games to this day. I’ve started introducing my family to some of the next generation of board games and this one is a great one to ease into more complex games. The concept is pretty simple, you ride trains, complete destinations, and try not to get stuck with un-ridden routes before the game ends. Sounds simple right? Well there is a lot more to it and some subtle strategies along with some luck involved. I suggest hitting up your local hobby shop for a game night and see how it’s played or if you don’t have one near you, there is always Amazon! (Recommended by Brian Brown)
Clothing, Shoes
A funny t-shirt from Glarkware.com – These hilarious Canadians have been producing snarky t-shirts, often based on some of our favorite TV shows (Lost, Better Off Ted, Battlestar Galactica) for years. There are a number of them that would appeal to the genre geek, but my favorites are: Kill All Humans – this lets our future robot overlords know that you’re on the side of the winning team and do not need to be eliminated along with the rest of the squishy, weak humans, 70’s Scifi Was All About Hexagons – it’s a simple statement of fact illustrated beautifully on a shirt, and KHAAAAAAAN!! – I think the name says it all. (Recommended by Sam Roberts)
Super sexy Tron stilettos. The perfect hot holiday party shoe for female geeks of all kinds. If my boyfriend wasn’t taking me to a holiday party on a grass ballpark infield, I’d be turning the couch upside down to scrape together the $795 for these suckers. Backup plan: If they happen to be out of your size, go with the orange ones, they are also eminently drool worthy. (Recommended by Sam Roberts)
Other Cool Stuff
In my family, my sister and I have a fine tradition of giving each other and our Mom Christmas ornaments as Christmas gifts. Sometimes they’re crafty jobbies painted at the local do it yourself ceramics store, other times, super-tacky glittered up ones found at places like Target or Walmart. This year, I have slightly more lofty Christmas ornament hopes for myself. If my sister truly loved me, there would be an Old One with my name on it under the tree this year. (from Think Geek) (Recommended by Sam Roberts)
Don’t know what to get that geeky friend of yours? Really? Most of us have detailed list of the things we want for holidays. Thinkgeek has it all. Buy them a gift certificate there because I’m sure there is something that they would go SQUEEEEEEE!!! over on their site. From Caffeine and Edibles, Geek Tools, T-Shirts with tons of Geeky stuff, and even stuff for the up and coming geeklings (Recommended by Brian Brown)
Enterprise Pizza Cutter — Sure there’s the bottle opener that looks like the origianl (and still the best) Enterprise. But how much cooler would it be to slice up pizza with your own Enterprise pizza cutter? If you’ve got a Trek fan in your life who has everything, this is a perfect gift. Boldly go where no pepperoni has gone before! (Recommended by Michael Hickerson)