Behemoth by Scott Westerfield Illustrated by Keith Thompson

Behemoth by Scott Westerfield Illustrated by Keith Thompson

Behemoth is a mixture of alternate history and steampunk written for young adults.  It is the second book in the Leviathan trilogy.  The title Leviathan in the first book refers to a giant living airship.  Leviathan won the 2010 Locus Award for Best Young Adult Novel. I think it is quite readable for adults as well.

The setting in this part of the series is an alternate history Ottoman Empire.  There are ornate clockwork mechanical walkers and intricate steam powered machines.  The year is 1914.  In this world, the English and Russians are Darwinists masters of genetically engineered beasts and the Germans and Ottomans are Clankers makers of complex clockwork machinery.  I like that in this world, the Americans do both.

This makes for wonderfully ornate illustrations by Keith Thompson.  His website has some of the art from Behemoth http://www.keiththompsonart.com/ The illustrations are wonderfully ornate in black in white with touches of Victoriana, Art Deco, and even Middle Eastern motifs.

The reader encounters living airships, articulated steam elephants, a steampunk library, and an alternate Orient Express.  This transports you to a very different world.  The descriptions are inventive and eloquent.  We get to imagine Iron Golems in the Jewish quarters of Istanbul, fallen nobility in grand hotels, and an air of revolutionary change.

There is constant action, intrigue, hair raising escapes, and suspense.  Tension is created between the main characters; a young woman posing as a boy to serve in the English air corps, and an aristocratic German who is trying to pass himself off as a commoner.

The design of the book is superb; it is set in Hoefler text.  The line spacing and layout are very easy on the eyes.  The jacket design and photo illustration are by Sammy Yuen, Jr.

This is highly recommended, especially for people who read steampunk or atlernate history.

Daily Thoughts 12/11/2010 (Ebooks, Behemoth, Content Strategy)

Title page from “De Studio Literarum...” published in 1536 in Paris by Jodocus Badius and printed by Michael Vascosanus, illustrated by Orance Finé (or Orance Fine). The central woodcut shows a printing office; the twisted perspective is deliberate, and emphasises the turn of the printing-press handle. The words Prelum Ascensianum appear over the press, the name of Baudius’ printing house (Prelum being the Latin word for a printing-press).

Daily Thoughts 12/11/2010



I went through and checked my links on my selected links page.  They all should be working now. I did a little more link checking in the book reviews section.  There were a few things which I had to change.  I am up to the letter T in the book reviews section.  I'll probably finish doing it tomorrow.  It is sometimes good to go through and check links to make sure they work.

I finished reading Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld.  I rather like that the stories ends with the formation of an Ottoman republic which makes for excellent alternate history.  The tesla cannon was also a nice touch.

I put the book Bite-sized marketing : realistic solutions for the overworked librarian by Nancy Dowd, Mary Evangeliste, & Jonathan Silberman on hold.

I am thinking a little bit about the Holidy Party for the Content Strategy Group.  I think I have learned the basics of what content strategy is.  The content strategist puts all the content into a website where information architect provides the framework.  This is more than just being a webmaster or web editor.  It includes SEO (search engine optimization), metadata, curation and selection of multimedia (apps, video, and video) and overall design of what goes on the page where.  The person is also supposed to be able to evaluate and plan whether content inside a website will fulfill a specific need and be profitable in a variety of different web settings.
Web Bits



It is the Goodreads Choice Awards.  I really like Goodreads, they do an excellent job.
http://www.goodreads.com/award/choice/

Wish I could go to the Ebooks Summit, but not willing to shell out a couple hundred dollars right now. http://www.mediabistro.com/ebooksummit/?c=eb

Unprintable WWF File Format Goes Viral To Save Trees
http://www.socialtimes.com/2010/12/unprintable-wwf-file-format/

Daily Thoughts 12/10/2010 (Budget, Behemoth, webinar)

Scribner's Fiction Number.  I like that Edith Wharton is on the cover.


Daily Thoughts 12/10/2010

I did some follow up emails in the morning to people who I talked to at the Content Strategy holiday party.  It is always good to follow up with these activities.

I also took some time to make sure my flash drive had the files I needed for the future.  I made sure I saved all the online certificates I had gotten for taking classes from the American Library Association online.  I also saved some of the bookmarks, fliers, and bibliographies I had made.  It is always good to save your files to a flash drive.


This morning I did what I usually do;  make sure the displays are in order, do some more weeding in the oversize books and start planning for January and February events.  I am waiting for a few people to confirm events.

I went to a dinner for two of my colleagues who had been let go.  It was hard to do.  We talked about every day things and tried to stay focused. It was a break from the routine.  They asked if we were going to the city budget hearing on December 14, 2010 at city hall.  The budget is not finalized yet.  There should be people from all the different agencies of the city.  We talked a bit about the meetups also and the major library recruiters, Infocurrent, Pro Libra, and Sarah Warner.



It is budget time and all the people who work for the government are coming out to try and justify their share.  I am hoping that our supporters do a good job of justifying why we need funds to operate. Crowd Weighs On County Budget
http://www.lohud.com/article/201012100334

I am looking at Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld.  The illustrations are superb.  It is a steampunk novel.  The previous novel, Leviathan won the Young Adult category from Locus magazine.  This should be very good.  I read some of it on the way home from a dinner with colleagues.  There are a lot of very imaginative devices.  There is a steampunk version of the Ottoman empire which is very interesting and ornate; giant articulated metal elephants, golems, and an eastern flavor make it different.  This is an alternate history of World War I.

In the afternoon, I listened to the Baker and Taylor Webinar on Graphic Novels
http://webinars.baker-taylor.com/GraphicNovels/event.htm

I am also starting to check all my links to make sure they work.  I am going to click through them and make sure they work.  You have to do this sometimes to make sure a website works.

Web Bits

IA launches new browser based bookreader with improved UI and support for read aloud (TTS) - Mr Darwin: http://bit.ly/hxfTar  I like the design.  It is very pretty.

Tech Breakthrough Could Mean Disposable E-Readers
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/11/28/tech-breakthrough-mean-disposable-e-readers/#content

Early iPad users mostly men reading news. 
http://bit.ly/dKC5Oa

Gift Book Suggestions for the Imaginative, the Curious, the Weird
by Jeff VanderMeer http://bit.ly/fWMOx8