eBook of the Moment - Sine Fratres: An Officer Involved Shooting

Here's a phrase I probably wasn't expecting to say ever: "Someone I know wrote a book." He's self-publishing through Amazon and just released it a couple days ago.

I want to help him promote it, not just because I know him, but because it provides a different point of view on something that's been in the news a lot lately.

Here's a summary from the author:

In 2011, as a newly assigned investigator to the Vice/Narcotics Unit of the Aurora, Colorado Police Department, I found myself assigned to investigate the methamphetamine overdoses of some middle school children. Where it led me to was utterly beyond the realm of what I thought possible. The things I would do, learn and discover were unthinkable to me then and unforgettable now.

The officer-involved-shooting that I was involved in on February 10th, 2011 was a major life-changer for me and my family. As we all know, police use-of-force has become quite a topic these past few months nationally as well.

This book was a little over three years in the making for me.

It is my humble attempt to try and explain to others, as well as myself, the event and the aftermath. I can speak only for myself and my experience... your individual results may vary.

Even if you think you may not read it, if you're a Kindle user, I'd appreciate the download (it's free today!). Every download helps get the book a little more recognition on Amazon's listings and will hopefully draw more eyes to it.

You can get the eBook free here.

January 2015 Loot Crate - Rewind

Disclaimer: Every month, Loot Crate provides this product in exchange for a review and promotion. The theme for January's Loot Crate is Rewind and if you're a child of the 80s, this is your jam!

They didn't go crazy with the booklet cover this month, but that's ok. The simplicity of it is really nice with a game controller, cassette tape and some non-brand name building blocks on a style of carpet I'm betting a lot of you will remember lying on while reading comics or playing video games. The features this month include articles on Nintendo and Voltron.



There is some great geek gear this month including a mini-notebook for drawing your own comic book. The pages are broken into panels just like a comic, it's up to you t fill them in. It's also got punch-out stencils to help make comic book-y effects. Next is a pair of 8-bit sun glasses, which I really wish were clip-ons so I could wear them over my normal glasses. And there's a very Space Invader inspired skinny tie to help nerd up your wardrobe.



There's also plenty of Loot Crate exclusives this month too! Check out this Voltron shirt. At the risk of losing geek cred, I'll tell you I've never watched an entire episode of Voltron. Battle of the Planets, Grandizer, Gaiking, Spaceketeers, Starblazers I watched constantly but never got into Voltron. Weird, right?



From Squid Kid Ink comes this 10-Doh cartridge figure. Looters got one of six possible exclusive designs, including a shiny gold chase variant. These 3" tall guys are a good combo of retro gaming and pop culture parody. Other titles include take offs on Back to the Future, Doctor Who, and Firefly.



But my favorite exclusive is this Star Wars #1 variant cover! Having bought two different covers already, I wouldn't have thought I needed a third, but I'm very happy to get this one featuring one of my favorite characters! If you look closely, you can see the containers in front of Han are Loot Crates.



They really outdid themselves with the box interior this month. I seem to be saying that every month, but every month it's true! You have to open all the flaps and basically turn it inside out and it becomes a Loot Crate retro gaming console complete with 80s "stickers" plastered all over it. The final page of the booklet has a paper craft controller you can punch out.



If you want to get sweet swag like this delivered right to your door every month, head over to Loot Crate and sign up. And if you use promo code AEIOUwhy, you can save 10% on whatever subscription plan you choose!

Book of the Moment - Jim Henson's Labyrinth

Click to order on Amazon

I was beyond thrilled when I finally got hold of this book for Christmas. Outside of the Star Wars films, Labyrinth is probably the movie I've revisited the most times. I didn't see it in the theater so my decades long love affair with it must be due to home video in the late 80s.

Follow Dex's board Labyrinth on Pinterest.

The movie novelization has been out of print for a long time with copies fetching prices close to $100 on the secondary market. And while it's wonderful to have access to this book, the real reason fans will want it is the final 70 or so pages featuring Brian Froud's concept art and reproductions of pages from Henson's notebook.

For obsessed movie fans like me, there isn't much different in the novelization than what made it to screen. If the different scenes in the book were cut scenes on a DVD, they would probably total less than 15 minutes. The one problem/challenge I had while reading was trying to keep the music out of my head. I tried my best to read it that way to experience it in a new context: a pure fantasy story and not a musical.

At the start of the movie, I've always been very sympathetic towards Sarah, seemingly under the heel of her step-mom. In the book, she comes off as more of a spoiled brat even though the scenes play out almost identically.

There area few fleeting moments that get into Jareth's head where you see his thoughts and motivations. It's not anything earth shattering but it does give you a little something extra to keep in the back of your mind the next time you watch the film. 

Froud's artwork is fantastical and funny, as usual. I've owned the original Goblins of Labyrinth book for many, many years and know it pretty well. I was happy to see a lot of the art included here is not reprints from there.

Henson's notebook pages will take some work to read through, his handwriting is not the best. But it's well worth it to see some of the story ideas, concepts, and themes that gave birth to a movie a lot people hold dear.

If you're one of those people, you probably have the book already because no review would sway you from buying it. For what its worth, I definitely recommend it.

5 out of 5 Crystal Spheres