Carrie by Stephen King

Ah, the high school years. Those lazy, hazy, crazy days when people struggled to fit in, to be cool, to mock the outcasts as a way of bonding. They were always there, those freaks and geeks, loners and losers... maybe you were one, maybe you picked on one.

Carrie, when read in the post-Columbine era, gives the reader an eerie situation. When the book was written, King did an amazing job of making a protagonist you would simultaneously fear and, in some small part of your brain, root for. Now, with high school violence and shootings a monthly occurrence on the news, Carrie's violent revenge against her classmates seems less shocking. More prescient are the elements of the story that still ring true today: the outcast being pushed too far, ignored too long, until nothing can bring them back from the edge. The overly strict religious upbringing (in a single parent household), coupled with the consistent mocking from her peers leads to a child that rebels in a way that scars the very soul of a town. In the case of Carrie, for those familiar with the story who haven't read the book or seen the movie, the destruction is as epic in scale as the emotions and pathos that drive Carrie's soul.

Carrie is the beginning of King's career, clumsy in places, but overly irresistible, the birth of a literary master.

The Etched City by KJ Bishop

Sprawling, amazing, fantastic...

The lands created by KJ Bishop are at once familiar (sometimes a bit too much), yet also extremely strange and fresh. The story of The Etched City begins in the desert, where Raule and Gwynn, two outlaws, meet up on the run from government forces. This windswept hardpan has been seen before in Stephen King's Dark Tower series and countless others. The pair's final destination, the city of Ashamoil, also feels like a bit of a retrofitted New Orleans a la Anne Rice. But something happens in the in-between. Reality is twisted, conventions are abandoned or distorted, and a story of sorts emerges.

It's a bit difficult to describe The Etched City, primarily because it is, as the cover suggests, "Fantasy as High Literature". This means less of the pulse-pounding sword and gunplay and more of the introspective Absinthe-Dream-quality, at which Bishop excels. The novel tends to bog down in spots, becoming lost in reverie, thought, and emotion, while the plot inches towards its pyrrhic ending.

This is not to say that the book isn't enjoyable, I liked it quite a bit. From the drunken Rev who battles to save Gwynn's soul to the circus strongman with the enchanted Axe made from the ashes of his murdered wife (the book could have used many more twists like this), The Etched City will keep you hooked, frustrated, spellbound, awestruck, and at times, sighing for the next plot point.

Company by Max Barry

Max Barry takes a razor sharp scalpel to the underbelly of Corporate America in Company. Jones is a new employee at Zephyr Holdings, a huge business in the middle of Downtown Seattle. He's excited to jump in on his first day of work and begin his climb up the corporate ladder. Then he meets Roger. Things begin to seem a little off when the first day of work is all about a power struggle over who ate Roger's donut prior to a meeting. Not that there weren't any donuts left for Roger, in fact, nobody else had eaten any donuts, but he knew...KNEW... that someone was out to get him. Before the first day is halfway through, Jones begins to ask himself questions: What exactly is his job here? What does Zephyr Holdings do?

As any management training manual will tell you, there are no stupid questions. So Jones asks his fellow cubicle dwellers about Zephyr's purpose, and nobody quite knows. Oh, they have plenty of long-winded corporate speak for answers, but in terms of actual purpose... nothing. Jones makes it his mission to discover the truth behind Zephyr, and when he does, he funds himself in a situation that he never could have imagined. Jones wants change, and he'll have to rely on his wits to escape with his resume intact.

While many of the incidents in the book are the stuff of fiction, there are moments that clearly borrow from real-life incidents. Max Barry is a master of modern white collar comedy, and Company is his best work yet.

Empire of Light by David Czuchlewski

Czuchlewski's debut novel, The Muse Asylum, was a gripping mystery that didn't follow convention. He followed it up with Empire of Light, a novel about a man trying to rescue his ex-girlfriend from a religious cult.

Matt Kelly is surprised one evening when Anna turns up on his doorstep in a rainstorm. She's just coming down off of a bender, and all of the reasons for their break-up are evident. She's still playing the wild child, Matt's moving toward responsible adulthood. Shortly after spurning her advances, Matt learns that Anna has disappeared, and her wealthy father is growing concerned. It turns out she's been adopted by Imperium Lumenis, The Empire of Light, a powerful sect of Catholicism that requires strict devotion to the faith (Readers of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code will probably begin drawing comparisons here, but the two books aren't in the same league.) Anna is becoming more attached to the group, and Matt realizes the only way to get her out is to join himself. The lines of right and wrong begin to blur for Matt. Is this really a cult, or just a powerful social organization? Does Imperium Lumenis brainwash their subjects, or give them tools to deal with their demons?

Matt has the chance to rescue Anna but isn't sure if she needs to be rescued. Indeed, his life begins to unravel as he discovers that their are three sides to every story: his side, their side, and the truth.

Plane Insanity by Elliott Hester

Flying the unfriendly skies, riding shotgun with the man who's been there, done that, seen that, heard it all, and lived to tell the tale. Hester is a roving freelance writer now, but these are the tales of his early days as a flight attendant for a major airline. Plane Insanity will help you confirm all of the things you thought were happening on airlines. Even better, it will shock you when you discover everything that goes on while you're sleeping. There's the expected amount of storied about airsickness, the bad food, and the mile high club. Beyond that are the stories you may not believe- night flights that resemble drunken south-of-the-border shantytown bars, irresponsible pilots, and crew members who like you even less than you thought.

It's the perfect read for a cross-country flight, guaranteed to make you examine your surroundings very carefully the next time you board a plane.