Riotous Reading

Review of War of the Classes

2012-01-27T13:47:00.000-08:00

I knew Jack London had written socialist works, but for some reason I never took their existence seriously. That is, I never believed London wrote anything meaningful about socialism. I attributed books like The People of the Abyss, War of the Classes, and Revolution and Other Essays, to the idea that sometimes authors write works "with their left hands." A comment famously made about Tolstoy's religious writings, and refer to a type of by-product of a writer's interests, but don't truly reflect the author's best work on major themes.

As a teenager I found it hard to reconcile the man who had written Call of the Wild, White Fang, and The Sea Wolf ever had an interest in socialism. Laid bare in the pages of his books was the blind struggle for existence in all its Dawrinian and Nietzschean brutality.

But allow me to backtrack a bit my dear and constant reader. And herein you should be forewarned: this is a deeply personal essay and not strictly speaking simply a book review. The best books in our lives do more than excite our interest or motivate us to reflection, they speak deeply for us and through us, articulating our own sometimes unknown and feared thoughts. A book has the power to damage our way of life, change our existence, and divide us from ourselves and our best interests. The same book also can truly validate what we feel and think to be true, despite all the prejudice of the society around us.

Once in a great while a reader with years of experience and thousands of books behind them will say of a particular book "it spoke to me." I mean no cheap sentimentality here, nor anything approaching a religious revelation. Instead I draw on a certain real experience familiar to the tribe of those who read, one that awakens a deep sense of being and connectedness. The awareness that these thoughts we have in our most private selves can be shared and brought to light, regardless of the fear of consequences.

But I understand I digress too much. Let me transport you back in time. To the hey dey of the late eighties, that era of Republicanism and the Communist "menace." The world was more simply divided back then. At least to my pubescent eyes. Russia was bad, America good, and the cold war raged quietly behind the world events. At 12 I was beginning to formulate questions on this state of affairs, but since my questions were in such contradiction to the zeitgiest I kept my thoughts to myself.

When I was 14 I read Jack London's Call of the Wild. I enjoyed the book and found the writing from the perspective of a dog an odd yet compelling way of telling a story. I also recognized, even at that age, that Buck's perspective was meant to challenge the perspective of a children's tale wherin animal protagonists stand for humans trying to find their way in the world.

From there I went to White Fang, which I don’t think I finished. Then I read some short stories, and finally to The Sea Wolf. The Sea Wolf is London's tale of literary critic Humphrey Van Weyden who survives the wreck of a San Francisco ferry only to be taken aboard a seal hunting ship led by the Nietzschean Wolf Larsen. On the ship Van Weydon is introduced to life among the lower classes, the laborers, the poor, the downtrodden, the oppressed.

At 15 I saw myself reflected pretty clearly in Van Weydon. An aspiring writer and rabid consumer of novels I was fast developing an aesthetic appreciation for the written word. I was eager to enter the world of books and stay in them.

But there was a bit of a problem with this world view. My hometown. I grew up in a town in the Pennsylvania Coal Region. The mines had long since closed for the most part but their legacy remained: the world was a weekday laborers world and the weekends were beer fests and bar fights. Surrounded though we were by an edenic world of natural beauty.

This story, which showed quite clearly the darwinian struggle for existence in all its brutality, which took the survival of the fittest to be the mantra and religious creed for the world, affected me profoundly. I never really lost the view of the world in those pages. I never really lost the idea that the world around me was going to forever be one in which the strong subjugate the weak, and the weak endure or die off. I never became a follower of this belief. In fact I lived a very long time in denial of it. But of the fact that humans were cruel, vicious, and that it was all somehow sanctified by Nature never sat well with me. Had I been a better reader at that age I might have realized this was the character Wolf Larsen's perception of the world.

Enter the later day me in 2011. Years of experience behind me and many novels I begin to see the claims made by socialism and communism as having some legitimacy. Since the 2008 financial crises and its subsequent fallout the country has remembered just how fragile a thing an economy can be.

In an effort to save money I purchased a Kindle. So many downloadable books for free, prices cut on paperbacks and hardcovers so that I will literally save hundreds, and the portability means no more lugging around cinder block sized 900+ page fantasy epics.

One of the first books I download is London's War of the Classes. Im intrigued and the financial problems of the past few years have made me more aware and curious as to the possibility of alternate economic structures. I'm intrigued at this London, the man who claims to be a socialist but yet wrote such brutal books about the struggle for existence.

Like the constant and thorough reader you are you can probably anticipate the ending here. Not only is the London I find in War of the Classes not a fraud, but probably one of the most compassionate, humane and mature voices I have ever read. Yes the world is a brutal struggle for existence, but this does not justify continued brutality, in the best of humans it evokes a desire to change the world and make it better. It is possible to so organize a society that the people are no poor, that there is no hunger, no want of work; that it is not a crime against god or an obstinate laziness to desire a shorter work day so as to pursue the arts, a higher quality of family life, and a way of existing in the world that is not just a fight and a daily competition but instead a contemplating of the existence we are in. In a moving essay London talks about the people of his era who tell him socialism is a thing for young men and he will grow out of it. The same men, he states, who own everything.

Jack London is no saint. He frequently trades in cultural stereotypes, and sometimes his writer's voice gets carried away by the polemics of a revolution he hopes will come soon. But as near as I can tell nowhere does he argue for a violent overthrow of the existing regime.

What he does argue for, and passionately, is the need for Americans to wake up and recognize that they are in a class struggle. Their lives are one of conflict between the owners and workers. One exploits the other. The London I imagined in the Sea Wolf would have said so it is and will ever be. But I was wrong. That is not the London presented here. This is:

"Why should there be one empty belly in all the world, when the work of ten men can feed a hundred? What if my brother be not so strong as I? He has not sinned. Wherefore should he hunger-he and his sinless little ones? Away with the old law. There is food and shelter for all, therefore let all receive food and shelter."

All written over a hundred years ago. And yet, so very contemporary.

Review of Ship Breaker

2011-12-04T10:03:00.000-08:00

What's most impressive about Paolo Baciagalupi is his ability as a writer to convey the minds and lives of people so far from his experience. His technical and scientific knowledge, while vast, is not what makes his books memorable. This is not to say that the science in his books is second rate, or that he sloppily imagines a futuristic world wherin he writes out his space operas. He doesn't. The science in his books is thought provoking, clever, and like the best science fiction, grounded in the here and now, which makes the message in his books all the more chilling.

To look at a picture of Paolo Baciagalupi is to see someone who could easily be in charge of a science research lab, or an exectuive in charge of a division of microsoft. Yet I have rarely encountered an author who so convincingly portrays the lives of beggars, societal outcasts, and the flotsam and jetsam of this world.

The world of Nailer, the teenage protagonist of Ship Breaker, is brutal. And he is one step from rock bottom. He works on a "light crew" salvaging the huge abandoned oil tankers that have run aground on the shores of the gulf coast. The great wrecks sprawl there like dinosaurs rotting in the sun. Money is to be made though from salvaging the materials on the ships and a whole economy has sprung up around it.

The work is dangerous, dirty and what is worse, Nailer may soon have grown too big to do the salvage. He will be out of a job, and forced to try to work for one of the heavy crews, where men much larger and more deadly than him will sooner stab a potential rival than try to outperform them on the job.

All of which is allowable in this world. National governments have ceased to exist, as well as any federal, state, or local police force. Corporations, however, have thrived and run rampant in a world where no legislation or legislative bodies exist to enforce standards of human decency. In an interesting twist, though the world may be post oil, it is not technologically backward. Great clipper ships, their hulls made from special alloys and their internal workings fired by complex machinery sail the seas and carry on trade. A trade, it seems, that has left the United States behind.

And here is where the author steps up his game and shows you something truly new. He takes you into Nailer's brutal, tribal world, where it is literally work yourself to death, or farm your body parts out to medical corporations so they can clone your parts, or if you have a true killer instinct, join a security force for one of the work gangs. This is a bleak world but within it the author shows characters who try to hang on to their humanity. Characters who are so oppressed, but yet refuse to let their sense of decency wither.

Nailer gets moral and ethical guidance from a local family, a woman and her daughter who exist in this world but also maintain their sense of right and wrong. When Nailer is forced to commit a heinous act, to kill to survive, the mother says "he needs to be watched. A death like that always costs something, always takes something from you."

And it is this combination of the technologically advanced with the barbarism and mentality of a tribal culture that makes the book unique and a wonder to read. Its his ability as writer to plunge you into this world, to make you feel Nailer's desperation, that grips the reader. And by extension, this makes you realize that as we speak there are people on the planet who live similar existences around the globe. Though Ship Breaker may be science fiction, and set in a future, it does the job of all good science fiction, and makes the reader understand their own world a little better.

The follow up book to Ship Breaker, The Drowned Cities, is due to be released in May 2012.

The Hunger Games: Reflections

2011-11-20T10:24:00.000-08:00

(What follows is not a review but a reflection. I will, in a later post, cover the book on its merits and defaults as fiction. I was moved to write the following after a first reading and present it here as a testament to the power of the book's ability to make the reader reflect on the present age.)

The Hunger Games is not so much a vision of a world that can go wrong, but a world that reflects our own and is already going wrong. In a brilliant move as a writer she stretches boundary definitions of genre and pulls off a contemporary dystopic novel.

The great secret of The Hunger Games is not that it’s a powerful send up of the Bush regime, or that its about the way that television images of violence and reality tv desensitize us to human brutality, or that it’s a commentary on the nature of a society that has allowed its youth to daily fight to the death (and which happens on the streets of its inner cities). The great secret of The Hunger Games is that most of America is going hungry.

We have unemployment at an all time high. We are living through the worst economic meltdown since the great depression. Those jobs that are available, except for a lucky few, are those that barely pay the bills. Few are the families that can actually survive on one salary. Housing is at an all time low. Record foreclosures etc.
Go to the a Walmart in a rural region of the country. Look at the people. Look at the desperation. You see those rednecks as they come in the doors of a walmart, you see their thin bodies in wife beaters, their wives' with faces that look like rotten fruit. They are old before their time. These are the people of The Hunger Games. That is what most of America is living through.

Before I get off on too much of a rant here I will move on and look at the novel. But I cant stress this enough. The most moving aspect of the novel is not the technology, the fight to survive, the brutality that daily exists in Katniss' world, but that this is where we are as a country: we are starving, but the images on television show us nothing more than opulent wealth and power. And no one seems to care or notice. We live in a country that is supposed to be a world economic leader, and yet, most of us can't feed ourselves on our wages.

The most amazing thing about the Hunger Games is the way it gets the reader to focus on the here and now, on what life is like now, and not on how bad of a future there could be. The book is a window on the contemporary world, rather than the world of the future.

Another intriguing fact that is eerily similar to our time is that the world of The Hunger Games takes place in the former United States among twelve separate districts. Each district corresponds to some region in the country. District 12 for example, Peeta's district, is Appalachia. Whether that covers all of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia etc. though is anyone's guess because what the political regime has done is to keep the districts ignorant of the exact locations and borders of the other districts.

Again, when you think about it, not that far from reality. How many Americans have travelled to the Southwest? Or to the Northwest? Or Wisconsin? , Or to Missouri or Kentucky, or to any of the other states that do not draw huge numbers of tourists every year because of pristine beaches, or other natural wonders? How much do I as a reader really know of what goes on in South Dakota?

1984 is meant to scare the shit out of us. Its meant to make us be concerned about the future and what could happen. But Orwell is a political theorist and the world Winston Smith lives through is not as recognizeable as our own. Owrell sees dangerous currents in the political world and warns us of them.

Suzanne Collins looks at our world now, takes that from her starting point, and startles us with how what we see around us today is really just a step away from a nighmare world of political oppression.

Its also a brilliant accomplishment when a writer manages to make a dystopic novel work in a rural setting. Most dystopic novels take place in what is imagined to be the future of all human civilizations: impossibly large, overcrowded, dark and subterranean cityscapes of brick and concrete.

The Appalachia of the Hunger Games is dirt poor, poorly educated, and beset by oppressive technology.

That's all for now. Further essays on these books will include the mythic echoes and allusions in the story and how they comment on the larger narrative. The critique of a reality tv culture as well as the grounding for the technology in the book.

A note to friends and family

2011-11-08T20:12:00.000-08:00

Dear friends,family and coworkers,

Let me start this note by saying that I love you all dearly, value your various roles in my lives, and remain confident in your continued support of my aspirations, goals and dreams. I also am grateful for your continued daily maintenance in helping me cope with life's setbacks, real and imagined, microscopic and cosmic. I like to believe that I contribute in a similar way to each of your individual pursuits of happiness and fulfillment in this world and that my temporary absence in your lives will be noticed.

What you should know is that I will not be available for the next few days. Effective 11/11/11 I will be turning off my phone, shutting off my laptop and internet access, and even going so far as to turn off my xbox live. I will also never check my facebook or goodreads accounts so please do not try to get my attention there either.

There is no major crisis, I am not suicidal, nor am I homicidal. I am not bagging work, nor am I recruiting other job options. I have no romantic liasons planned, nor am I about to start a self destructive drug habit.

I will not be going camping, nor hunting. I have no long walks in the autumn woods planned, nor do I intend to go to the ends of the earth in a vain pursuit of enlightenment and improvement.

For those of you that know me well, and to indicate the seriousness of this weekend, I will not even be lifting weights, nor do I really anticipate reading anything besides an instruction booklet.

In fact, beyond taking daily dictation from the incessant idea and fiction machine that is my brain, you should know I have no desire to really write anything. But, such is the way I'm made that though I will endeavor not to write, I probably can't stop ideas from coming, so I will keep paper and pen handy to record the memos from my creative self.

I am not going on a hunger strike for some righteous left leaning political purpose. In fact, I have amply stocked up on caffiene, chocolate, various pastries, and microwaveable food that can be ready to eat in less than five minutes. So, though I wont starve I probably wont be eating healthy. But since it will only last for the duration of the weekend, I should be ok.

The reason for this sabbatical from the known world is that Elder Scrolls Skyrim has been released and I have effectively cleared my schedule to play it.

But let me elaborate. One does not "play" Elder Scrolls. One immerses oneself in the experience and the real world is a much better place as a result. If only for the simple reasons that the world at large is free from my middling attempts to improve it, or to continue to participate in a rampant consumer culture.

For this weekend, my only goals are to level up, and slay dragons(yes, Im partially mocking you Madden fans: "score a touchdown," or "slay a dragon," you decide which sounds more baddass and sexier).

Should my employers complain that I will not be available, I can only say that since I give you 40 hours per week, which adds up to about 2080 hours per year(not counting the overtime and training sessions I am required to do): I think that the organization can function without me for 48 hours. Our organization currently employs tens of thousands of workers in its various departments so I think you have it covered. Furthermore, since you are all so often fond of saying everyone is replaceable, then let me be replaceable for this weekend.

Think of it in these terms: would you rather have an employee who has spent a weekend problem solving, exploring wonders which will no doubt fire the soul with its archetypal imagery, and set said employee on a hero quest that is as old a need for human males as is breathing, eating, and siring a family, and emerge with a sense of accomplishment that those unbearably embarrassing "teambuilders" we perform at training sessions routinely fail to generate, or would you rather have said employee sitting passively before a television set watching endless reruns of sit coms obscenely blaring canned laughter and insulting one's grasp of reality and real world problems?

To put it another way, if this were the neolithic age I would be gearing up in my furs and hides, gathering my stone tipped arrows and spears, and disappearing into the wild with my tribe members to hunt mammoth, or saber tooth tigers. We would journey into a primeval forest, living off the land and our wits, hunting and being hunted, ridding the tribe of a threat and gathering meat and clothing for the winter months, communing with nature and at the end of said visionquest would have a deeper understanding of the world and our species role in the cosmos. Also upon returning after displaying our wares of teeth, hides, meat and tusks, we would be enthusiastically greeted by the ample bosomed, broad hipped, enormously grateful female members of the tribe who would endlessly bestow their sexual favors on us in exchange for our obviously potent dna.

Such as it is though in the modern world I must hunt via the computer screen and the only wares I will be in a position to display are the gamer points on my xbox profile. In a sense, it will announce to my "tribe" my accomplishments and prowess.

Consider this a heads up though. And think of it as me not really escaping reality, but refreshing my soul. If this impassioned plea really works we can maybe think of it as an extended retreat which in the sense of preventive health care. It might actually contribute to my greater health and well being, and make me a far more effective employee. If you accept this then perhaps we can deduct at least the cost of the game from my steep and ridiculously high insurance payments that are, as we speak, no doubt paying the mortage on some CEO's vacation home in the Carribean.

As I said, this was just a head's up.

To summarize, reiterate, and put it plainly: leave me the fuck alone for two days, Im going to kill dragons.

Thanks 

Blood Red Road Review

2011-10-09T10:40:00.000-07:00

Blood Red Road, book 1 of Dustlands. Written by Moira Young. Published in June 2011. Young Adult, Post Apocalyptic novel.

Blood Red Road is the story of a quest undertaken by the teenage female protagonist Saba to find her kidnapped older brother Lugh. In the story's setting the United States is no more. Saba and her family live somewhere in western North America at the edge of dying dried out lake. Whether the apocalypse that has led to their hardscrabble existence was nuclear, economic, or environmental the author doesn't say. What matters is the world of Blood Red Road is without laws, rules, or any government beyond gangs and gang controlled cities.

Lugh, Saba's older brother, is kidnapped within the first few chapters of the story and Saba, in true grit style, sets out to find him. We learn she has never been more than twenty miles beyond her home her entire life. What is out there is as much a mystery to her as it is to the reader.

Saba's quest and her trials along the way seems worthy of Coen Brothers movie. But what is more compelling, and works very well for a Young Adult novel is the author's handling of themes of relations of power and affection among siblings. Though their world is far removed from ours the world of their family is recognizable. Lugh, the oldest brother (light bringer in celtic mythology) is blonde, blue eyed, and beautiful. Saba is wholly devoted to him and constantly craves his attention. So much so she is often cruel and cutting to her youngest sibling Emmi, whose birth cost their mother her life. Saba's anger at and cruetly to her younger sibling, and her fawning after her older brother make her a less than ideal protagonist but a very human one nonetheless. The story of her quest is as much a confrontation with who she is and how she relates to her family, as it is a possibly hopeless attempt to reunite such a family.

The style of the novel is engaging. A Cormac McCarthy style of minimal punctuation, and close imitation of dialect and idiom is risky, especially in a YA novel. However it does work. The story becomes that much more present to the reader and it feels less like a story in a novel than a narrated story. Which is very much appropriate for the barely literate society of the characters.

The most engaging aspect of the book for me though was the use of superstition, mythology and astrology. It is not easy for an author to tread the line between showing simple people with their folk beliefs, but also showing how said beliefs in the mouths of uneducated characters can still have weight and influnce and reveal aspects of human nature. Kudos for that accomplishment.

My only complaint about the book was the end, a huge western shootout and gunfight: which seemed too Hollywood and seemed to be screaming "Make a movie out of me."

Despite that the end left more questions than answers. What will happen to the characters? What led to this state of existence? What happened to the U.S.? Are there any larger movements to organize the world? And most pressing of all, in a world of such continual violence and war of all against all, what is the next threat to the main characters and where will it come from? What allies will they find? And what will be the cost?

I enjoyed the book and am looking forward to the next installment.

Review of The Book Thief

2011-09-29T11:51:00.000-07:00

The Book Thief, Marcus Zusak, YA historical fiction/magical realism, 552 pages, published 2005.

How can you not love a book that teaches you to curse in a new language? This one improved my vocabulary immensely. Aussloch: ass licker. Saumensh: pig person; Sheisskopf : shithead.

For a story about nazis, air raids, jewish people hiding out in basements, collective brutality and destruction of life, the impact of the holocaust on the everyday population of Munich, and the destruction of war caused on a cosmic scale, it was good. What made it even better were two factors:
1) It is narrated by death himself.
2) It is not just funny, but truly comic, and by that I mean the real comedy that is somehow inextricably entwined with the tragic. A good writer knows one balances out the other: think Osric in Hamlet. Think of the imagined death of Hero in Much Ado About Nothing. Think Yossarian in Catch 22. It helps us look away from suffering and misery for a while to see the other side of human existence, the laughter which eases our pain, and allows us to see love.

Death, the narrator, gets all the best lines in the book. He has the absolutely best one at the end: “I am haunted by humans.” And strangely enough though he comes across as tired beauracrat going through the endless gathering of souls, we get a glimpse of him occasionally charmed by human beings.

He meets the main character Liesel when he stops to pick up her brother. The girl goes into a foster home and never sees her real mother again. She gets a new family. A well meaning father Hans Huberman and his wife rosa: a foul mouthed square shapeless woman who likes to curse and oddly enough, is how she shows her affection.

We come to love all the characters because they are smaller players in a larger world. We see them suffering the war and the nazis like anyone else. We see them sent on missions they hate.

But most of all we see them suffer the consequences of death appearing in their lives, and death himself is impressed by the ways they come up to deal with him.

In a truly ironic and brilliant twist, the other survivor of the war besides Liesel is Max, the jew who hides in their basement for months, and who ends up going to dachau, yet manages to survive. Max is a fist fighter who wants to one day “punch death in the face when he sees him.” How can you not like someone like that?

You will love this book. You will love its outrageous typescript and formatting. You will love the artwork. You will love, most of all, the author for his faith in humans, and his ability to show you things about human nature you never believed possible.

Review of The Dragon's Path

2011-09-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

The world of the The Dragon's Path is a world in transition. The old ways of honor won on a battlefield and lifelong service to a liege lord are being swept aside. Kings and nobles play the game of thrones, but ancient pagan religions and the emerging wealthy class are the new players changing the nature of the game. Banks are rising in the background, the hidden movers behind the world's politics. A forgotten ancient religion with dark powers and an even darker will makes a bid to sieze control.

In this setting we encounter 4 characters who are caught up, sometimes unknowingly, in the vangard of change sweeping through their world. Geder: the bookish son of a minor nobleman. Marcus Wester: a duty plagued captain with a tragic past. Dawson: a nobleman dimly aware of the true forces reshaping his world. And finally Cithrin: a young woman raised as the ward of a counting house, with a razor sharp mind for money and financing.

What strikes a reader of The Dragon's Path is the skill at the portrayal of the 4 major characters. The author shows us 4 very different individuals in detal, and with a depth of insight rarely encountered in epic fantasy. Too often in a modern fantasy we read of type cast characters: the barbarian, the ranger, the scholar, etc. Or we read of characters deliberately drawn against type: instead of a heroic barbarian we get a lethal teenage girl, or instead of a bastard for a nobleman we get a bitch with imperial ambitions. All of which can at times feel fresh and a welcome change. In the Dragon's Path though the characters are portrayed from inside their own consciousnesses, and from outside by other characters and form a rounded picture of what individuals in this setting and faced with these changes would be like.

This is a bit of a stretch but as I read The Dragon's Path I couldn't help but feel like Balzac wrote a fantasy novel. A fantasy novel complete with wizards, sword fights, and epic battles, but which also shows how money permeates even that world. He shows characters who scheme to get money, characters who see money as a means of control, and who pursue money and financial gain regardless of the human cost. He also portrays a humane aspect to money, to people who use it to help those a feudal system care little or nothing for. What Balzac did in many novels in The Human Comedy was to show his fellow Frenchmen the way money changed the old order and old value systems, is very much what Abraham is doing here. He cites in interviews one of his favorite books is Medici Money, by Tim Parks and here he uses that and his self professed fascination to show what happens in a world of honor and glory when money enters the picture.

And the result is fascinating. And truly different without deliberately writing against or with cliché's.

The fantasy elements in the book are done with skill and restraint rare in the genre. There are wonderfully descriptive details that hint at an older mythic world. For example: the Dragon's Path itself, a highway/road made from Jade. The characters know little about its construction, just hints and legends. There are also multiple races but the reader quickly gleans that these races have all existed together for some time, because when a character encounters another member of another race there is apprehension, wariness, but not really surprise at their existence.

The Dragon's Path is subtitled Book 1 in The Dagger and The Coin(itself, a wonderful tool for characterization and which provides a main theme for the novel). Whether this indicates the book is going to be part of a trilogy or a multi volume epic the author doesn't say. Either way I look forward to the next installment.

Supergods Review

2011-08-28T18:18:00.000-07:00

This book opened my eyes. It made me see that a creative mind, unfettered by social convention and stereotypes, can produce something so uniquely human in a place(comics) we would least likely look for it. Grant Morrison is fearless, visionary, and brings to the world of superheroes something I never would have understood before reading this book: the idea of superheroes is part of human evolution. He brilliantly explores the history of superheroes from their earliest days in the 30s and shows how they were created out of a deep need in human nature to reach beyond ourselves and face the threat of global extermination(from economic forces, world war, and the atomic threat). Intertwined in this is his personal story of involvement with the genre and what they have added to his life. He has lived the life of a rock star but never lost his sense of purpose. In fact, the book very much reminded me of the Jim Morrison bio No One Here Gets Out Alive. Grant Morrison's bio is just as intellectually stimulating, challenging, and will have your head thinking outside whatever cultural or educational limitations you may have acquired in life. Think of Grant Morrison as a Jim Morrison who never lost his sense of purpose or his vision but continually went and like a Prometheus recreated and recreated. Also, this book has one of the most touching parent-child scenes I've ever read or heard about. At 18, graduating from high school with little or no prospects, money or a chance at college he comes home from meeting with his guidance counselor and encounters his mother who tells him she and his father bought him a present and its in his room. He goes in there and finds a typewriter and on it is the following message from his parents: We love and believe in you. The world is waiting to hear from you. Morrison is mystical, visionary, but also as down to earth and hard nosed about real world problems and politics as you will ever encounter. Dont miss this book, whether you may have read a comic or two, or are a rabid fan, you will see them in a whole new light.

Review of Colours in the Steel

2011-03-02T17:58:00.000-08:00

Colours in the Steel, K.J. Parker, fantasy novel, first published 1998, Orbit Books.

Imagine a world where legal disputes are settled by fencing duels. Lawyers are not lawyers but fencers for hire in civil cases. As in a medieval trial by combat, the victor of the fencing match is the winner of the legal case.

Disputes over improper accounting practices, late deliveries on purchased items, and tax evasion are all settled by two opponents hacking at each other with swords.

This is the premise of K. J. Parker's Colours in the Steel, book 1 of The Fencer Trilogy.

In a sense, its like reading a Kafka novel with an obvious sense of humor. Its nice, in a fantasy novel, to see that the usual cannon fodder, Orcs, have been replaced by a much more satisfying victim: lawyers. If that isn't sufficient motivation to read this novel, then there are numerous selling points.

The characters are portrayed as peevish, narrow minded, petty, cynical and occassionally suffering from brief interludes of insight and empathy. What can be said of George R R Martin and Joe Abercrombie, that they write fantasy for grown ups, can also be said for K J Parker.

She writes about a world stripped of gods. Not because some divine lightning hurler defeated another immortal unstoppable fire thrower, but simply because of apathy. Life for Permiadeia, famed Triple City and center of a mercantile empire, grew comfortable then grew luxurious, and people stopped needing to pray.

Perimadea is one of the blandest cities in fantastic fiction. Not because of the author's lack of skill. Quite the contrary, the city is purposefully portrayed as strictly an ecomnically driven, whith merchants who wear the offices of government but really never shed their purses or the interest in expanding their purses.

Permiadeia grew successful, prosperous, and then nothing changed for a thousand years. No gods grew pissed off because of a lack of devotion. The people made money. The city grew in fame and fortune. No one cared.

Enter the barbarians. A peace loving migrant band of plains peoples. A million strong but still, they have no interest in settling down and hate the idea of living within walls.

The author skillfully navigates this cliché. The barbarians do not eye the fantastic wealth, or the glories of its architecture. For the most part they couldn't have cared. Except of course they were provoked.

One of the cities more famous generals Maxen, leader of Maxen's Pitchfork, waged a relentless war on the plains peoples. Why? Well, because they were there, the author seems to be saying. The city needed an enemy. Maxen needed a way to become famous.

The barbarians don’t invade because the gods abandon protecting Perimadea. The barbarians invade because they were just smarter at exploiting the cities weakness and made technological advances in their own methods of warfare.

All of which sounds like the beginning of an existential historical novel. But there is a wrench thrown into this world and that is that magic works. The cool part is that no one really understands it. Generations of scholars and devouts have worked on exploring magic, the guiding principles behind it, how to use it, etc. And schools of philosophy have battled for years over the precise nature of the "principle." The principle "Cannot heal the sick, turn your enemies into frogs, or perform miracles. It can be used for offense or defense. A sword or a shield. That is all." This comes from the Patriarch, the highest authority regarding the principle. His opening lecture to the students of the Academy is designed so that "he'd be rid of half these young fools before the term ended." A teacher who can't stand his students and wants to get rid of them. Again, very close to the real world on this one.

K.J. Parker writes fantasy novels that feel like they have imported people from the real world into them. But as in the real world, people can surprise you. Though the ending of the novel, and Peridamiea, felt inevitable, she manages to throw enough plot twists and revelations that it still somehow managed to avoid feeling predictable.

Towers of Midnight Review

2011-01-13T16:26:00.000-08:00

Towers of Midnight(The Wheel of Time Book 13), by Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan, 843 pages, fantasy novel.

In the last third of Towers of Midnight there is a shocking scene. Morgase and Elayne, reunited at last, discuss Perrin and his army. Perrin has become a problem and Elayne is frustrated because she doesn't know what to do with him. The thought flashes through Elayne's mind that the easiest thing to do would be to find him and execute him.

With that statement we are a long way away from the bright eyed young adventurers we met in The Eye of the World.

Later in the book Elayne (and Morgase, as advisor) meet with Perrin and Faile over what to do about Perrin, his army, and the "threat from Two Rivers." Elayne begins the meeting with "Explain to me why I should not have you both executed as traitors."

Elayne is a proper queen: she is politically savvy and cunning, but does not hold back from the threat of violence or open war if her demands are not met(specifically the illegality of an army within her borders). She argues with Perrin and his people about the need to show the world that "a man may not declare himself a lord and raise an army to support his claim within my kingdom."

Perrin, ever the well meaning but tough minded common man, points out that there was no support from the crown for the people when they faced a trolloc invasion. They were left to defend themselves without troops, financial aid or supplies that as a province of Andor they had the right to expect. The army he raised (or more accurately was raised around him) was for the purposes of self defense, not insurrection.

Elayne needs to quell this "rebellion." She has plans on invading Cairhein. It will secure her power base and accomplish other dark political motives. All in prepartion to the last battle.

Perrin too readies for the last battle. He knows his role will be significant, and though he is ta'veren, he knows that he must do his best to work his way through the mess that is the state of the world, after the dark one has so thoroughly touched it.

The above example is meant to highlight several impressions about this book: First, the characters have not grown up, as in some YA coming of age story. Rather, they have grown deadly, as the world of their story has dictated they must. Towers of Midnight drives home this point repeatedly. These characters are playing for keeps.

Second, this book is very much Perrin's book. Wheras in the past we have seen Perrin simply mope about when Faile was being a bitch, and then mope about when Faile wasn' t there because she had been captured, and then finally fight to reclaim her, here he and Faile are very much a couple and this book is the story of their uniting, of rebuilding their lives after the losses of the past. It is, in a very strange way for a fantasy text, about marriage, and what it means to be married. The understandings, the confrontations, the arguments, the adjustments and finally the acceptance of one's choice of mate. The book is also Perrin's suprising story of coming to terms with his frightening and almost always out of control, wolf nature. The truth about it, and him, was a true holy shit moment.

Finally, it is about how one time friends supposedly all working for a common goal can find themselves facing each other across figurative and literal battlefields.

The state of things in the world of The Wheel of Time Book 13: Towers of Midnight is what we have come to expect: the barbarians are at the gate, and the various factions vie for power. Human nature being what it is, Jordan seems to say, the real trick is not will the Dark One be defeated (though how Rand plans to solve that is mind blowing as well), but will humans defeat themselves first?

Structurally the book was a bit unbalanced. Though the storytelling elements of a wheel of time book we as readers love(suspense, plot complications, the fight scenes, love stories) are all there, there is a sense in which the book was too dominated by Perrin's story. There were plenty of scenes with Mat, Rand, Egwene and Nynaeve. Even Lan and Thom. But there wasn't one other major plot figure who shared the book with Perrin.

The narrative of The Gathering Storm was dominated by Egwene and Rand. There was a balance of their characters working out the major arcs of their story: their issues, their duties, and trials. Rand struggling to unite the land and hunt the Forsaken. Egwene trying to undermine Elaida and unite the tower. Towers of Midnight didn't have that. Towers of Midnight is essenially Perrin's book, with other subplots thrown in. All still important to the larger frame of the story, but with no other character essentially taking center stage besides Perrin. It is as if in this book what happens in the last battle will very much depend on how or if Perrin works through the choices and difficulties presented to him.

Surprisingly, the other characters whose main plot lines feature in the novel are not major characters. Galad and Gawyn, Elayne's half brother and brother, have their respective arcs. Their character development, and the situations they find themselves in, seem to take up much of the narrative.

Galad, fighting to control and redirect the Whitecloaks as well as work out his misguided and complicated ideas of right and wrong, does provide a satisfying narrative of a human struggling with the consequences of a perspective that refuses to see anything but black and white issues. Galad grows a great deal in this book. Which is surprising because for so long he has been a one dimensional character. Not through any fault of the author, but because of Galad's own moral code that reduces all situations to a simplistic right and wrong. Galad, the character who throughout the series has seemed the least likely to grow and change, is also the one who most convincingly changes.

But he too has not just grown up, he has also grown deadly. Firm in his belief that Perrin is responsible for his step mother Morgase's death he pursues Perrin with his whitecloak a army, determined whatever the cost to bring him to justice. In Galad's terms though justice means execution. He also orders death for several characters believed to be part of a whitecloak insurgency. Death, at his hands, is also a real possiblility.

Gawyn, one is tempted to say, does not share the deadliness of the other characters. But if this is so its because his energies have been placed in chasing Egwene. In this novel she firmly tells him she has more important things to do than steal kisses behind tapestries. She has the White Tower to run.

But Gawyn has always been lethal. His skill as a swordsman is unsurpassed. He holds the mark of heron blade master but has limited experience of fighting to the death.

Until now. Assassin's in the white tower have necessitated his watchfulness for Egwene's safety. He is put to the test and we become aware of his deadliness. A deadliness that could, if he faced Rand in combat, kill him. He hates Rand for what he imagines he has done to his sister so the idea that this fearsome blade be turned upon Rand is not idle.

Mat, my favorite character in the series, fulfills his promise and goes to the Tower of Ghenji. I won't spoil the end, but I will say that any lingering doubts I had as to whether Mat was meant to be an homage or invocation or avatar of Odin have been put to rest.

I think it significant in this series that the characters we would normally assume to be heroes fighting against evil we see squaring up against each other: Elayne vs. Mat. Elayne vs. Perrin. Perrin vs. Galad. Gawyn vs. Rand. All part of Jordan's plan I assume to illuminate a part of the human condition. Specifically our own heroic self interest which rears its ugly head even when unifying is meant to overcome the obliteration of our species.

Though its been said that Brandon Sanderson is a darker writer than Robert Jordan, in this book I think he has succeeded in writing what would have been Jordan's book. Perhaps not in form, because as I wrote earlier I think the book somewhat unbalanced, then at least in its themes and exploration of the human condition. I feel that he has chosen rightly. His characters to my mind are still Jordan's characters, and the plot is essentially still Jordan's.

I am genuinely looking forward to the publication of A Memory of Light. I feel confident that it will be well written, and as close as we could have to how Jordan himself would have ended it.

Trilogies

2010-11-28T10:27:00.000-08:00

Im currently reading Towers of Midnight and am enjoying it. I'll post a review eventually, but today though I was struck by an irony. Let me explain: most fantasy series have been organized around trilogies since Tolkien. Fantasy is still enamoured of the form, and even though writers like Abercrombie use the form to expose cliche's many fantasy novelists still work with the trilogy as a basic organizational principle. Jordan himself even admitted that the Wheel of Time began in his mind as a trilogy then "grew with the telling." While most fantasy series are limited to trilogies, how many of them actually end in a trilogy? Because splitting a Memory of Light into three books, although I understand the need given the amount of material, is essentially ending with a trilogy. A fitting way perhaps to end one of the most influential fantasy series of a generation. A series that overturned so many cliches, and broke new ground, not least of which was stretching beyond the traditional three book structure, its slightly ironic that the last three books can be thought of as a trilogy.

Just saying...

A Song of Ice and Fire Reread; A Game of Thrones Prologue

2010-10-13T14:55:00.000-07:00

A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE REREAD:
A Game of Thrones: 1/Prologue
"We should start back."
This is the opening line of the book, and of the series. In a sense it functions as the announcing of a major theme that will echo and be returned to: that things have gotten beyond our control. That we are in danger, and that despite what we thought, we have no safe haven. No place we can return.
It applies immediately to the characters Royce, Gared and Will, but in a larger sense it applies to the situation of the world of the Seven Kingdoms: there has been an uprising and revolution, the king, the ruling dynasty, the house that has governed the island for almost three hundred years, has been destroyed. The island is leaderless and may descend into chaos.
Prior to the Targaryen dynasty there were seven separate kingdoms, each with its own houses and rulers. Now they are all noble families and rule large areas of the island.
The people have grown used to the rule of one house, and of one king on a throne. That king was determined not just by blood, but by the physical appearance of the members of the targaryens: violet eyes, silverish hair. The ruling house can be said to have much in common with faerie.
So the land itself, after three hundred years of being ruled by a single house, which in its previous history was never a problem, now is faced with what to do. There sits a king on the throne, Robert Baraethen, the man who defeated the crown prince Rhaegar in individual combat.
The whole country seems to be giving sidelong glances at each other, and wondering just what is going to happen next. If a people rise up, or more properly, the ruling classes rise up and overthrow a monarch, who, as in all monarchies is supposedly the divinely appointed ruler, then has the nation as a whole opened the door for nothing being sacred.
And a note on method as well. To compare the opening with other series, and this is not a comparison of better or worse, simply a contrast in methods, notice how Robert Jordan opens the The Wheel of Time. He uses the third person omniscient voice to describe the wind and the wheel, almost like a voice over in a movie. You are alerted that what follows will be epic, sweeping, and constructed by forces that might perhaps be beyond human control.
But by announcing the theme in the voice of a character, Martin signals to the reader that the situation they are encountering is a human one(despite the presence of Zombies and other supernatural forces). Humans began this enterprise, and it is not the voice of a god or the commands of an impersonal creator or dark lord who bring the problems. It is human nature itself that launches the problems which follow. Men overthrew a king. It could be justified, and it can be argued against, but it is a specifically human problem.
Which, when you think about it, is a very unique way to start a fantasy epic series.
Men may have seen the need for the change of rulers or dynasty, but now human limitations exert themselves and the problem becomes what now. How do we fix the problems that killing the king have created?
Another major theme is announced in the story in this opening section: the conflict between nobility and peasant. Waymar, Gared and Will are at odds about the proper course of action. They are in the Night's Watch where traditional roles of Lord and Peasant are abandoned in the face of the brotherhood. But that is really not the case.
Gared, in internal monologue states he had "seen lordlings come and go." There exists a type of Vietnam Cherry situation where if they last the first six months maybe they will become trusted and friends with the other member's of the Night's Watch. But many of the Lordings die off in the first year because they are unusued to the harshness of the life of the Wall.
But the situation is not as easily graspable as that. Royce insists he needs to see the bodies for himself. Though Gared has 40 years on the Wall and Will 4, in this situation, Royce is right. "It became a point of honor," and though both Will and Gared have done good service, and their actions may be considered cowardly.
The roles are continually in conflict, and the hierarchy is not really clear. Again, this will be the dominant theme of the series, but it is very subtley reflected here.
Aside from the cool introduction of the zombie like others there is one telling detail that sticks out during the following battle: when Royce cries "For Robert!" before he plunges into battle, the others laugh.
It could be argued they are laughing at the puny ineffectual humans, but I think they are laughing at the invocation of Robert as rightful king. Again, the cosmoligical order has been knocked off its axis. The usurpation of the rightful king has placed the realm itself in danger from supernatural forces.
Thus ends my first entry. More later on the specific writer techniques that he is using here. I don’t want to put too much content in the entries and make them long winded and time consuming. I'd rather post numerous times on each passage.
Bear with me gentle reader, its going to be a long ride.

Mea Culpa

2010-09-01T22:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm not going to reread the wheel of time. I'm starting a new job and the endless hours of unemployment wherein i did nothing but read, write, scratch my ass, and eat hershey bars are gone.
Time to be an adult again.
Sort of.
I've decided to reread A Song of Ice and Fire. Not a question of quality (or television exposure) but instead certain writerly choices that are leading me to want to investigate closer how Mr Martin accomplishes the things he does.
I will try to put up one post and chapter per week.

Review of The Dragonbone Chair

2010-07-31T14:42:00.000-07:00

Book Info: The Dragonbone Chair, by Tad Williams , first published in 1989. This book is the first in a four part fantasy series Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn.

2 Line Summary: Orphan discovers noble fate and is forced to help save the world(stop me if you heard this one before).

Author Info: Tad Williams is the author of TailChaser's song as well as the otherland series.

Plot Summary:
Simon, a kitchen scullion in the great castle of the Hayholt, serves also as apprentice wizard to Morgenes and spends his days daydreaming about a great and noble future instead of attending to his lessons. While Simon loses himself in his daydreams the kingdom awaits the death of Prester John, wondering what changes will arrive when the old man, whose reign was known for its peace and prosperity, finally passes. Whispers abound as to the prospected clash between John's two sons.
Upon the death of the king the Kingdom is plunged into civil war. Simon must pick sides in the conflict, and undertake a quest to secure the safety of the kingdom from a supernatural threat.

Analysis:
I don't make a habit of reviewing books that disappoint me, or that I feel fail overall. The world of books is vast and time is short and I believe a primary purpose of a book blog is to help direct readers to works worthy of their effort. A book that has flaws in characterization, or plotting, or worldbuilding can still be redeemed by other aspects and leave a deep impression. For example, though I very much believe Brandon Sanderson's Elantris a novel deserving of praise and a wide readership, I do think it loses points for plot problems(a deus ex machina ending for one plot thread). Having said that though the quality of the worldbuilding is impressive as well as the characterization. The novel rewards close reading for those two aspects alone.
But I reviewed The Dragonbone Chair because it is seminal in the genre if for no other reason it heralded a new approach. There were few bedroom scenes for adults or true issues of moral choice and consequence resembling real life dilemmas in mainstream fantasy when the book was first published. Williams bravery in tackling these themes and working them into his series is to be praised. But his handling of them, and his attempt to make the work even and balanced as a result, does not succeed. For that reason I think I leave it up to the reader to determine whether it is worth the effort. For my part, I was sorely dissappointed and could not summon the effort to read the remaining books of the series. Too many pages of wanting to punch Simon in the face for his dim wittedness make me cautious before attempting to wade through the long dry passages before I find a gem of lyricism. Though I may do so at a later date.
The problem of how to make a main character kind of slow on the uptake yet still appealing to the reader is a difficult one for a writer. I can't think of many that have succeeded. In fact, a quick survey of the fantasy novels I've read thus far this year, have characters that do not fit this mold: Arlen, Kylar, Tingil, Shrike, all portrayed as if not brilliant, then they can at least be described as quick to learn. It may be that now as a fantasy reader I am used to the uber intelligent characters like Kvothe and Tyrion. And although I think Williams did a good job in portraying Simon I can't help but wonder why? Why choose this character for the narrative center? Why make the majority of events we see filtered through a consciousness that needs so much explained to him by other characters? It just seems a titanic waste of time.
Simon's not mentally deficient, just obstinate. Had Simon suffered from an abnormally low IQ, or not have the power to speak, that would have changed the dynamic of the story considerably and might make the sections more interesting(think of what Faulkner did with Benjy in The Sound and the Fury). But as it is Simon's inability as a character to grasp the significance of details the author has him register interferes with the pace of the narrative. When I as a reader am three steps ahead of the main character in foreseeing the implications of the events in the story it gets frustrating to wait for the main character to find another character to help him catch up.
Still I may end up reading the series after all. There were parts that were lyrically beautiful, such as the description of the old king falling asleep on his throne, the dragonbone chair. And the descriptions of the Sithi were well done. He makes the reader genuinely feel the sense of these characters as an alien race and culture. Their movements, their speech, the architecture they choose to surround themselves with, all vivid and lush. He also displays skill in capturing the weather, and the feel of characters moving through a landscape.
Hopefully Simon gets smarter as the series progresses.

The Desert Spear review

2010-07-12T13:02:00.000-07:00

Book Info: The Desert Spear, by Peter V. Brett, heroic fantasy, 579 pages, hardcover, published 2010.

Author Info: Peter V. Brett is the author of The Warded Man; a debut fantasy that garnered much praise for its fast pace, characterization, and magic system and worldbuilding. Prior to becoming a full time author he worked in the pharmaceutical publishing industry and has degrees in English and Art History. He keeps a regular blog at his website Peephole in my Skull. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter.

Plot Summary: The Desert Spear is the sequel to The Warded Man. The narrative begins by jumping back in time and relating the back stories of several major characters who first appeared in The Warded Man.
The tribes of the desert, led by Jardir, have advanced on the west and are sweeping through the independent city states and small villages. Arlen, the warded man, has been moving through the world trying to raise resistance to the demon war. He tries to distance himself from the politics of Jardir's war and focus on empowering the people to fight the demons that plague mankind.

Analysis:
I think the book more brilliant for its intention, and the genius behind the set up of the situation, than in any single aspect of plot, or characterization, or worldbuilding.
What if the only solution to averting a global catastrophe could be found by having the tribes and peoples of the middle east, Israel excluded, invade and conquer the United States. After the invasion was complete and the newly conquered territories stabilized then Americans were recruited by the new ruler to fight alongside them in a war which threatens humanity itself.
What if a renegade American rises who attempts to show the people how to fight the threat, but doesn't help them overthrow the Middle Eastern masters. He wont lead the people to do that because he believes the war for humanity's survival more important.
Would the population be accepting of the desert tribes, if they did in fact provide Americans with a more stable, and unifying power base? Imagine also that instead of one unified country at the time we had regions that existed in a cold war state: say the midwest was on friendly relations with the south but did not trust them and each side maneuvered to gain advantage in material resources and wealth over their neighbors.
That in essence is the situation Brett sets up in this series(which as far as I know from interviews and articles will consist of 5 books and the next one titled The Daylight War").
The strength of the book and the series is not just in the world building but in the culture building. The desert tribes are not a collection of cliches. They instead seem to be a living culture that has as its locus not a holy war against infidels but a daily fight for survival against the demons.
An aspect of the book that bothered me was the use of rural dialects for the western characters who inhabit the small towns and villages. Although the dialogue does sound like many uneducated country characters would sound like,and the author does capture the self righteousness of village elders and gossips, I found the repeated use of the dialect tedious. A line like "Yourn goin to kill that there demon aren't ya?" only needs to be read once or twice to get the point across that the speakers have little formal education. Endless repeated use of dialect like this and it begins to sound like the Beverly Hillbillies wandered into a dungeons and dragon game.
Again, I understand what the author was trying to do: he wants to show the immense challenge to be faced by the Deliverer in overcoming ignorance and helping these people fight to save their land. The author also does cleverly plays a double game here: will it be Arlen who shall deliver the people, or Jardir, the Desert Spear? If the former then he does indeed speak their language and can relapse into the dialect at will, but his loathing for the self righteousness of these communities makes him reluctant to offer them any aid. If the latter then how can these people overcome such a deep fear of the "other." And how can he recruit these people to fight willingly for him?
But fantasy has been plagued with this problem for decades. From the "simple sounding Shire folk, " to the "good people of Two Rivers," rurals in fantasy novels often seem a necessary evil.
At least Brett managed to put a different spin by upping the stakes.

Other thoughts:
Overall the book was excellent and held me in suspense. The Warded Man exploded onto the fantasy scene and took risks that paid off: a hero for a main character, a magic system that at first sight seemed simple but is really intricate, and a deep psychology for its characters that portrays realistically the post traumatic stress disorders that would manifest themselves in such a society where the nightly threats to life and limb are real and relentless.
The Desert Spear follows up this with excellent characterizations and intricate plotting. Sequels frequently suffer from too much addition to try to make their books intriguing. The Desert Spear doesn't add so much as reveal what was there but not able to be seen at first sight.

Similar Reads: Terry Brooks Running with the Demon series.

Books Read April, May and June

2010-06-23T10:10:00.000-07:00

APRIL
-The Wolf Sea, Robert Low, historical novel, 339 pages
-Gardens of the Moon, Steven Erikson, fantasy novel, 657 pages
-Orcs: Legion of Thunder, Stan Nicholls, fantasy novel, 224 pages
-The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert A. Heinlein, science fiction novel, 382 pages
-Dragon Age: The Calling, Daivid Gaider, fantasy novel, 444 pages
-Northlanders 1: Sven the Returned, Brian Wood, graphic novel
-Nine Princes in Amber, Roger Zelazny, fantasy novel, 155 pages
-The Guns of Avalon, Rober Zelazny, fantasy novel 181 pages
-The Praise Singer, Mary Renault, historical novel, 288 pages
-Northlanders 2: The Cross and the Hammer, Brian Wood, graphic novel
-The Warded Man, Peter Brett, fantasy novel, 453 pages
-Hikaru No Go 1: Descent of the Go Master, Yumi Hasha/ Takeshi Obata, Manga
-Hikaru No Go 2: First Battle, Yumi Hasha/Takeshi Obata, Manga
-Northlanders 3: Blood on the Snow, Brian Wood, graphic novel

MAY
-Keys to Great Writing, Stephen Wilbers, writing reference, 252 pages
-Legionary: The Roman Soldier's Unofficial Manual, Phillip Matyszak, history, 202pgs
-Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay, fantasy novel, 567 pages
-Bleach 14: White Tower Rocks, Tite Kubo, manga
-Bleach 15: The Beginning of the Death of Tomorrow, Tite Kubo, manga
-Bleach 16: Night of Wijnruit, Tite Kubo, manga
-Bleach 17: Rosa Rubicundior, Lilio Candidior, Tite Kubo, manga
-Bleach 18: The Deathberry Returns, Tite Kubo, manga
-Bleach 19: The Black Moon Rising, Tite Kubo, manga
-Bleach 20: End of Hypnosis, Tite Kubo, manga
-Bleach 21: Be My Family or Not, Tite Kubo, manga
-Bleach 22: Conquistadores, Tite Kubo, manga
-Bleach 23: Mala Suerte!, Tite Kubo, manga
-Bleach 24: Immanent God Blues, Tite Kubo, manga
-The Tombs of Atuan, Ursula K. LeGuin, fantasy novel, 180 pages
-Bleach 25: No Shaking Throne, Tite Kubo, manga
-Bleach 26: The Masscaron Drive, Tite Kubo, manga

JUNE
-Bleach 27: Goodbye halcyon days, Tite Kubo, manga
-Bleach 28: Baron's Lecture Full-Course, Tite Kubo, manga
-Bleach 29: The Slashing Opera, Tite Kubo, manga
-The Dragonbone Chair, Tad Williams, fantasy novel, 766 pages
-Spunk and Bite, Arthur Plotnik, writing reference, 253 pages

Review: Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny

2010-04-25T12:08:00.000-07:00

Book Info: Nine Princes in Amber, by Roger Zelazny, fantasy novel. First published in 1970.

Author Info: Roger Zelazny is widely considered a master of sff/fantasy. His output was voluminous. His work has garnered Hugos and Nebulas, and cited as influential by contemporary masters like George R R Martin and Neil Gaiman.

Plot Summary: The narrator, Corwin, wakes in a hospital bed after a car accident. He has what he believes to be amnesia and can remember very little about his past. Feeling himself in danger he slips out of the hospital and locates one of his sisters. Bit by bit, through dialogue and conversation, he discovers he is a lost prince of Amber, the center world at the core of all existence. All other worlds are merely shadows thrown by Amber, and those of the royal blood, such as Corwin, can walk the pattern between all shadow worlds.

Corwin establishes contact with another sibling, his brother Random. From him Corwin learns the car accident was no accident and he is in danger. Corwin's father, Oberon, has disappeared and the throne is now held by Corwin's brother Eric. Eric is ruthless and schemes to eliminate whatever siblings oppose his rule. it was Eric who set up the accident to dispatch Corwin.

Analysis: One of the themes of the novel is the idea of family and family rivalry. The Amber brood are as nasty a sibling set as any in a George R R Martin novel. Put them and the Lannisters in a family feud cage match and see what happens. Call it suvudu steel cage clan matches.

Do unto others before they do unto you seems the motto of the Amber princes and princesses. And the implications of that, and what it means to live in that way, is fleshed out by Zelazny through the course of the book. To extend a kindness to someone who may be plotting to kill you, and doing it to maintain your own humanity, is difficult to write, and even more difficult to believe. But the author manages it well and as a reader I found that I was hooked into the fate of the characters because of this.

Another aspect of the book that intrigued me was the implications of the parallel worlds. I don’t know enough about the sub genre to say with any authority that this book was experimental for its time, but it certainly feels that way. To handle the concept of a parallel world and to do so in such a way the reader doesn't feel like "you are making stuff up as you go along" takes a great deal of skill. The sense of wonder and curiosity of how the worlds work and their relationship to each other runs as a thread through the entire book, and I suspect the entire series.

Other thoughts: I loved this book. Reading it I had an experience I seem to get rarely when reading fantasy these days. A mounting excitement as my subconscious and conscious minds pieced out the various implications of the world building. Zelazny does a masterful job of maintaining control over the text. He knows when to hold em, and when to show em(to quote the immortal Kenny Rogers). He allows the readers partial glimpses into the world and the powers that are available to the characters. He never condescends to explain all the implications, nor does he use info dumps. Instead, he shows how the world works by the characters and their interactions.

And there is his style. At times it seems workmanlike, but that merely lulls the reader into familiarity until he blasts them with lines like: "Troubled by dreams of werewolves and Sabbats, I slept, and the full moon rose above the world." And this despcription of a ship in a storm: "We were hurled from side to side like dice in a giant's hand." And Corwin's musings on his relationship with his siblings: "No psychaitrist could cope with my family;" and "we were kin without kinship."

Similar Reads: Stardust, by Neil Gaiman. The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany. Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy: The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass(I like the think the title of the last one an homage to Zelazny, but I have no proof of this).

Review of The Wolf Sea by Robert Low

2010-04-03T17:21:00.000-07:00

Book Info: The Wolf Sea, by Robert Low. Hardcover import, 339 pages. Published 2008

Author Info: Robert Low lives and writes in Scotland. He was a war correspondent and journalist in Vietnam, Kosovo, Romania, and Sarajevo. He spends his summers in a Viking Reenactment group, fighting in shield walls all over Britain.

Plot Summary: The year is 965 A.D. The Oathsworn, a group of Norse men bound by an oath to Odin, pursue wealth and fame in exotic places such as Constantinople, the Greek Islands, and Jerusalem.

The story opens with the theft of a sword; it is rumoured to contain metal from the spear of destiny: the spear that pierced Christ's side during the crucifixion. The Oathsworn, led by the deep thinking but young Orm, pursue the sword and its thief across the Middle East. They fight, befriend and rob peoples as diverse as the Berbers, Saracens, Greeks, and Jews. There are betrayals a plenty, as well as battles, intrigues, double and triple crosses, and fortunes stolen and lost. Renegade Christian monks, castrattii, giant Norse berserks, Islamic merchants, and Byzantine Generals all appear and influence events as Orm tries to keep his men alive and pursuing wealth.

Analysis: The most intriguing aspect of this book was the completely convincing recreation of the mindset of the Norse. They were not merely bloody minded savages, but a people steeped in myth, religion, and superstition. Strict codes of conduct, and a fervent belief in the myths and legends permeate every area of their lives. From washing and eating to how to kill an enemy and the just punishments in this life and the afterlife for betrayal and oathbreaking.

For example, to call someone a liar and that god will punish them is a very different thing than calling them an oathbreaker, and knowing what awaits them after death. Especially when the oathbreaker knows what he has done and is convinced what will happen to him. "No Valhall halls for me, or riding with Valkyries. I'll sit on Hel's benches with the rest of the nameless, nithing dead til Ragna Rok."

It is the total recreation of the belief systems and mindset of these peoples that overwhelms the reader. What the author knows about the Vikings and the world of the tenth century is impressive, but even more impressive is how he presents it. In dialogue, in narration, in interior monologue, he shows a true novelist's skill. What we think of as stories about Thor and Odin are as real to the Norse of this era as the signing of the Declaration of Independence or the assasination of Lincoln are to us.

Religion and myth are the dominant modes of percieving the world in this book. Far from being pedantic the reader feels the world of the story is a living one. And one which a modern day man would not likely last long in. I thought of Nietzsche's warning when he wrote of the Homeric Greeks: "Do not think that for a moment you could withstand one day's worth of their light, for it and the world would surely crush you."

The fight scenes are brutal. You'll flinch. And there are a lot of them. Which I think is an aspect of the realism of the book. It was violent, dangerous age. A well made sword or spear, and the skill and knowledge of how to use it, was essential to survival, not just a sport. Survive one battle today and die the next because you held your shield too low.

For example, in one scene he has the character Orm talk about men who are practicing duelling. They fright sword against sword and Orm mocks them because "no warrior places edge against edge, since a sword is too valuable a weapon to ruin in that way. Sword on shield is the way and only if you must do you block with a good edge. A warrior knows this."

Its that kind of realism and insight that made the book well worth reading. And a delight.

Other thoughts: I bought the book because of the recommendations on the websites of Richard Morgan and Joe Abercrombie. Both of whom write convincing barbarians. They both praise Robert Low's realism and I would agree. I think it a tribute to the book that the realism is so perfectly balanced with the dominance of myth and religion. Not many writers could pull that off.

Similar Reads: Bernard Cornwell's Saxon chronicles, The Last Light of the Sun, by Guy Gavriel Kay, The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan, and Joe Abercrombie's The First Law Trilogy.

Renaming the blog

2010-04-01T12:35:00.001-07:00

New Title
I've changed the blog's title from Ludis Inventio to Riotous Reading. Why? Because, quite frankly I hate how pretentious and annoying ludis sounds. It seemed like a good idea at first, but the new title better captures my personality and goal for the blog. Let me explain.
I teach English in a juvenile correctional facility. At times it can be violent but violence rarely occurs in my classroom. I have a good relationship with my students, largely because I bring dozens of books for them, most of which are fantasy, sci fi, and graphic novels. As a teacher I have unique opportunity to turn them into readers. They come to the facility for a 6 to 9 month stay, during which there is no television, movies, or video games. Reading is their only form of entertainment. I was amazed at first at the idea that most of them, being innner city kids accustomed to a very violent and brutal lifestyle, should find spec fic so engaging. I've had students who have never read a novel finish the entire drizzt books, as well as the wheel of time series, before they left the facility. They never cease to amaze me with their perspectives on the stories, the writers, and the characters that become part of their daily interaction: True story: I almost had to break up a fight over who is the better swordsman: Artemis Entreri, or Drizzt. You would think R.A. Salvatore had settled the argument.
The name of the blog then comes from an incident that happened two years ago. The facility had several groups that on the outside battle regularly. Though the staff had done what they could, one day it erupted into violence during school. This happened on a friday, which in my room is always silent reading day. The amazing thing is you walk in my room and it is absolutley silent for forty five minutes. If someone starts to talk the others shut them down.
The riot erupted while we were reading. As teachers we often have a list of safety procedures to follow. One of which is to lock our doors and remain in a classroom should a riot occur. Do your best to keep the students from getting involved and exposing yourself to danger.
I did so. None of my students was particularly motivated to join the fray. Most of them had only a few months left and didn't want to jepordize their release date. Many of them were glad for the opportunity to sit quietly for forty five minutes and just read a good story.
I was 2/3 through The Shadow Rising. Rand had just recruited the Aiel and the world shaking consequences had me reluctant to tear myself away and deal with the real world.
So, with the door locked, we read our way through the riot. When asked by my coworkers how I kept the students contained and myself safe I replied "By reading."
My supervisors were pleased and somewhat stunned. My students took it as a matter of course. I explained to a friend any book that galvanizes your attention to the point that you can forget your surroundings so completely is a rare experience.
The riot did not last long. Maybe twenty minutes at the most. The ringleaders were shpped off to max secure settings for three year sentences, and the place went back to business as usual.
Riotous reading became a euphemism my students and I used to describe a book whose power over the reader is nearly occult. Also for the havoc it can wreak in the mind of the reader: overturning previously held beliefs, shattering expectations, and kicking a cliché's trope in the ass.
Some examples of books that became riotous reading: A Storm of Swords, The Name of the Wind, Last Argument of Kings, Tigana. Some of my students would add Exile and Sojourn but I am not inclined to agree.
So the quest for books that can conveniently fall into that category continues. Hence the name of the blog.

Pat Rothfuss Signing

2010-03-26T08:06:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday I drove down to Maryland(3 hour trip) to see Patrick Rothfuss at a Barnes and Noble in Frederick, Maryland. He gave a reading, an author Q and A, and did a signing. The following are my impressions and notes on the experience. I've tried my best to stay as close as possible to what he said. If there are any errors or misquotes they are neither willful nor malicious. I didn't want to openly take notes because I would miss most of what he said and diminish my enjoyment. As you will no doubt glean from what follows:
1) I had a great time.
2) The experience was a unique opportunity to learn and gain insight from a master craftsman.
3) Rothfuss genuinely loves and appreciates his fans and enjoys talking about his work, the writing process, and the fantasy genre in general.
I had arrived early, and taken a seat in the common area. The reading was scheduled for 7. At 6 I had my choice of seats. By 615 the most of the seats had filled. By 630 it was already standing room only.
At about 7 Pat arrived. He wore a blue sun tshirt and jeans. He made his way to the front and set down his bookbag. He greeted the crowd then took out some folders containing his readings.
He looked tired. His face was ashy. You could tell he had spent a long time on the road and the readings and trip were wearing. But his tiredness never became impatience or crankiness. He was genial with crowd and had an ease in front of the room that I suspect comes from years as a teacher. And being one of the few lucky individuals on the planet who actually enjoys his job.
Once his caffiene arrived he became more animated. He cautioned the crowd to please turn off the cellphones for each other's sake. He said that if a phone goes off while he is speaking it will distract him, but more importantly it will also very much piss off the crowd, who will not take kindly to such interruptions. And it worked. Not one cellphone went off the entire time.
Shortly after this Oot and Sara arrived. Sara wore Oot in a baby carrier with Oot facing out. A collective "aaahhh," went up from the crowd. Which was well merited because Oot is adorable.
His dad took him out and it was obvious how fond he was of his little boy. He kissed him, held him, then held him up to the crowd facing them. Some babies might have been frightened. Not Oot. The most radiant, happy, ear to ear smile lit Oot's face. I've never seen a baby laugh like that. He was so animated the crowd loved him. He loved the crowd.
Pat then gave him back to Sara and said he would wait until about 715 to begin. He was chronically late in the past so he would allow the stragglers to come in before he started. We could have a brief informal question and answer period.
The questions started. I think the very first one was: Where the hell did Kvothe come from?

Pat smiled then said there were two sources and the first he still clearly remembers to this day. He was reading Cyrano de Bergerac and cried through the last twenty pages. He said this amazing, moving character had him weeping for hours. And he immediately thought why hasn't there been a character like this in a fantasy setting? He later that day wrote the first words "My name is Kvothe."
The second he said came from reading Cassanova's memoirs. He talked about how he read the memoirs fervently. He was in awe of the man and his experiences. And that found its way to Kvothe as well.
But he had a problem. Although Cassanova's life had been interesting, it had not had a plot or a story. And as a novelist that was where he needed to invent.
He then talked about how his strength as a writer was in characters (and I would add world building, dialogue and choice of syntax) but that the structure of a book, the plot, did not come easily for him, and this was one of the things he had to work hard at. Personally, I couldn't tell he from his books that plot is not a strong point. If he had to put extra effort into the plotting of a book, it certainly didn't show. The narrative does flow smoothly.
More questions were asked about writing in general. One person said how do you know when your work is ready to be sent out? Pat said generally there are two rules to follow. First, if you think your work needs more revision, it probably does. Second, if you don't think your work needs more revision, it probably does.
Someone then asked how do you know when its finished?
Pat said Your editor will tell you.
He talked about his first attempt at fantasy novel, with the cliché'd barbarians etc, and then said he sent it out and realized later that most of the story consisted of dialogue, flashbacks and the characters generally didn't do anything except go from tavern to tavern.
And then in a humorous anecdote he described how he sent it to Neil Gaiman's agent who sent it back and he was enraged. He said he raved about how the agent hand't understood his brilliance when he received the rejection letter. Then after he took a second look he thought it over and took the advice.
At this time it was about 715 so Pat decided to do a reading. I think the first reading was a piece he wrote for his humor column about keeping giunea pigs in his dorm room. The piece was hilarious and it led to Pat talking about the role of ambiguity in writing. If the piece were completely true, or completely false, it would lose some of its power.
Then he asked the crowd if it wanted another humor column or the first page of The Wise Man's Fear. Of course Wise Man's Fear won out. It starts in the Waystone Inn, and like a musical motif touches on the themes of The Name of the Wind and puts some variations on them. All I can say is beautiful prose.
He then talked about the work he did on The Wise Man's Fear. He said he had spoken to his agent about the book's length. It had "grown in the telling." She had reassured him not to worry that it would be fine, regardless of how long it ended up. He asked her what the ceiling was for word count. She said let her do some research. She came back with a number, which she quoted as being the word count of the longest novel ever published in one book: James Clavell's Shogun. I don’t remember the word count exactly but I think it was over 400,000. She said they would try to publish under that. But that gave him quite a bit of room to work with.
I think the entire audience collectively salivated. This book we've been waiting years for was that much closer. And more significantly, for myself at least, one piercing anxiey was alleviated. I was worried about losing whole sections of the book in the editing process. The fact that its going to be this huge, and the editors and publishers are ok with that, was reassuring. I had the feeling they are not going to take this book and make it sellable(by which I mean strip it down). They believe in Pat's writing and are going to publish the novel in the form that he sees fit, however long that may be.
Think about it: a book about Kvothe the size of Shogun. WOW!!
Ok fanboy, that's enough. Calm down.
He then talked about the fantasy genre and certain cliché's or tropes he had wanted to avoid. But he said its not that easy. He said if you look at The Name of the Wind you can still spot them and asked the crowd to name a few(and here the traces of Pat the teacher came out which were pretty cool. He seems very much like the professor you have who is not a career academic, but a part time lecturer, but is fun and you learn from just because he loves the material so much and doesn't care about academic reputation). The orphan, the bully, the evil characters…he said they are there but there is something added or taken away or described that puts a new spin on them. He said that was the challenge he had in writing them. You can't avoid some things, but you can tell them in a new way.
This led into a discussion of other aspects of fantasy. He said think of wizards. What makes a wizard really powerful? Its not his ability to do magic, although that is important. He said its because of what he knows. He knows more than you can see. He illustrated what he meant by three examples: Gandalf, Merlin, and Moses. He said each of them uses magic, if at all, sparingly. But they are important to the story and characters because of what they know.
He read one more piece, a poem he wrote for Sarah. Which of course the audience loved and was actually very good. Then a few more questions. Someone asked how he felt about Kvothe doing battle with a god-lion-king. He laughed and said he enjoyed the whole Suvudu battle royale. He had even written something he posted on how he imagined the battle would go.
Then it was time for the signing. I had instant respect for the man because his first thought was of his fans and their long commutes at such a late hour. He asked the audience to allow the people who just want the book signed to come up to the front, and those who wanted longer writings in the book to go to the back. He talked and conversed with his fans and took as much time talking as they wanted. I think the store must have stayed open an extra hour or so.
He also asked that fans sign a copy of his book and feel free to write whatever they felt in it to him.
When I handed him my copy I realized something very important. My copy is old, a first edition hardback with Kvothe on the front. It is weathered, a little bit frayed and slightly dogeared. I have written annotations and comments in it. I have read it three times and counting my students it has to have been read at least fifteen times in total.
And I thought: what a great gift to give an author. His own book, that has obviously been much loved and much read.
That's pretty much all I remember. My hope is that when The Wise Man's Fear comes out he will do a coast to coast signing. His fans will certainly be legion. He was very gentlemanly and polite. He took the time put real thought in his answers to questions rather than cite cliché's because he was tired and wanted to go.
In fact, wouldn't it be cool if authors published at the same time and did a fantasy version of lollapalooza? Had outdoor readings interspersed with music performances? Maybe four or five authors on tour? Im not talking arena sized but still can you imagine if Rothfuss, Neil Gaiman, Joe Abercrombie, George R R Martin, and Brandon Sanderson toured together?
Wow.
If I made any mistakes in the above quotes or descriptions please don't hesitate to point them out and I will gladly correct them. My intention was to put something about how important the experience was for me and how enjoyable.
If you get the chance to see him, go. Lots of fun.
Now, if I could only get that review of The Last Light of the Sun finished.

2010-03-21T16:00:00.000-07:00

Repeat after me: I will not spend money on books beyond my means on Amazon, I will not spend money on books beyond my means on Amazon, I will not spend money on books beyond my means on Amazon....

maybe if I say it a few thousand times I'll get the message.

But its money well spent. So I go without coffee for a week, what's the worst that can happen?

Actually, I should probably cut out something else. Books and coffee go together like..Quixote and Sancho, like Frodo and Sam, like...ok, now I'm babbling.

Sorry for wasting your time dear reader. Am working on a review of The Last Light of the Sun, which refuses to be a review and keeps insisting on being a critical essay. That and I'm rereading The Name of the Wind by Pat Rothfuss. The fourth time through and the book still has its staying power. And this is strange for me because I rarely reread a book I love more than twice. What's hitting me this time about NOTW is the style. I can't put my finger on it but the sentences, their construction, the flow and the poetry. Its not a browbeating poetry either, no longwinded discursions of purple prose. Its sublte, restrained, it hovers around the edges of the sentences. How the hell does he DO that?

I never attempted a proper review of the book because I was afraid I'd never do it justice, or manage to articulate what it is that affected me so profoundly. A lesson that I should probably have taken to heart in attempting to review The Last Light of the Sun.

There's a question for reviewers I'd like to ask if I had the forum: Do you have an easier time reviewing a book you are in awe of, or is it harder? I find that with the books I truly admire I worry about doing justice to the material, and that I may be missing something. A book of great depth tends to make me think of greater depths lurking if only I had the wit to see them.

Knife of Dreams Review

2010-03-06T15:24:00.000-08:00

Knife of Dreams, Robert Jordan, published 2005, paperback, 837 pages

2 LINE SUMMARY: You've got to be kidding. Who could summarize THIS in 2 lines? My usual flippancy has ben set to mute.

PLOT: The last battle draws closer, and the world is even more unprepared. Things have gotten worse rather than better. Egwayne struggles to reunite the tower. Rand tries to bring the quarrelling nations together. Mat still has his hands full with Tuon, but with more implications than even he knows. Perrin works to rescue Faile and control his increasing love of battle. A pregnant Elayne copes with securing her throne and the loss of her ability to channel.

ANALYSIS: The most important epiphany this book had for me was realizing how much I had underread all the previous books. Because Winter's Heart and Crossroads of Twilight seemed labored and bound up in so much incessant dialogue that felt like it was going nowhere I tended to not read very closely. Big Mistake. Here, in Knife of Dreams Jordan revealed the groundwork he had done on the characters in past books and how those characters are coming to their roles in the preparations for Tarmon Gaidon.
This book recaptured the Jordan ride. What I mean by that is when I first began to read the books I noticed a pattern in each novel. The beginnings usually opened with those long introductions with plots carefully laid and dangerous alliances formed. Then the opening chapters would situate the main and minor characters in their respective milieus. Action would occur and we would be swept along. Then in the middle of the book characters moved around, like a middle game in chess, and thought out the consequences of their moves. Then somewhere near the beginning of the second third of the book the holy shit incident or revelation would be made and I would finish about two or three hundred pages in a day; frantically reading to find out what happened next. I remember this experience most clearly from The Shadow Rising and Lord of Chaos. It seemed most noticeable a pattern in books 4, 5, and 6. Those three books seem to me the sluggers of the series. Four and Six especially made such a profound effect I recall not reading much for the next few days while I thought out the implications of the events.
Knife of Dreams had the feeling of those books. I won't give away plot secrets but I will say that the experience showed the old master at the top of his game. Things happen in Knife of Dreams that are so mind boggling in their implications that you shake your head in wonder at Jordan's narrative craft, his strategy, and most of all his planning.
Jordan as a writer is one of the most profound risk takers in the genre. He sets up this world at infinite pains and with an attention to detail that far exceeds a reader's expectations. He then destroys it all that with a perfectly reasonable explanation for the destruction that not only has a sound logic but also, in hindsight, seems inevitable. His world building is so complex, so structured, and yet so organically alive, you really feel you have no idea what could happen. As I said before, a system not culled from the pages of a dungeons and dragons manual.
In this book the characters not only grow up, they grow wise beyond their years. These are people in extreme circumstances forced to find a life wisdom that will sustain them and allow them to continue doing what they must, and what they also fear. There is the light, and the source, but there is no empty comfort to be taken in religion.
Egwene begins to develop the status of a tragic classical heroine, like an Antigone, or an Electra. Her sense of purpose in order to reunite the tower, to do whatever it takes, and her understanding of the way to heal all the damage that has been done, remind me of a female character in a Greek Tragedy. The only one who can see the right path to take, and the only one with the courage to take it, no one except a chorus to share her feelings and plans with. I wonder perhaps if this wasn't Jordan's intention. If so, translating a greek chorus to the world of Tel Aran Rihod is a stroke of genius. The chorus in a greek tragedy rarely influences the outcome of an action, it is there in a sense as a soundboard, as a way for the audience to grasp the significance what transpires on stage. So too does Egwene have that impact on select figures like Siuan who can convey her will, but there is no way for Egwene to make those in the rebel camp truly hear her. She uses Tel Aran Rihod so Siuan can grasp why she is doing what she is doing, much in the same way the Chorus asks and recieves answers from an Antigone, or an Electra.
Rand grows more powerful and dangerous. He too resembles mythic figures: Hercules and all his impossible labors, Aeneas and the crushing weight of preserving a civilization, but also I think a tragic figure in his personal life. These three women love him and he seems destined to hurt them all, make them all suffer.
The brilliant thing Jordan accomplishes as writer with Rand is making us concerned for him because of his growing madness, but not alienating the reader from their intimate connection with him. Many novels or stories show the development of madness in a character and then pull back, as in a camera shot and give the reader a little more room to feel comfortable. Jordan though chooses not to do this and he deserves praise as a writer for his choices here, and for the way he can maintain that. We follow Rand from the beginning, being inside his thoughts from the first journey he and his father take to market and meet a rider in the Eye of the World. In book one we know he is going to go insane, from the taint. Later we begin to feel his sanity slip from the magnitude of what he has to do. The more the books go on, the more Jordan shows us Rand's innermost thoughts and feelings. We are not alienated from the madness, we see its too human causes.
And the presence of Lews Therin in his mind. Jordan very sublty in this book begins to show how the affect of his inner arguing with Lews Therin spills over into the real world. Characters in Rand's retinue begin to question his sanity, begin to see signs of the developing madness.
The experience of reading the books has made me want to go back and reread the series. Now that I have seen the structure underlying the books, I realize how well constructed they are. Even when it seemed Jordan was just stretching out the series with endless dialogue and intrigues he really was working out the plot and the stories of the characters.
A fair reading of these books can't really be done until they’ve been reread. Reread and analyzed. When I began to make the connections of Rand with the Fisher King and Shiva and Arthur, Mat and Odin and Loki and Coyote and Odysseus, Perrin and Thor and Hephaestos, and saw that Jordan was not just invoking mythic figures here to deepen the affect of his books, but was in fact commenting on the myths themselves, and putting the myths in play with and against each other, I realized just how deeply I have UNDERREAD these books. The books well deserve their own websites such as the Thirteenth Depository, Wheel of Time mania, and The Wheel of Time Encyclopedia.
Throughout the series I've found Mat's sections the most enjoyable. In a world of such high tragedy and drama, with Kingdoms for a stage, Mat brings the story down to the level of the Everyman. He is a man of the people, but in a well planned and executed Joran twist he is finding that role harder to maintain. His sense of the comic and the situations he finds himself in do more than provide comic relief though. They are integral to the plot but so is his character. Mat is the trickster figure, as has been well spotted by others, but what is growing more and more curious is how the seeming buffoon and outsider to the major political players has become integral to the last battle. And it may not be in the supportive role. There may be a darker fate in store for Mat.
Jordan's grasp of the mythic is vast as are its working in his story. However his use of mythic figures is never simplistic. He never takes a stock character or archetype and just lets them in the world. Instead as with Rand himself he puts what seems like a twist a writer would throw in just to see what happened(Rand will save the world AND destroy it), and makes that work itself out in the later books to levels that could not be anticipated earlier in the series.
To conclude this lengthy ramble and fanboy gushing I think Knife of Dreams succeeds as a novel, as a piece in a series, and in renewing faith in a series. When the 11th book of a series makes you want to go back and reread the entire series the author has done something right.

SCORE: 9/10

SIMILAR BOOKS: I agree with Brandon Sanderson that the Wheel of Time is the defining fantasy epic of our generation, as much as The Lord of the Rings was of the previous. There is nothing that is so completely a world all its own and unique and a cast of thousands, but that is so tightly structured. I guess a series of a similar ambition would be A Song of Ice and Fire. But no disrespect to Martin and his accomplishments, A Song of Ice and Fire seems more of a set piece. Beautifully written, with memorable characters, it too defines a generation of fantasists in its brutally realistic portrayals of the darker sides of human behavior. But although the scope there is epic it doesn't really transcend to mythic, as The Wheel of Time does. The Malazaan Books of the Fallen by Steven Erikson(although I haven't read them yet) have a similar ambition of scope and theme. Once I finish The Gathering Storm and New Spring the Novel, I'll start them.

Checking in.

2010-02-27T14:54:00.001-08:00

Still in the throes of unemployment and lack of internet connections. The local Mcdonalds is providing wifi, along with screaming toddlers, quarrelsome parents, arthritic seniors, and bored teenagers working at the counter. I'm reminded of Tolstoy and Faulkner who legend has it wrote in their respective village squares.
The 19th and early 20th centuries must have been......quieter.

Decided to work on my novel and will update my books when boredom and cabin fever drive me to public places to get access to the net.

On the other hand, unemployment is helping me get a lot of reading done. My goal is a book a day.

Read thus far:

Knife of Dreams

The Gathering Storm(wow)

The Last Light of the Sun

City of Thieves

The Biographer's Tale

Orcs:Bodyguard of Lightning

Peeps: The Last Days

The Uncommon Reader

Reviews forthcoming.

Review Legend by David Gemmell

2010-01-19T16:32:00.001-08:00

Review of Legend, by David Gemmell, fantasy novel, 345 pages

Legend was hailed as a classic for over twenty years when I first picked it up. It had a reputation of being a bestseller, and ground breaking. Twenty years ago I was still into large worlds fantasy which chronicled the movments and motivations of imaginary nations, empires, and races, told through multiple characters and viewpoints. So a story about a single warrior helping to stave off a barbarian invasion seemed a bit cliché'd to me and I blush to say now, underambitious.
The barbarians are described vaguely, the controlling empire as well, the weapons and battle gear and armor are all pretty much standard issue and not what you would encounter in Tolkien where most weapons have a magical otherness about them. If not an otherness then at least a history.
Legend though had a huge selling point, and that was the trope of the barbarian invasion. And in the hands of a writer like Gemmel, he knew how to really make it work. Gemmell and tolkien had not been given the same types of gifts. Whereas Tolkien's characters speak a high anglo saxon and are given to poetic turns of phrases and proper oxford school English, Gemmells characters are more likely to tell a dirty joke and kick you in the balls instead of recite poetry.
When Gemmell's characters speak you hear something different. Something real. You hear the sound of men, and women, who have been in a position to risk their lives, and who have lived through war with its attendant dangers to life and limb.
As in a movie, if one character is going to hold a main frame story line together there has to be an intriguing aspect to him. Something to distinguish his story from the rest and to make the reader desire to hear his story out. To simply to find out what happens to him.
Well, Legend has several. Gemmell fleshes out his portrait by showing us men and women whose lives by accident or fate have converged in this frontier fort. A place in the middle of nowhere. A strange, out of the way place to die.
From the backstory of the book, and all books have a backstory, in fact perhaps one of the reviewer's tasks is to explicate the back story and context of the book and in so doing draw the reader's attention to it, gemmell was diagnosed with cancer when he sat down to write this. He said he used the novel as a way of trying to work out his confrontation that was so strange and sudden at the age of thirty six, when he sat down to write it. At first glance it would seem to indicate this book is appropriate for a hallmark hall of fame presentation.
Hardly.
The book in fact is gritty and tough and Gemmell has the skill to evoke the way real fighting men talk when confronted with the possiblity of death. His book juxtaposes the Hemingwayesque apprentice with those who have acquired the skill of living.
The title takes its name from the central character of the novel, a fighter of prowess and skill and abnormal strength who has begun his decline and who himself has not long to live. Though the disease the man suffers from, whether cancer or other is not mentioned. What is certain is he will die anyway and, rather than die in his bed he goes out to defend a fort against a ramapging barbarian invasion.
All sound cliché'd and overdone but in Gemmell's hands it becomes quite different. Though normally heroic fantasy suffers from too much heroic posturing in gemmell's story Druss has a healthy air of irony and understatement about his person. He not only does not act like a hero, he acts like what he is: a fighter, whose knowledge, at once both terrible and liberating is that he was made to be a taker of lives. He does not glory in the death, just in the abilities he has and he puts his axe to the service of those that require it.
Enter the subplots, a protagonist, Rek, who havingbeen charged with cowardice turns out to be a baresark, or berserker. We find through the course of the book that a berserk, far from being a valued commodity is really just the flip side of a coward. A baresark fights not with discipline and purpose but of a rage and fearlessness born from fear itself. He is not the ideal of a warrior, simply an aberration who although tolerated for its ability to wreak havoc on a battlefield is in truth not an ideal.
The ideal of course becomes Druss the legend. But Gemmell continually questions his hero's motivations. Druss argues he would never have chosen to be more than a simple farmer if his woman were not captured and he had to set off in pursuit of her captors. Although as readers we doubt that. Part of the realism, if I can use that term when applied to a fantasy text, is the way most of the characters never really come to a true understanding of why they are defending the fort against the barbarian invasion. For some of them it’s the ability, newly acquired in the face of death, to rise to new levels of not just physical prowess but emotional and mental maturity.
Of course Druss dies in the story and its understood by the more experienced characters that was his intention all along. His death, and struggle with death, there as a role model and example for all to see, was meant to be a means to emulate the rest of the Drenai defenders that though they may die, they will have granted their lives some meaning by the manner of their death andtheir reasons for staying to defend afortress that everyone knows will be overcome.

A sort of reprieve

2010-01-14T06:11:00.000-08:00

Well, the local library may not have wi fi but the local borders does(and by local I mean drive an hour away to get there). Life in the mountains. So for the time being I will be back in business.
And as proof of my prophetic powers: http://aidanmoher.com/blog/2010/01/asides/an-aside-anthology-of-firefly-short-fiction-coming-from-titan-books/
Like I said, I knew this would happen(see previous post).
More reviews forthcoming.

The Rest is Silence

2010-01-04T14:11:00.000-08:00

...for the forseeable future. Due to financial pressures and lack of employment I'm going to have to shut down for a while(unless my local library suddenly fast forwards to the twenty first century and installs wi fi).

Rough year financially ahead. Teaching jobs in my neck of the woods are precious and few and budget cuts fall like rain on the just and the unjust. At least I can take some small comfort from the fact that I am by no means the only one unemployed, and that many share a similar fate.

Don't much know what they new year will bring except that I will now have the opportunity to read many books that are lying around: The House of the Stag, The Prince of Nothing Trilogy, The Godless World Trilogy, The Black Company books, and every book of the Malazaan after Garden's of the Moon(I have a rule where I refuse to read a series unless its been completed, but finances this year will dictate otherwise), and the reader's companion to the Lord of the Rings, which I mean to use as a guide to my umpteenth reading of LOTR. I also have not read the last book in the Mistborn trilogy: The Hero of Ages.

A sense of anguish as well. So many series are out now that I can't afford and desperately want to keep on reading: The Fables and Northlanders especially. Bleach, Claymore, Death Note.

Plus with my luck this would be the year Joss Whedon decides to allow novelizations to expand the Firefly universe, like Star Wars has done. Oh Well.

What really sucks is I dont imagine finding a job nearby and will have to relocate. In itself not bad, I do prefer living in cities to the rural small town environment I'm in.

What sucks about relocating is that I won't be able to take most of my books with me.

Oh the irony, I will have all this time to read and be unable to blog.

But the worst part is that I've grown used to having my favorite blogs and sff reader sites there every day. I will miss the sense of community.

Be back when I can...

Carmen

Top 3s of 2009

2009-12-29T12:03:00.000-08:00

Its time for the end of year lists. I thought I'd do my reader's a kindness and keep my lists to top threes. I have several categories that may be surprising in a blog devoted to spec fic (for example, non fiction, video games) but I think spec fic borrows heavily and influences other genres.
A disclaimer: my lists reflect the top three's in each genre that I have read this year. They may or may not have been published in 2009, and in some cases have appeared twenty and thirty years earlier. Literary fads wane and wax, some books dip below the horizon into earned obscurity, and others remain fixed points in the sky for reasons not always easy to understand. As a reader I reserve the right to only pass judgments on the books as they have appeared to me. I defend my subjectivity.
I don't like commercialism and its rapacious twin consumerism. I think it slightly consumerist to only reflect on books of the year. If in the future The Wise Man's Fear is eclipsed by a rereading of The Lord of the Rings, oh well. A book that earns high praise on a second reading is even more impressive. (Of course, having gone through three rereads of the The Name of the Wind, I have the feeling the Wise Man's Fear will fare just fine)
Here we go then:

Top 3 Videogames:
#3: Halo Odst: Semper Fi Spartans. Parts of the game annoyed me(the infrared spectrum made me feel like I was playing an updated version of asteroids), but overall the storytelling arc and game play were impressive. Plus its always nice to have old Firefly friends voice acting.
#2: Assassin's Creed 2: Gorgeous backdrop and open world. History as gaming, and a cool storyline to boot. A little too much of the guido in the accents(which I can say because I am Italian) but the best parts of the game were the uncovering of Ezio's past.
#1: Borderlands: Took my two favorite genres: FPS and Role-playing, and combined them in one endlessly replay able, storytelling feast. Also the look and feel of the game, like being inside a graphic novel, added a whole new coolness dimension.

Top 3 Non Fiction books:
#3: Shame and Necessity, by Bernard Williams. The classicist philosopher's account of values and ethics in the ancient societies provided me with a whole new way of viewing our own. Eye opening book.
#2: Writing the Breakout Novel, Donald Maas. Whether or not I ever get published, this book awakened me to what actually works in a well made book: constant tension, ramping up the stakes, characters who are worth giving a damn about. Great book not just for aspiring writers but for anyone who reads and believes in fiction.
#1: Soldiers and Ghosts, by J. E. Lendon. The scholar's account of how battle technology actually was in continual tension with the archaic past, rather than a straight linear process of development, should be required reading for every historical novelist. And written in a non dry prose that conveys its excitement for the subject without being pedantic.

Top 3 YA Novels:
#3: Frontier Wolf, Rosemary Sutcliff. If you want to experience the mindset of the ancients, without it being filtered through a lens of nostalgia, or cleaned up by current ideas of ethics and right behavior, then read Sutcliff. The ancient world was nasty brutish and short, but people also really believed in things like honor. Although not the way we moderns might think of it.
#2: The Land of Silver Apples, by Nancy Farmer. Young boy in the middle ages who grows up to be a bard. Continues the story from The Sea of Trolls. Witty, humorous, and told with a real sense of the historical. Good read.
#1: The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman. Not much I can say that others haven't except one of the most life affirming books ever. Give it to a surly teenager and they will be in danger of being less surly.

Top 3 Graphic Novels:
#3: Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall, by Bill Willingham. A cool spin on the Arabian Nights. Kept me engaged till the end.
#2: Fables Volume 8: Wolves, Bill Willingham: The resolution of the Snow White, Bigby Wolf love story was an "aww" moment I rarely find in fiction. At least in fiction I can take seriously. I have the feeling Bill Willingham is actually a descendent of the brother's Grimm. He writes graphic novels about fables with the same maturity and adult understanding of the darker places in our psyche that the brother's Grimm had.
#1: I Kill Giants, by Joe Kelley and JM Ken Nimura. This book actually made me weep. In a bookstore where the staff who see me regularly were concerned enough to ask if I were ok. One of my more embarrassing moments.

Top 3 Non Genre Novels:
#3 Freddy's Book, by John Gardner. A little annoying in the setup, but Gardner tells a very human tale. Worth reading.
#2 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. Richly deserved all the awards. Oscar's story was truly tragic and the failure of his friends and family to understand and appreciate him made the story even more human. Also a statement of warning for all the genre fiction haters: next time you think Sauron is just a fantasy, think of Trujillo.
#1: Chess Story, by Stefan Zweig. 85 pages long but just perfect. A masterpiece of what a system can do to a soul.

Top 3 Fan Blogs:
#3: Adventures in Reading: The author has an honesty and an everyman quality to his reviews that inspire trust in his opinion. Not a lot of fancy academic jargon, but reflective and well thought out. Turned me onto the Fables series and others gems.
#2: Grasping for the Wind: Informative, analytic, and up to date without being sycophantic. A reviewer I trust.
#1: The Wertzone: If the publishing industry were smart they would pay this guy to be the archivist of all things Sci Fi and Fantasy. His writing is analytic, humorous and penetrating. He reminds me of an 18th century encylopaedist whose ambition is to catalogue, describe, and understand the world. Or in this case the spec fic world. He doesn't kiss ass, and if he doesn't like a book or a show or a game he is honest. He also is the most informative blogger on the genre I have ever read. Games, toys, movies, books, tv, nothing escapes his eyes. He is the true archivist of the genre.

Top 3 Author Blogs:
#3: Patrick Rothfuss: He doesn't write often lately (for which we forgive him because of the revisions, oh yea and having a kid J), but when he does he is straight up hysterical. He is the fantasy version of Robin Williams. Give him a subject and stand back and hope not to be hit by the verbal shrapnel. Favorite Post: soon after Rowling revealed Dumbledore was gay he dressed up for Halloween as Dumbledore and his girlfriend Sarah as Harry Potter. Pics on the blog included him groping her. I think the morning coffee came out through my nose when I saw that.
#2: Neil Gaiman: Because when the dream king speaks we listen. He gives great insight into the creative process and his humility and gentlemanliness are refreshing in an industry of gigantic egos. Plus the weirdness factor can be high. Did you catch the blog where he and Amanda Palmer were interviewed in a bathtub?
#1: John Scalzi: Scalzi said he didn't manage to write a novel last year. I don't care. He is opinionated and outspoken but disturbingly articulate. He has a built in bullshit detector that is refreshing and you feel smarter just for reading him. He blogs not just to sell books, or to network, but because he genuinely loves writing and enjoys his readers. The series he blogged about the criminal pay scales publishers were putting out should be enough to award some type of honor at next year's conventions. I only started reading this year but can anyone possibly match "I have to tape bacon on the cat" ?????

Top 3 Spec Fic Novels: Ok, the meat and potatoes.
#3: Last Argument of Kings, by Joe Abercrombie. A series that begins with The End and ends with A Beginning. It’s a novel that was intended to kill cliché's. Not just that but he is probably the most gifted character author. He writes with an understanding of EVERYBODY. In terms of the traditional fantasy series he brought new twists on every page. But always believable and well written. For this book alone I'm like a prisoner in Glotka's cells, Im condemned to keep reading his books.
#2 Peter and Max, by Bill Willingham, I know, it’s a book made from a comic, but what a book. Like I said earlier, Bill Willingham is an honorary Brother's Grimm. He writes with an understanding of the darker places of the psyche as well as masterful skill as a storyteller. Crazy serial killers abound in fiction, but how many can make you afraid? Afraid because you find yourself frightened to realize you can kind of understand where they are coming from. That plus how he updates, comments, and reinvents all the classic fairy tale stories is enough to convince me the book deserved a top ranking for this year.
#1 Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay. What the f was I reading when this was published? Probably something life affirming and fun like Derrida. Had I read this wonderful novel when it first came out I would have been a different person. As it is now, I can say I am different and better for having read it now. I don't know how to offer higher praise for a novel than that. We can analyze all we want but fiction is as much about emotional impact as it is intellect. The sense of loss, the families destroyed, the nightmare of history, he brings it all down to the level of the gut and what it means to be human and to have lived through these things. And, in a very believable way, to continue to live beyond them.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T08:25:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas.

And here's a thought: Does "A Christmas Carol" count as spec fic?

It does have ghosts.

Highly Anticipated Books for 2010

2009-12-21T20:04:00.000-08:00

Some of these have been out already and I haven't been able to read them. Some of these have been promised to be delivered on a yearly basis(yes I see you Rothfuss and Martin, putting your heads down and shuffling toward the exit) but have thus far been no shows. Still, we keep on hoping.

Soon I'll post my picks for best reads of the year. But for now these are the titles I most want to read in 2010:

The Whale Road, by Robert Low because when Joe Abercrombie recommends a book and an author, I pay attention.

The Heroes, by Joe Abercrombie

The Sequel to The Magicians by Lev Grossman, Ok I dont honestly know if this was promised to be released in 2010 but I'm hoping anyway.

The Wise Man's Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss, I'm starting to wonder if this isn't all some sort of elaborate pun on Rothfuss's part: The Wise Man's Fear is that book two will actually be released.

A Dance with Dragons, GRRM, maybe he should retitle it A Dance With Deadlines.

The follow up book to Sussanna Clarke's Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell. No release date but Clarke said the book will focus on the characters on the lower spectrum of society. I agree with Lev Grossman, this was probably the fantasy book of the decade, did things with fantasy no one had ever done. The sheer daring of what she attempted should be enthusiastically applauded at every fantasy conference.

The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson, Volume One of the Stormlight Archive, if this guy publishes his grocery lists I'll probably run out and buy them. He's that good.

Whatever Neil Bloody Gaimen wants to publish. Because he is also that good.

Anything by John Scalzi, or Richard K. Morgan, or R. Scott Bakker.

And probably the book I'm most anticipating: Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay: For the sheer beauty of his sentences, the impressive intelligence behind the curtain of words, and the true poet's touch, he is the best writing today. The descriptions of the book hooked me. His situations are the most unique and at the same time so very universally human. He is the modern master of fantasy.

Books I have that I am going to read: Brian Ruckley's The Godless World series, R. Scott Bakker's The Prince of Nothing; Knife of Dreams and The Gathering Storm, The House of the Stag by Kage Bakker, The Black Company books by Glen Cook, Sergei Lukayenko' Night Watch Series, and Ken Scholes Psalms of Isaak series. Also, its time to explore the expanded HALO universe of Books. And I am going to sit down with My reader's companion to the lord of the rings and go through the books.

Thats pretty much it. I'm sure I'll find way too much to read at the local borders.

Review Best Served Cold

2009-12-16T11:58:00.000-08:00

Best Served Cold, by Joe Abercrombie, 632 pages, hardcover. Published 2009.

2 LINE SUMMARY: Kill Bill meets the Lord of the Rings meets Assassin's Creed 2. If Machiavelli and Quentin Tarentino co-wrote a novel this would be it.

PLOT: Monza Murcatto, raven haired, buxom, passionate leader of a band of mercenaries is stabbed, tossed out a palace window and left for dead on a garbage heap(this all in the first ten pages). She spends the rest of the novel enacting vengence on the seven men in the room who either helped gag, stab, and toss her, or watched without assiting. Monza is rescued and recovers with the help of a creepy bone thief/grave robber who specializes in human anatomy. As she heals she becomes addicted to a painkiller opiate that throughout the novel she will struggle to overcome. To help her revenge she hires a poisoner, a barbarian, a torturer, and an ex convict serial killer. Each brings his/her special talents to bear on the job at hand. As the novel progresses she murders the guilty as well as the innocent to acquire her revenge. Ethical and moral questions are asked by people who have no ethics or morals, and no satisfactory answers are found to the problem of revenge: That one often causes more damage and destruction in the act of revenge than the initial act of violence created. Turnabout follows turnabout and the story has several suprising moments that genuinely shock despite the cynical worldview the novel presents. The ending is not entirely unexpected nor is it predictable. Abercrombie is adept at structuring a plot well, and bringing all the various subplots and narrative threads together quite masterfully.

ANALYSIS: I don’t really know why I like Joe Abercrombie's novels. In all reality I shouldn't. The cynical world view, the lunatic fringe characters, even the magic systems don't necessarily convince(again, more or less pulled from a dungeons and dragons guide) was conspicuously lacking in this one. I've heard it said some people take a secret delight in the twilight series by stephanie meyer(I’m not delighted by bad writing so I have no real interest in the books) and that they can neither explain nor understand what it is that so motivates them to keep reading. I feel that way about Abercrombie's books. He writes about the way the world is, and he writes about people who try to be better or change and often fail. In that sense he mirrors the "real" world, where the bad guys often win. In a way in Abercrombie's books no one wins, and if they do they don’t do it for long.

His characters are scarred, or rejected, but mostly just plain lost in world circumstances they didn't create. I think that may be the reason why I do read his books. Many of the characters have a sense of "thrownness" to misuse Heidegger's phrase. They are trying to find a moral or value system that will allow them to survive the violent times they exist in and nothing really suffices. Abercrombie is a close student of history, as is shown by his blog and he often mentions the books of history he has read. I think that may be his ultimate point. History is a nightmare, as Stephen Daedalus once famously said, and Abercrombie may have added : and there is no waking up from it.

Another reason I enjoy his novels are the characters, their interactions, and the humor. His comic timing is perfect and his use of images to comment on deeper themes has grown since the first law trilogy. For example, in one stunning scene Monza sword fights with one of her targets in a stream. The character's scarf gets tangled in a mill wheel. It pulls him under then lifts him up out of the water again and again until Monza throws a piece of wood in to jamb the mill and hold the character at the zenith of the circle. While there he speaks about the things he's done, she's done, and what they've all done to survive. Monza kills him anyway but the idea of the renaissance wheel of fortune leaps to mind and Abercrombie uses it to comments on the idea. The only way to get off it is to die. No one stays at fortune's favor for ever.

His next novel, according to the blog, is titled The Heroes. Of course, how can it help but be sarcastic. But he is never completely cynical. His characters do come away from their experiences with some measure of self knowledge. They learn, they make connections with other characters, and they understand more than they did at the novel's beginning. That self knowledge may not be enough to save them from the historical situation they've been born into, but it is a minor victory nonetheless.

SCORE: 8/10. Well plotted, great characterization, richly detailed world. Sometimes it wallows a bit much in its own violence and mayhem and for that I took a few points off.

SIMILAR BOOKS: The First Law Trilogy, by Joe Abercrombie, A Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin, The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan.

November Books Read

2009-12-04T12:58:00.000-08:00

-Fables 8: Wolves, Bill Willingham, graphic novel

-Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay, fantasy novel

-Lavinia, Ursula K. Le Guinn, historical/magical realist novel

-The Scene Book: A Primer for Fiction Writers, Sandra Scofield, writing reference

-Peter & Max, a Fables Novel, Bill Willingham, fantasy novel

-I Kill Giants, Joe Kelley, graphic novel

best reads of the month: pretty much everything. With the exception of Lavinia. Didn't like the the main character. She comes across as not so much pious as opportunist. Biggest surprise of the month was Peter & Max. Now my candidate for best fantasy novel published this year. Joe Kelley's I Kill Giants was a warning to be more careful what I choose to read in a bookstore. I started tearing up at the end and had to go to the restroom to collect myself. Some tough guy.

Review: Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

2009-11-27T18:17:00.000-08:00

Book Info: Tigana. Fantasy Novel. Stand alone. 676 pages. First published 1999. Tenth Anniversary Edition with an afterward by the author.

Author Info: Guy Gavriel Kay, Canadian novelist, poet, and lawyer. Other books: The Fionavar Tapestry: The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire, The Darkest Road, The Sarantine Mosaic: Sailing to Sarantium, Lord of Emporers, Last Light of the Sun, A Song for Arbonne, Ysabel, Under Heaven(forthcoming). Was retained by the JRR Tolkien Estate to assist in the editing and publishing of The Silmarillion. Website: www.brightweavings.com

Plot Summary: Prior to the events of the novel two rival kingdoms invade a peninsula composed of independent city states. Each of the invading armies is led by a powerful wizard who uses magic as well as strategy, and political subversion to ensure the conquered populace do not rise up. One of the wizards/rulers, Brandin, lost a son in subjugation of the peoples. He then laid a curse on that province, Tigana, to be removed from the memory of men. Tigana can not be heard by outsiders, nor can anyone outside the province recall anything of the inhabitants. The inhabitants remember but cannot speak of their past. They are cursed to watch as time slowly erases their history and culture from the minds of the world.

The story opens with a cast of characters who seek to rise up and remove not only the curse but the invaders and their armies. They include a former prince, a troubador in a well respected performing troupe, an actress, a wizard, a former stone mason and an exiled and disguised Duke. The novel follows their attempts to free the people of the palm, the name for the peninsula, from the invaders.

Analysis: Tigana has set a standard for what a fantasy novel can do. It is at the same time a sound political commentary on the attempt to rewerite history by a conqueror, as it is a psychological study of revolutionaries who decide to remove an invader though life itself has changed little. In fact, in some ways, life improved. There is an inventiveness, combined with a musical ear for well turned poetic phrases that resonate long after a reading.

As I delved further into the book I found that I compared this novel often with Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy, and Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. In both those books a cynics worldview prevails and any attempt to pursue a noble or high minded goal is quickly ridiculed, and often fails. While both books are to me a true presentation of the way life is and humans treat each other, I found Tigana to be genuinely tragic, in a way that the previously mentioned series were not. In Tigana, there are no simple classification of good guys and bad guys either, but nor is there the assumption that all men are, to quote Jean Paul Sartre "bastards and liars." The invaders are portrayed with insight, realism and human motivation so much so that as readers we find that we can't necessarily call up the hatefulness we feel is appropriate response to their actions.

The magic system in Tigana was unique and did not read like it was culled from the pages of a Dungeons and Dragons Guide. There were several scenes which jumped out for sheer inventiveness: an archer/assasin who uses a bow from which hangs a lock of his victims hair, the night walkers, their battles, and most especially the binding of wizards to princes.
A fantasy novel with not just heart, but intelligence and excellent characterization. I am now going to read all his books.

Similar Reads: For theme, the dangers of the past and its curse of the present: Ysabel, by Kay; Old Mortality, by Sir Walter Scott. For poetic magic: The Name of the Wind, by Pat Rothfuss. The Curse of Chalion, by Lois McMaster Bujold.

Buried Treasure

2009-11-11T12:23:00.000-08:00

So yesterday I'm at my Mom's helping her reassemble the house after the work crews have finished putting down the new floor tile. They had to do the closests as well as the regular spaces, so many things were boxed up that I hadn't seen in years: old clothes, weightlifting gear, hunting equipment, and a box of very old books. Among them was the above volume.

Can you believe it? Robert Jordan. A Conan novel from 1982. Little did I know.

I have a dim recollection of reading the book. Im almost positive I bought it at a Waldens. I was in junior high and going through a Conan phase. One of my cousins had sent me the entire set of Conan stories edited by L Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter and I was hungry for more. I remember being dismissive of the cheap imitations. Yeah, I really thought that: cheap imitations. If I'd only known.

When I finish the wheel of time catch up Im going to reread the book. See if I can glean any hints of the masterpiece to come.

Its interesting to me now that Jordan learned his craft with the Conan books. I remember shortly after beginning the Wheel of Time series that he had publised several Conan novels. This greatly surprised me because the wheel of time was such a vast and complicated tapestry whereas the Conan books were a ready made world. I then thought that Jordan had been slumming in the Conan world. But an older and hopefully wiser me imagines that he learned a lot about characterization, plot, structure and constructing novels from the experience.

I remember reading an article where Neil Gaiman described one of the most formative writing experiences he had was a series of Batman comics when he was younger. He said it taught him a lot about characterization because he had to take this well known character and find a way to bring him to life beyond the usual cliché's.

I want to read the Conan Chronicles to see how Jordan did this. Just looked on Amazon and have added all Jordan's Conan books to my wish list.

As if I didn't have enough to read. I wonder if the above book has a value now that Jordan is so famous? Probably though I am skeptical. I doubt I'll part with it regardless. Not so much sentimental value, as it is a symbol of closure, of having come full circle

I know the quality of the above pic is fuzzy but its the best one I could find online.

October Reading

2009-11-02T07:26:00.000-08:00

-The Land of the Silver Apples, Nancy Farmer, YA Fantasy novel, 496 pages

-The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz, novel, 335 pages

-Existentialism is a Humanism, Jean Paul Sartre, philosophy, 91 pages

-This is Me, Jack Vance, Jack Vance, biography, 189 pages

-Crossroads of Twilight, Robert Jordan, fantasy novel, 822 pages

Another poor reading month. Sheesh. I cant seem to get back into my reading groove. For November: getting up to date with the wheel of time series. More Sartre(he doesn't depress me, instead I see more options in life after reading him). I'm also in the mood for historical fiction. Buying a car this month has temporarily wiped out my book money cache. Which means I read what's been lying around. Speaking of which the stack of books on my desk is so tall it has a gangster lean. There is also the local library, but that means paying off fines. Just a sample of the books waiting to be read that I own: The House of the Stag, If On a Winter's Night a Traveller, The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative, Lavinia, Selected Short Stories of Dickens, Essays in Existentialism. And though I blush to admit it, The Malazaan series up to Reaper's Gale. Ive only reached the middle of Gardens of the Moon. Also, Best Served Cold, which because of the upcoming release of Assasin's Creed 2, I feel like reading.

The Plunge: The Halfway Point

2009-10-27T13:22:00.000-07:00

Just passed the midway point in Crossroads. Plots within plots and I thank all the various wheel of time sites out there to help me keep the plot lines and characters straight. The book is moving forward, and I've passed through the Elaine section and am full into the Egwene section.

Poor Egwene, she seems like such a noble soul. I suspect bad things are going to happen to her. Another way the books are like the world: try to do the right thing(like not blowing the armies of Elaida to bits with the saidar, even though she never technically took an oath not to hurt people with the power) and you end up providing your enemies with an opening. I like the banter between her and Gareth Bryne, a practical and no nonsense general. He makes a nice contrast to her idealism. He is not strictly speaking a pragmatist, if he were he would throw his lot in with a stronger power. I see him more of a stoic. He follows a code of honor that will not allow him to deviate from its course. He will kill if he has to, even strike the first blow if he thinks the results will be speedier. The book is definitely picking up the pace.

This morning when I went to check the usual lists of spec fic blogs I was blitzed by the reviews of The Gathering Storm. Its now release day and all those lucky &%#$@!& who got free copies in the mail and read it before the rest of us plebians, were given the green light to put up their reviews. Most were spoiler free for which I was thankful. The most validadating and insightful one I felt was at Blog of the Fallen. The author of the review admitted he had started Crossroads years ago but let it go because it was the slowest moving one of the series: After reading the eighth and ninth volumes, The Path of Daggers and Winter's Heart, I found myself going years before even thinking of picking up the tenth volume, Crossroads of Twilight, which was perhaps the most difficult book to complete reading of them all at the time.

Thank you.

He goes on to say the series is definitely getting darker. In an interview Jordan said the books were about decisions he had to make in vietnam: about how to cope with the stress and horror around him. Does he desensitize himself or does he struggle to not become a sociopath? Difficult decisions. The characters will come face to face with the same questions.

This really renewed my hopes for the series because as I recall, when i first read Eye of the World I reflected that this author had really experienced combat. He wrote about violence and war that was very different than anything else at the time in fantasy lit. No high purposeful paladins. Instead, mud blood death and surreal horror.

I dont enjoy these things but seeing them in a fantasy made that world he created gave the series a depth and gravity other books lacked.

Plodding on.

The Plunge: Bellybuttons

2009-10-22T20:10:00.000-07:00

I was listening to an interview with Robert Jordan today from 2005 and he made a comment which hit me right between the eyes. He said, and Im paraphrasing, that in wheel of time the world is falling apart, the last battle looms, and most people are still just looking out for their own interests.

That reminded me why I enjoyed the series. In the books, as in the real world, Jordan says that anyone who has a bellybutton(re: everyone) is really about their own self interest, but some people, because of the situation they find themselves in, rise above their self interest and think about how best to help the common good.

It reminded me of the same dawning awareness I felt when I first read a book on the Greco Persian wars. Athens is about to be invaded, the barbarians are literally at the gate, and the Greek politicians and citizens are arguing and placing all these difficulties in the way of Themistocles and the other generals.

Still progressing on Crossroads, and glad to see Perrin is finally figured out where his nut sack is. I like the way the book at some points ramps up the action and increases the problems thrust at the main characters. I recall that in Brandon Sanderson's books he does the same thing. I remember once thinking that was a sign of melodrama, and in some forms it might be, but in the world I've noticed how problems tend to compound: just when you think youve ridden out the crest of a current crises another swells to take its place. Life is like that. Granted I haven't captured by Aiel lately but...(I sense I digress. I really need to stick to my rule of no late night posts).

I do still see many flaws in the book(soooo much internal monologue) but I like the way he wrote the chapter about Faile's experiences in the Aiel camp. Excellent complications. What will her husband think? How will she explain it to her husband? Will she use her Aiel admirer to secure her freedom or will she fall for him?

I also thought the section with Elayne dealing with her pregnancy mood swings was well written. There was a case of using internal monologue to make a point.

The Plunge: The Wheel of Time

2009-10-20T10:13:00.000-07:00

I need to finish this series. Partially because I feel the hype surrounding the release of the Gathering Storm, partially because I just want to finish the books and have that sense of closure.

Like most people I stalled out on the series around 9. After that there was far too much dialogue, intrigue, too many talking heads and not enough action. The books seemed to flame out, like an Illuminator's fireworks, around book six, Lord of Chaos. After the battle at Dumai's wells, the sense of urgently turning the pages to simply find out what happens next, faded. The books became chores to get through.

Out of a sense of curiosity and loyalty, I struggled through A Crown of Swords, The Path of Daggers, and Winter's Heart. I read about 50 pages into Crossroads before I looked at my fantasy shelf with other series patiently waiting in rank and file for me to read(George R R Martin, R. Scott Bakker, Steven Erikson, Joe Abercrombie, and Glenn Cook) and decided that someday I would come back to it.

Today's the day.

I have Crossroads a third of the way done. I plan to finish it this week. Then Knife of Dreams. I wont finish Knife before the release of The Gathering Storm, but this will give me enough time to reacquaint myself with Randland. Also, the existence of all the good wheel of time sites out there, Wheel of Time Depository, Wheel of Time Encyclopedia, and Dragonmount, should enable me to brush up on the many(and I do mean many) plot lines and character arcs.

When I say closure I mean personal as well. When I first picked up the series I wasn’t a teenager or in my twenties or fresh from a reading of tolkien or influenced by the LOTR movies. I was in a personal and professional slump, reading Melville(I'm an English teacher) and getting more depressed every day. I had read Eye of the World at the suggestion of a girlfriend in the early nineties and although I had liked it I was too enamoured of high lit at the time to place much faith in the books(I know, I was an incredible lit snob, but Im really not anymore).

At a Borders I saw the entire series up to Knife of Dreams in paperback. I picked up the Great Hunt and started read the prologue in the store. By the end of an hour I made the decision that this might just be what I needed. I purchased the entire collection there, and a received a few curious looks from the staff. I also had a brief conversation with a staff who had read the series and offered encouragement as well as an account of how the books affected him. This was my first experience of one of the true joys of spec fic fandom: the sense of community. I had never encountered it anywhere else. From there I went to Myspace's fan clubs, to dragonmount, and to the now defunct but brilliant WOTmania. WOT fans began to turn up in the most unlikely places. At work, at the gym, in restaurants, in doctor's offices. And some of the best discussions I had were with those people. Granted there were a few know it all wot scholars, but hey, if you think a wot know it all is bad try having a conversation with a Foucault scholar. A few minutes of that and your sense of isolation increases tenfold.

Reading Wheel of Time allowed me to get away from myself. To get away from that narrowing, and damning term we label "reality." It allowed me to see the brilliance of world creating, to experience the long lost delight in storytelling. Because Jordan was, if anything, a superb storyteller. It seemed at every turn there was some new creation, from the Aiel, to the Ogier, to the Forsaken, to the Seanchan, to the Trollocs…it didn't end. The man was a fountain of imagination and he set the standard of a fantasy world that had true depth. He took world building seriously and as a reader I learned to appreciate and have faith in his constructions.
I felt no real bitterness at the falling off of the later books. Disappointment yes, but not bitterness. Someday I'll go back and reread the series from the beginning. Maybe I'll even make a blog out of it.

For now, I just want to find out what happens to Rand, Perrin, Egwene, Elayne, Nynaeve, and my favorite character: Mat.

Also, thanks to Seamussketches for the brilliant illustration of the deathwatch guards. Check out his website and see all the illustrations for the Wheel of Time.

Review of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

2009-10-16T11:20:00.001-07:00

Book Info: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, novel, 335 pages

Author Info: Junot Diaz was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, raised in New Jersey, educated at Rutgers, is a professor at MIT, and lives in New York City. Author of a previous collection of short stories: Drown. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is his first novel.

Plot Summary: The book's narrator Yunior, who is later revealed to have been the title character Oscar's college roomate and fellow writing student at Rutgers, recreates the formative years of Oscar's childhood and adolescence, as well as the history of Oscar's immediate family: his mother, sister, father, aunts and uncles. The narrator also chronicles the atrocities of the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic, and its impact on Oscar's family and expatriate community in New Jersey.

Analysis: This book is not properly speaking a work of speculative fiction. The reason I am reviewing on a spec fic website is because the book impressively draws connections between some of the common tropes, themes, and characters of genre literature to enable the reader to grasp and confront the more horrible aspects of human nature revealed during the atrocities of the twentieth century. Real world issues like genocide, systematic rape and tortue, killing squads, kidnapping, political assasination and breeding programs are all detailed in the book and the long term effects it has on the generations to follow. What is truly astonishing is the way the author uses genre literature as a tool to help him cope and endure what happened in the Trujillo regime, and in so doing provides himself and his readers a powerful tool for healing.

The title character, Oscar, is a classic sci fi fantasy loving D and D role playing 300 pound nerd whose uppermost desire in life is to get laid. Unfortunately for our hero, being three hundred pounds, and a nerd, and unathletic, and whose large and pompous sounding vocabulary tends to alienate rather than impress the females around him, the likelihood of it ever happening is dismal, and makes his quest to get some toto by turns comic and sad. In a sense it becomes a kind of antithesis quest to getting the ring back to Mordor. And the narrator has great fun satirizing Oscar as much as he does learning to appreciate what Oscar tried to do with his life. Oscar's uppermost desire in life, besides getting laid and falling in love, is to become the Dominican Tolkien. His steady diet of sci fi, fantasy, and other forms of genre entertainment provide him with a creative outlet for his fears and frustrations.

But Oscar is not entirely the escapist we think. During the course of the book, as he learns his family history, and the horrors of the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic, he learns to look squarely at the evil he sees around him as well as to confront the legacy of the evil and damge done by those in his employ. One thing Oscar has, one weapon as surely as sharp as an elven sword, is language. And when Oscar decides to express himself and comment on what he sees, he can be precise and passionate and as shocking as the cocking of a gun.

In the end Oscar attains his heart's desire, attains it briefly, and in doing so provides an education in belief, beauty, and love to those around him who have grown cynical. He redeems those who loved him in a surprisingly unforseeable way.

Other thoughts: The most astonishing aspect of this book, and for this it truly deserves the Pulitzer, is the way the author brings a reader who probably has little or no interest in genre fiction, and shows him just how bizarre and unprecedented the real world antics of Trujillo's regime were. Trujillo can only be described and understood as evil, and the narrator, as he recreates the atrocities finds that using the fantasy references provide him with a touchstone, a way of grasping what really defies understanding: evil. Trujillo is flat out evil, as evil as Sauron. The most disturbing aspect, when you confront your supposedly twentieth century enlightened self, the one that believes that pure evil is just the stuff of outdated religions, that the only way to cope with a Trujillo(or for that matter Stalin, or Mussolini, or Hitler, or Milosevic), is to label them evil, and work backwards from there Genre lit has quite a few things to say about the nature of evil that modernist fiction has kind of refused to touch for fear of seeming unrealistic. The narrator Yunior will toss out lines like: "Homegirl understood that when Gondolin falls you don't sit around waiting for balrogs to tap on your door, you make fucking moves." How else does one cope with the military coup de tat, and the attendent death squads? There is a solace and solidarity in the books that modernist and mainstream authors are hard put to reproduce.

In the end, after finishing the book, I see that the author's purpose was to show that genre books, as much as literary or mainstream books are all about building communities. We share common tropes and metaphors and in these we use as tools to help us survive the worst that can befall us.

Similar Reads: Crap, I don’t think I can think of a single title to compare it too. Although from what I have read Diaz's short story collection, Drown, supposedly reimagines the Odyssey from the perspective of the Telemachus and Penelope, updated to a modern setting of course. Other than that the books mentioned in the story bear re reading or at least a first reading: Octavia Butler's novels, the Dune books, and of course The Lord of the Rings.

Random things

2009-10-12T16:53:00.001-07:00

Haven't had much time to post but I have been reading. Two books specifically: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, winner of the Pulitzer, and The Land of the Silver Apples by Nancy Farmer. Reviews forthcoming. Also reading a book of essays on Joss Whedon's show Serenity written by writers and fans. Actually a very good compilation. Mercedes Lackey has an essay that really nailed the subtext of the show: freedom. She asks if any character on the show really has it, or just lives the illusion of Freedom. Even though Mal and his colleagues live on the fringes and claim to be under the heel of no one, they are actually fulfilling a necessity of supplying the outlying planets with goods that a resource stretched out alliance can't.
Trying to figure out what to read next: A Black Company novel, Lavinia by Ursula Leguin, or a Samuel R Delany fantasy novel. Also sitting on the shelf is Kage Baker's The House of the Stag.
Decisions, decisions.

Books Read in September

2009-09-30T09:44:00.000-07:00

This was one crappy month for reading. Autumn has arrived in PA. The weather is cold, damp, and miserable: perfect for reading. A hot cup of coffee, a soft chair next to the radiator, and I'm back in business.

-Fables 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers, Bill Willingham, graphic novel
-Druss the Legend, David Gemmell, heroic fantasy novel, 334 pages
-Fables 5: The Mean Seasons, Bill Willingham, graphic novel
-Fables 6: Homelands, Bill Willingham, graphic novel
-Shame and Necessity, Bernard Williams, classical studies, philosophy, essays, 164 pages
-Frontier Wolf, Rosemary Sutcliff, YA historical novel, 254 pages
-Odd and the Frost Giants, Neil Gaiman, children's fantasy novel, 117 pages
-The Ladies of Grace Adieu, Susanna Clarke, fantasy short story collection, 235 pages
-Fables 7: Arabian Nights (and Days), Bill Willingham, graphic novel

Best fiction: Frontier Wolf
Best Comic/Graphic Novel: Fables 6. I will finish the series this month.
Most intriguing read: Shame and Necessity.
Biggest Disappointment: The Ladies of Grace Adieu

Review of The Ladies of Grace Adieu, by Susanna Clarke

2009-09-29T14:04:00.000-07:00

For a long time I wasn't a fan of short stories. I felt when I read them they were just sketches for novels and that the writer was either lazy or trying to make a quick buck. The stories I read as an English major were painfully boring and perhaps scarred me. Anyone who has ever suffered through an O Henry story knows my pain.

Over the years I did develop an appreciation and respect for several masters of the craft: Borges, Joyce, Chekov, Turgeniev. But in fantasy lit I generally wasn't interested. If the writer had a world to show me via fantasy, I didn't want a sample via a short story. I preferred a world painted on a vast canvas.

But since reading The Hedge Knight in Legends I revised my opinions on what a fantasy short story is capable of. The Hedge Knight, though brief, conveyed enough about the world of A Song of Ice and Fire that I was moved to read the whole series. Here was a story that hinted at worlds within worlds. Characters who were real portraits. Like a master painter who uses a few brushtrokes to convey a lot, GRRM conveyed much in telling detail and brought the story to a convincing conclusion. I read it in a Borders fueled by three café' mochas. After finishing the story I found all four volumes of the series and purchased them on the spot. I also purchased the copy of Legends and resolved to read more short stories.

I first read Susanna Clarke's Jonathon Strange and Mr Norell two years ago. It was a sheer delight. The copious notes, the Regency setting, and most of all the magic system swept me up. I remember it was one of the few books I actually limited the amount of pages I would read a day so I could savor the experience.

The creation of the Raven King was brilliant, as were the very human themes she explored in that book: courtship, love, war, madness, and figuring out what one is supposed to do with one's life.

When I discovered there wasn't a sequel, and there wasn't likely to be one in the near future I grew despondent. So despondent I considered rereading harry potter. I discovered he short story collection and dutifully bought it but it sat on my shelf for years. Until of course the Hedge Knight experience.

The world of the collection is the world of Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell. That is, an imaginary northern England where magic works and the fey folk are every bit as dangerous and real as cold winter. Strange even makes an appearance, as does the raven king. There are many new characters and surprising turns and events.

Overall the book did not astound me in the way the novel did. The stories were well constructed, and there were a few surprises, but for the most part I wished she had just written another novel, or expanded on a story to make a novel.

A few of the pieces are just sketches and would not be served in a longer format: The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse, Anticks and Frets, and John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner. In these cases she is clearly imitating fable form, and keeps her narrative compressed. No long witty laugh out loud drawing room conversations or extended narratives concering the internal lives of characters, both of which I felt were the strong features of the novel. She can set up a drawing room and map out it conversational progressions and all the while still make you feel surprise at the turns, twists and revelations. But in these stories I felt she was contributing to the mythology of the world she was creating. It was a feeling much like reading the appendices of the Lord of the Rings(but written SO much better), she was filling in the corners of her world.

The longer stories, though, seemed to be incomplete or rushed. I thought Mrs Mabb, Mr Simonelli, and Tom Brightwind each could have benefitted from a longer treatment. Tom Brightwind especially seems trapped between the compressed narrative of fable, and the narrative format of a novel in which events unfold and are followed. Mr Simonelli is the strongest story in the book, filled with twists and turns similar to the novel but the main character was not described in enough detail. His history, ancestry, and how he came to be in that place and that time were all touched upon, but I had the sense there was more she could have done. His career at Cambridge, his history, his life as scholar and the other lives he touched while there. I felt that was one of the big let downs of the book. Here was a character as interesting as Strange yet at the end of the story I felt I hardly knew him.

All in all I enjoyed the book because I enjoyed the novel. But if her task was to somehow make a form that was an intersection between fable and a modern style narrative(which she does do brilliantly in Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell) then I don’t think she succeeded. The longer stories that were concerned with manners and morals seemed hindered by the fable like elements she tried to interweave in them. The stories that were simply fables and had here and there a touch of the drawing room she was more successful with.

Still, I'd recommend the book for the pleasure of the company of the characters.

Review of Frontier Wolf, by Rosemary Sutcliff

2009-09-23T12:34:00.000-07:00

I like to keep reading rituals.

One of them is every year on or around my birthday(september 17) I read or reread a novel by Rosemary Sutcliff.

Sutcliff was a writer of YA historical novels mostly set in Roman Occupied England, or right before. What distinguishes her novels is not so much the amount of historical detail that she manages to convey without being tiresome, as the tribal/mythic/mindset of the characters in that mieliu.

Frontier Wolf is the story of a Roman commanding officer, Alexios, of mixed heritage(Greek, Italian, and native British stock) who has through family influence achieved a high ranking post in Germania defending the frontier. In the first section of the book Alexios makes several judgemental errors that cause his men and fort to be wiped out by attacking barbarians, with only a handful surviving. Through family connections he is spared execution, but is also cast out by his family. As punishment he is sent to the Antonine Wall(north of Hadrian's wall and not so well defended) to preside over a group of auxiliary cavalry scouts known as the Frontier Wolves.

They are a rough group. Recrited from native tribal stock as well as Roman soldiers throughout the empire they have a history of killing off whatever commanders they don't like. The wolves also have their own traditions and rituals and Alexios, cosmopolitan Roman that he is, at first looks down upon such barbarism, but later comes to appreciate and share in their love for the worldview and its connection to the land.

He grows to see the tribesmen as defenders of their land and customs and also participates in their rituals. The rituals are the most fascinating aspects of the book. Sutcliff has done her homework and writes about tribal customs in such a way that the reader is taken in and made to feel they are participating. At the end of one ritual I recalled thinking that made perfect sense, but how in the hell would you recreate that in today's world. What experience could you possibly have that would reaffirm your belief in the stability of the cosmos and the unification of all things.

She does the job of putting a reader in touch with the ancient world. Or, to steal a Wallace Stevens phrase: "An ancient thought touching a modern mind." And when I say that she incorporates the tribal I mean the tribal. There are sacrifices, it gets pagan. She doesn't shy away from the bloody. It was a violent dangerous era and the characters all live it.

But the use of Alexios as an outsider who learns to love the strange yet familiar world was a brilliant narrative technique. Alexios is Roman through and through. Though he was born in the south, near Londinium, he is an alien in that northern land. A wonderful detail Sutcliff uses is how she describes his olive skin as standing out against the pale skins of tribesmen at a feast. But the Romans are not irreligious. They have their own customs and beliefs. Alexios daily sacrifices to Mithras in an underground temple(and this is a YA book, how freaking cool is that?).

When I first read Sutcliff's novels I was jarred by the tribal practices on both sides. The Romans, obsessed as they were with order, were every bit as superstitious as the barbarians they conquered. It was this side by side pairing of reason and myth that so moved me. Being an American and good student of the age of enlightenment I assumed the two were incompatible. But the more I read on the subject the more I realized that she had really captured the worldview of both sides.

The reason I read or reread her books once a year: Her books are very much about rebirth. Very much about personal loss, surviving it, and finding wholeness again. Granted there is something of the Four Feathers going on in Frontier Wolf, but the same basic themes dominate in all the books: surviving tragedy, the need for belonging and the place of ritual and myth in life.

On Bitchness

2009-09-11T12:40:00.000-07:00

I've wanted to write this one for a while. However, you don’t just wake up one day and decide to elaborate on the likes of Neil Gaiman. On the other hand after much thought and anxiety I decided it might not be a bad thing to fill in one of the corners on this discussion.

The title of this blog of course refers to the now famous post Gaiman put up in response to a fan's whining about how he wished GRRM would just hurry the hell up and finish Dance and the rest of ASOIAF. He was tired of waiting and couldn't understand why Martin was being so lazy.

Gaiman's response was the now famous "GRRM is not your bitch." In essence he said he didn’t sign a contract with you personally to write the rest of the series so that it would be available at your convenience. He is producing art and that takes time. Get a life, read another author, reread the series but do something other than complain. He hasn’t let anyone down. He hasn’t violated any contracts. He is trying to make the work the best he can.

After reading the initial post I agreed and I still do. Some fans try and translate the consumer culture out there to the world of books. Afraid it doesn't work that way. Liking an authors work is a compliment but expecting them to produce on demand is another thing entirely. That is expecting someone to be your bitch. And it is wrong. Anyone who has ever tried to write seriously knows just how hard it is to produce day after day after day. Salute George R R Martin for continuing to work in the face of such misunderstanding. He has been described as an incredibly nice man. I'm sure that is true, and furthermore I am sure he would have to be in the face of fans that think that writing novels is a form of pay per view.

But there is an aspect to the discussion I have wanted to address. Gaiman touched on it when he said "Hope that the author is writing the book you want to read, and not dying, or something equally as dramatic."

And of course I thought of Robert Jordan. As I believe that was Gaiman's intent.

As I understood it Gaiman's message was that if the writer is dying and can't write the book you want then think about how bad it is for him as a human being. Don't selfishly think about how bad its going to be for you because you can't read the rest of the series.

But when Robert Jordan died I did think about the series, as did his legions of fans. I remember feeling the loss of the individual, though I did not know him. Everything I read pointed to how devoted he was to his family and friends. And the private loss of those people I could empathize with though I could not share because I had not known him in that capacity. I had lost loved ones to cancer and could empathize with what the family went through. His death saddened me and I did pray for them.

But what authors do is a tricky thing. Through their writings they can make you feel as if you know the people in their books as well as you've known any individual in the "real" world. In a sense when Robert Jordan died he took a lot of "people" with him. Characters in a book yes. Not real people yes. But still something that we as readers and fans have invested time and energy in. And as Freud said anything one invests time and energy in, whether professionally or as a hobby, becomes a "loved object." The loss of a the loved object triggers psychological responses. Some of them very deep.

Look at the behavior of individuals who have lost something they have invested time and energy in: a kind of depression and sadness sets in that through time the individual works through. And so becomes stronger for the next time.

Many of my generation, when we started reading Jordan, had cut our teeth on the lord of the rings, the shannarra books, the Earthsea and Narnia series, and others. Most of them complete by the time we read them. The sheer scope of Jordan's project both thrilled and amazed us. "Twelve books! R U Serious!" is what I remember emailing a friend. I remember once in a journal entry where I marked off where I was when each book came out. The completion of such a project in all its infinite complexity was something we eagerly awaited. One of those moments we all wanted to stand around together and say we were here when he did it. We followed along, and watched. An "I was there " moment.

And now we wont have it. We will have Brandon Sanderson's completion of it.

Brandon Sanderson, a writer I genuinely admire and whose career I have eagerly followed since Elantris(for sheer magic systems, he is hard to top, as well as pacing and characterizations, the fight scenes in the mistborn series are like a matrix movie fight for the mind's eye, I hope somone films them someday), is more than capable of finishing the series. I am going to buy the books when they come out, devour them and enjoy the hell out of myself in sheer thankfulness that we have them. I am entirely certain that Sanderson will follow the notes and instructions Jordan left behind, and will complete Jordan's vision of the series.

What I will also be thinking is it’s a shame the author couldn't be the one to have completed it. Some would say that we will have the author's book. Sanderson is writing as Jordan would have.

There's the rub. He is, but he isn't.

He's completing Jordan's outline and descriptions. He is finishing the book as the author originally imagined it and left instructions for its completion. But it isn't Jordan completing the book, and that is a difference. Not better, or worse, but it would have been good to see the final book and say, this is the author's complete work.

Some fans are greedy and just want to be entertained. Most of us though genuinely feel that anxiety that an author may not stick around to complete the works we enjoy and admire them for. That latter feeling, that anxiety is natural and a sign of how well the author has done his/her job. We have our own lives: if the work isn't completed we will move on and do other things, read other books, live our lives. But there will be a sense of loss there. Not personal, but a sense of loss nonetheless.

That is why sometimes I find myself thinking come on George get on with it, even though I know I'm not being fair, or understanding. I know art can't be rushed but still, part of me inside is chewing my fingernails. I'm not being a crass consumer, I would just rather not lose another thing I've invested time and energy in. And I think that is the way some fans feel. Its not bitchness, its an anxiety.

As Chaucer said "The life so short, the arte so long to learne." All authors are working against the clock. There is never enough time to finish, make the book as good as you want it. As fans I think the majority of us understand that. But we would hate to lose that sense of completion also.

New book in the mail

2009-09-09T18:16:00.000-07:00

I know, its not exactly speculative fiction. But I will be reading this off and on for the next few weeks. I feel like I owe a debt to football and its kind of a shame I never understood or followed it: family legend has it my great grandfather played for the Pottsville Maroons, and my dad was an all state fullback(though not athletic I took up powerlifting so my dad wouldn't have to hide at family reunions). I should at least learn and learn to appreciate the game. And in a way it will remind me of my dad, who I do miss.

Besides, now I'll understand what GRRM is talking about on his blog.

Now that I think about it, my dad's favorite team was the Giants too. Hm. If I ever am fortunate enough to meet GRRM at least I can open with something that may not bore him.

As far as favorite team: the Bills. I dont know about T.O. but the happiest I've ever been has been when I lived upstate. Besides, I like underdogs and almost rans.

My Life As Literature

2009-09-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

This one has been appearing all over the blogosphere so I thought I'd chime in(as I have nothing better to do right now). The idea is to answer the question only with the books you have read so far this year.

Describe Yourself: A Feast for Crows

How do you feel: The Burning Man

Describe where you currently live: The Graveyard Book

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Ysabel

Your favorite form of transportation: Old Man's War

Your best friend is: The Silent Blade

You and your friends are: The Black Company

What’s the weather like: Mistborn

Favorite time of day: Passage to Dawn

If your life was a: Well of Ascension

What is life to you: Last Argument of Kings

Your fear: Batman: Arkham Asylum

What is the best advice you have to give: The Lie that Tells a Truth

Thought for the Day: Shadows Linger

How I would like to die: Before they are Hanged

My soul’s present condition: The Blade Itself

Books Read August 09

2009-09-02T10:57:00.000-07:00

-Fables 1: Legends in Exile, Bill Willingham, graphic novel

-Foundling, D M Cornish, YA fantasy novel

-Fables 2: Animal Farm, Bill Willingham, graphic novel

-The Magicians, Lev Grossman, fantasy novel

-Old Man's War, John Scalzi, science fiction novel

-Fables 3: Storybook Love, Bill Willingham, graphic novel

-Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall, Bill Willingham, graphic novel

-"New Spring," in Legends, by Robert Jordan, fantasy short novel

-"Dragonfly", in Legends, by Ursula K. Leguin, fantasy short novel

-"The Burning Man" , in Legends, by Tad Williams, fantasy short novel

Thanks to the Adventures in Reading blog for clueing me into Fables. By far the best graphic novel series I've read in a long time. Best book of the month: can't really say. Both Old Man's War and The Magicians were exceptionally good. Most dissapointing was Foundling. Started out with great ideas but the writing felt lacking. He created this complicated intriguing world but it felt like we were ushered through rather hurriedly instead of being allowed to explore. Sometimes info dumping is ok in fantasy novel. Legends was a bolt from the blue: now I have to go get all the Earthsea and Memory Sorrow and Thorn books. Jordan I've already read up to book ten where I stalled out. Scheduled for September: Winterbirth, Best Served Cold, The Stranger and parts 4,5 and 6 of Fables. I dont think I'm going to review Fables until I at least get to at least the half way point, say after book six.
Good month. New work schedule allows for more reading time. Having a four day workweek is doing wonders for my intellectual aspirations.

2009-08-26T20:04:00.000-07:00

Old Man's War/The Magicians: Trying to pull off a bit of a mash up. One of the routine exercises literature professors torment their students with is the dreaded Compare and Contrast. I often dismissed the exercise as tedious and unimaginative teaching. But I now think it is useful to sometimes compare two books that wouldn't otherwise be thought of together. I have not been posting as much as I had hoped to and my reading has far outpaced my reviewing. In some ways I'm trying to shorten the gap by in effect reviewing two at once, but I wouldn’t honestly attempt this unless I thought there was something to be learned and appreciated in bringing these two together.

At first glance they are so opposed as to defy any grouping(unless you are in a book store in the dreaded dumping ground that is called SF&F). Old Man's War is a science fiction novel set in the future. The Magicians is an urban fantasy novel set in the here and now. There is no magic in Old Man's War, and though there is science in The Magicians, it is the everyday variety of elelvators, computers, etc. Nothing groundbreaking.

Old Man's War concerns Earth's defense of her colonies in the future from alien aggression. But Scalzi doesn't cut corners and doesn't go for a typical good human versus bad aliens story. The CDF, Colonial Defense Forces, is ran much like the East India Company. No earth government controls it. In fact, one of the aspects of the book I liked the most was how he avoids the cliché of "the aliens are attacking so the earth is now one unified government to better organize and prepare for our defenses." Earth is anything but organized. Nations still war with each other, nuke each other, and poverty and the inequalities of a global economy are still problematic.
The CDF's mission is to defend earth's colonies, and her settlers. Not the homeworld. As you read the book you wonder why the CDF hasn't just taken over Earth. Maybe that happens in a future book.

The world of the Magicians starts in a Brooklyn of the priviliged class, a vast farm in upstate New York hidden from outsiders by magic where the elite magic school of Brakebills is located, and a fantasy world that used to be unknowable and unaccessible. Yes, the references to Harry Potter's world are obvious. But that is because Grossman is more in dialogue with the Potter texts than he is in strictly imitating them. He asks what would the effect of having all these magic powers be on a real teenager. That is, a sex driven, alcohol swilling, drug experimenting teenager with too much money and too little responsibility.

Both worlds are well constructed, believable, and the characters in each are interesting and realistic, if not at always likeable. But hey, how many teenagers and septugenarians are likeable? Tolerable maybe, but likeable, probably not. What these two books share, especially considering their vast difference in age groups, is something unique and unexpected:

They are both about an education in love.

Old Man's War takes as its premise the idea that when a human reaches age 75 they are eligible for military service in the CDF. I know. How can a 75 year old possibly fight a space war? My first thought was the Master Chief in a wheel chair. But the technology is there to make the 75 year olds fighters and not just in fighting shape. I wont ruin how, but I will say that it is well written and believable. In fact, as I read it I hoped somewhere a scientist at MIT was already working on the technology. It would be nice to have when I turn 75.

The reasoning for joining up is two fold: 75 year olds believe they will probably be dead in ten years anyway so they might as well get out into space and see what's out there. Also they will be serving the purpose of making the universe safer for humans.

Most couples who are still alive at that age join together. The main character John Perry joins with his wife at age 65 but before they are called up to go his wife dies from a cerebral stroke. He goes off on the great adventure without her.

The most amazing writing in this book is the way that Scalzi makes you believe these people were married for over forty years and genuinely loved each other. Its easy to over or under do, but Scalzi nails it. The details of their lives together, the mistakes made by both parties, the working at the relationship, he fits it all in nicely. And later, in space, he gets a second chance with his wife. In a sense she is brought back from the underworld. In a way that reminded me a lot of Euripedes Alcestis, you genuinely believe these two managed to find each other, and continue. It isn't just an "ahhhh" moment. There are a lot of interesting social and science related issues that go along with it. All handled deftly and with skill.

The Magicians, to take the other end of the spectrum, is about teen and tween love. Or as most people over twenty five know, mistakes in love. The type of love that starts out fresh and new and wonderful and that afterwards one gets restless with. Teenage angst and ennui set in, one takes the love of another for granted, soon irreperable damage is done, what is lost can't be reclaimed, and one stares at the blank space that has arisen between two people. Grossman does an excellent job in describing the way a group of teenage magicians, in love(or lust in some cases), besotted with their newly found powers would probably behave: destructive.

Yes he has one eye on Harry Potter, but he seeks to tell the grittier truth, the uncomfortable truths. And props to him because he runs a fine line of not making his characters likeable as they slight each other, shit on one another's feelings, and destroy most of what is good in their lives.

The characters grow, learn from their experiences, but do not forget their mistakes. And that makes the book very much worth reading. The loss of the main character's love interest is more poignant because the character himself realizes he already lost her before she died. Ouch.

In fact, I found reading both these books a very hope awakening experience. And I found it incredibly odd that such a theme emerged from what at first sight were disparate stories. And yet there it is.

And to think, after finishing Old Man's War I picked up The Magicians because I "wanted something different."

Last Argument of Kings, End Notes

2009-08-18T22:26:00.000-07:00

End Notes on Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie:

Sheesh. I guess I've put this off for too long. I should really get it over with.

I didn’t like Last Argument of Kings and I'm somewhat embarrassed by that fact. In fact I'm embarrassed that I'm embarrassed: a reader should follow their instincts and their opinions regardless of how popular or unpopular a book may be. The fact is I waited to see if I would change my mind. This admission conjures up a picture in my mind of Logan, Black Dow, and the Dogman kind of shaking their heads at me and cursing me for a spineless coward. Which, in an ironic way gives evidence of just how well written and memorable the characters were.

I didn't like Last Argument of Kings because of the way it ended. It ended badly. Or to put it another way, it ended empty. No, I'm not referring to some inherant structural flaw, nor do I think the writer hastily wrapped up the book in a deux ex machina ending. Quite the contrary. The final convergence of the many elements including characters, plot, setting, motive, and background history to the world, were brilliant. The characters moved forward to the resolution of their conflicts with a sound internal logic and inevitablilty that for all my imagined brilliance I did not see coming. Kudos to Abercrombie on pulling some wondrous eye popping reversals and recognitions that screamed well made story.

As for sheer technical brilliance the story is a masterpiece of "gritty fantasy." That new sub sub sub genre where fantasy looks at the real world, looks at the fantasy world, and says "right, need to make this a bit more realistic." People you get attached to die, the girl you think would make a perfect match for the right guy sleeps with someone else, and the most unethical of the villains comes out on top because, well, he's better at manipulating people than the good guys.

What I didn't like was the nihilism of the ending. People died, people struggled, people sacrificed, and in the end nothing really changed. The characters went back to their lives, or died. Some had a new set of circumstances, some had a new wife, some had wealth and power and money. And in the end no one really knew why it was they struggled the way they did or what the purpose of all that effort was.

To put it bluntly: nihilistic. No easy answers about the rightness or wrongness of the world, the characters or the actions. No one really changes. Except the torturer, who after mutilating dozens and killing far more, gets a beautiful woman and a promotion. The "hero" is mutilated, attains a beautiful lesbian bride who cringes at his touch and has to watch the woman he loves marry someone else. The toughest of all, the manic, goes back to the violent dangerous world he left after trying to escape neither changed in character, nor materially better of than when he started.

The ending did not satisfy. Call me a foolish devotee of Aristotle and company, declare my sense of story and structure paleolithic, and my view of human nature as childish and naïve(although after ten years teaching juvenile delinquents I would tend to disagree), but I stick by my internal sense of what I feel about the book. The ending is a let down. There is just something not satisfying about the ending, and I don’t mean I want the hero to run off with the heroine into a brilliant sunset to rule a kingdom and hump happily ever after and produce dozens of heirs until the minions of the dark lord rear their ugly orc heads again. I mean there was something from the story I find lacking, or missing.

I wish I were a good enough reviewer to put my finger on it but for right now I just cant. I will repeat that the book was brilliant technically, and I look forward to reading many many more of Mr Abercrombie's work. The man can write, and can tell a good story, and for the sheer mixing of horror, comedy, imagination, and violence he is probably unparalled. At least in my reading experience. I think Martin is his master but he excels in ways Martin doesn't. He is funnier, but manages to do so without losing his sense of the gravity or danger his characters face. Martin's characters have a sense of humor but rarely resort to it to help cope with the horrors they face. Abercrombie's have humor hard wired into their worldview.

John Irving said that a reviewer should read everything written by an author, even if he is only reviewing a single novel, or collection of short stories. He said you may not like a book, you may not like a style of writing, the writer may not succeed at everything he is trying to do, but you had better appreciate the fact that someone took years of their lives to spend on this project, and treat the review of their work with the appropriate respect. I've tried to keep this as my motto. Regardless of what I review or read, I try to remember the amount of work that went into the writing and that regardless what I may think, the fact that they are published is significant. They've been edited, forced to reconsider their work, redo it, rewrite it, cut it, improve what they imagined was perfection, and had to do it as many as six or seven times.

Abercrombie may not have succeeded in making the ending satisfying for me, but on so many dozens of other counts he scores 9.0s and 10s.

The Hugo Award For Best Novel

2009-08-10T15:45:00.000-07:00

This was a bit of a shocker. The Graveyard Book was up against intense competition. Anathem by Neal Stephenson, Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi, Saturn's Children by Charles Stross. These guys are all heavyweights with lengthy and respectable publishing histories.

Alas, the only one I actually read was The Graveyard Book(because it was in my local library. Financial times being what they are I cant read everything I want. I'd end up taking a second job just to support a reading habit I would no longer have time for).

Despite my apologia I do intend to read the other novels. And not simply because they are on someone's list. Nor do I intend to Monday morning quarterback and raise a fuss over who SHOULD have won. A quick review of each (on Amazon) show them to be uncomfortably relevent to our times: technology as a double edge sword, the journey of youth to arrive safe and whole from their home planet of childhood to the usually drabby but occasionally fascinating shores of adulthood, and the always unsettling question of what if we humans weren't here anymore?

At first I was struck by the idea of a YA novel taking an award as prestigious as a Hugo. Then after researching the history of the award I saw that there have been YA novels that have won before (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire). After some further research involving reading a few spoiler free book reviews I see that YA designation could as easily be applied to Little Brother, and Zoe's Tale. Which in my mind argues that YA may just be a designation for booksellers but not for readers. When I finished The Graveyard Book I wasn't thinking YA I was thinking holy shit that was good. It did what a good book always does: makes me relfect on my own life and the possibilities implicit when you simply keep breathing, keep waking up, keep making plans.

But that's quite enough of talking about books I haven't read. Not a wise thing to do for an aspiring reviewer. Suffice to say I will read each of them. And if nothing else, the Hugo's served a purpose in making me aware of their existence.

Books Read in July

2009-08-03T16:46:00.000-07:00

-The Lie That Tells A Truth, John Dufresne, writing reference, 298 pages
-Bleach: Volume 8¸ Tite Kubo, manga
-Last Argument of Kings, Joe Abercrombie, fantasy novel 636 pages
-Chess Story, Stefan Zweig, novel, 84 pages
-The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman, YA urban fantasy, 307 pages
-Bleach: Volume 9¸Tite Kubo, manga
-In the Suicide Mountains, John Gardner, fantasy novel, 155 pages
-The Black Company, Glen Cook, fantasy novel, 217 pages
-Shadows Linger, Glen Cook, fantasy novel, 229 pages
-The First Five Pages, Noah Lukeman, writing reference, 197 pages

Good Reading month. The Black Company and Shadows Linger were the biggest surprises. Biggest disappointment was In the Suicide Mountains. Gardner just tends to repeat himself in the later books. Book that was most disturbing: Last Argument of Kings. I didn't like it as much as I imagined I would, based on the previous two volumes in the series. The conclusion was satisfactory but bleak. Not sure how I feel about the whole Quentin Tarentino of High Fantasy.

Before They Are Hanged, End Notes

2009-07-03T20:04:00.000-07:00

7/3/09 End Notes on Before They Are Hanged, by Joe Abercrombie.

Say this for Joe Abercrombie, he has balls.

A good fantasy novelist nowadays had to write against certain genre expectations. That is, a fantasy novelist who wants his work to resemble real life in all its messiness should write against certain genre expectations. And he has to do it without disappointing the reader who comes to the work expecting certain things from his chosen genre.

So lets review: you have to write against what people expect without writing against too much what people expect because some of their expectations are what brought them to your book in the first place and if some of those expectations aren't met they wont finish your book and won't buy the next two or three in the series.

A bit like balancing six spinning plates while someone lights all your clothes on fire. The plates need to keep spinning no matter what.

Some writers do this quite well: Tad Williams, Patrick Rothfuss, the great Glenn Cook and of course GRR Martin is a downright master. (I still maintain that the Red Wedding is one the most brutal and terrifying things ever written. It is right up there with the harsher parts of Macbeth). Fantasy, modern fantasy, mirrors the messiness of real life in order to speak to a broader audience but also for the sheer art: characters in war die, yet how many characters in the Lord of the Rings come through the battles with little or no damage? I think a life of Rangering would make Aragorn a bit meaner than he is. And please, there is not one mean spirited female in LOTR. No real beheadings, no one dies at a young age. Even Shakespeare knew an Iago will do some real damage, and he lets him, and we as audience can't look away because life is like that.

In real life people often go in search of things they don’t find. I've gone to walmart and been disappointed. I've crossed a continent for a woman and been dissappointed. I've gone across the ocean for a job and been dissappointed. But in a fantasy it seems to be a cliché that when you go on a quest you find the thing you're questing for because, well, that's what is supposed to happen in this genre.

Well, not anymore.

Abercrombie takes you all the way through book two in search of an object with his characters and they fail. They fail miserably. They return empty handed, broken, beaten and frustrated. Some are disfigured. Some are broken hearted. They don’t return with the magic "thing" but they return with something else.

Self knowledge.

Which is often an unexpected bonus. And for some of the characters its bitter, for others its welcome, but for each of them its not why they left in the first place.

And strangely enough I didn't feel cheated. I felt, you know what, I did learn something about myself when I went to the other side of the country for a woman, or to England for a job. Even when I went to walmart: I learned I didn’t really need a dozen hershey bars(I threw up). Life is like that.

More to come when I write my review but for now I'm glad this guy is writing fantasy.

Before They Are Hanged Commentary

2009-06-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

6/29/09 pg 387. I started this book and then got quickly caught up in the pace of it. It moved too fast for me to take a moment to write about it. I really didn't want to tear myself away from the page to stop and think. But with over half the book done now I have to stop and catch my breath and write something otherwise I miss out on the whole experience.

First off I have realized something. Joe Abercrombie is the Quentin Tarentino of fantasy. Or, for my fellow English Majors out there, the John Ford. Im sure this is conscious on his part. He has spoken of Tarentino's films informing and contributing to his work and overall outlook on life. His work, like Tarentino's, definitely has overtones of the moral ambiguity inherent in violent acts and a violent life. A character like Logan is never really sure of the effects of his violent lifestyle on his own life or the lives of those he has been around. He is not proud of what he is, but then again, he is not entirely ashamed. His toughness and hard outlook on a hard world has made him able to help the likes of Jezal and Ferro, so he cant be categorized as simply good or bad.

This poses a bit of a problem for me because I don’t really like Tarentino's films. With the exception of Reservoir Dogs which, with its long shots, fuck you dialouge, and complete and total oh no you didn't plot twists, made me take notice that something truly different had appeared on screen. Pulp fiction, which was praised for its fragmentation of chronology to emphasize the arbitrariness of modern existence and violence (havent any of you people read Faulkner?) didn’t strike me as a comment on gratuitous violence as really just being gratuitous violence.

Kill bill 1 and 2 were…well, still more gratuitious violence.

But Before They Are Hanged takes our characters even deeper into the moral no man's land that rules their world. I said in my end notes last time that I was impressed by how much the characters had changed through the course of the book and I was pleased to see that the changes are still in effect. Jezal, though still whiny and self centered in the beginning of the story, does at least retain the ability to empathize. Glotka more than ever asks himself why he does what he does and recieves less and less assurances from the dark corners of his mind as to his motivations. All of which prompts him to commit some serious faux pas in the torturing world(I'm quite sure if there were a torturer's handbook rule number 1 would be "don’t let anyone escape on purpose").

Logan is sick of violence and fighting for the sake of fighting. He wants to find a reason to go on beyond just fighting to survive. Ferro still just wants to kill people.

What really impressed me thus far though is the way Abercrombie builds on the growth in book one and makes the characters continue to grow in self knowledge. Its almost as if he were saying look, avoiding violence may just not be possible in the real world, but avoiding self knowledge is an even worse fate than violence. Violence, and the threat of violence may be bad, but it has this quality of making what's important in the world leap out.

And understanding leaps out at the major characters with a viciousness. For Jezal it takes the form of a mace to the side of the jaw and some broken limbs. (I was impressed here with Abercrombie's technical knowledge. A medieval soldier wielding a mace would have struck his downed opponent a few more times and inflicting further injuries like those described to Jezal).

The merry band of adventurers are heading for a city in the middle of nowhere. Mostly they all hate each other at the start and through much violence and several attacks they learn much about their fellow adventurers and acquire a measure of respect about each of them. Though they primarily still hate each other.

At this point in the novel Logan and Ferro have fallen into a pit, Jezal's face is healing nicely(for nicely read his jaw and mouth are at a weird angle and he looks f'd up), Bayaz is withering away, Glotka is trying to escape a city he was sworn to defend(and signed his life away for). and the dogman and his crew are trying to protect major west who has just committed a treasonous act.

There was a well done battle scene earlier in the book which conveyed the sense of futility as the untrained troops of the union fought against Bethod's barbarians(sound's like a football team name). Abercrombie did an ok job of describing the noise and confusion of war but not as well done as say Suzanna Clarke did describing a battle in Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell. Still impressive though. In the Clarke book I had a palpable sense of dread as I read the battle scene. It made me squeamish(much like the opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan). In the Abercrombie book the battle scene was more of pathos and loss at the wastefulness.

One hundred plus pages to go.

Commentary on The Blade Itself, End Notes.

2009-06-20T14:34:00.001-07:00

June 20, 2009 Running Commentary on The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie. End notes. I finished the novel a few days ago and now have to write from strictly memory. I lent the novel to one of my voracious, book rabid students. I couldn't very well make him wait. He's locked up for the first time and is turning to books to entertain himself and make the time pass faster. A wonderful side effect is discovering his own imagination. He's been with us for three weeks and has already read five books. On the outside he never picked up a novel.

In thinking about books I sometimes like to go back to the exercises I learned as an undergrad to provoke thoughts. Sometimes the exercise can be as mundane as what was the theme, or symbol hunting, or in this case list the characters that changed, and the characters that didn't, and why and how.

Logan, Jezal, Glotka, all change in the course of the book. Or strictly speaking, some of the them change, and then because of their circumstances, their history, and their surroundings have to revert to being the characters they were in the past. Logan wants to stop living such a pointlessly violent life. He's witnessed first hand the arbitrary nature of power. He's gone from fighting against Bethod to fighting for him to fighting against him. He's teamed up with enemies and made enemies of friends. He's witnessed the first rule of power politics, hold on to your own power base regardless of the consequences. He takes a good look at himself, his life, the death and destruction and sees it all as absurd. He wants to break the cycle of violence but doesn't quite see how he can.

Jezal changes from a pompous rich spoiled brat to at least being capable of empathizing with another human being. For the first time in his life he realizes he has to prove himself and to the people around him he is worth something other than just being the spoiled son of a noble. And once decided on his quest to change he pursues it nobly, without whining. He fights hard and wins but in a masterful stroke by Abercrombie he ends up winning not under his own power, but with supernatural aid. He still believes he won under his own power and this boosts his self esteem. What will happen in the second book in the series when and if he learns he really didn't do it on his own?

The aspect of Jezal's change that I liked was the way he finally understand the trials his friend West went through. His hard work and sacrifice, his struggle to get better. All of which made Jezal feel like the super shit he is. Or was.

And Glotka. Did Glotka change? Maybe not, maybe its too late. But there is a glimmer there that possibly he can change. When he realizes West came to see him after he returned home from being tortured, but that Glotka's mother sent him away two times because West was "low born," he understands though the world may be bad through and through, there may just be things like real friendship in it, and loyalty, and last but not least, empathy.

The questions to be addressed in the next book is: have they changed, are the changes permanent, or will they revert back to their old selves?

But first The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. For some reason, I seldom like reading trilogies straight through. I don’t know if its I don’t like being stuck in another author's style, or I get claustrophobic with the characters, but I find a book in beween keeps me fresher.

6/14/09 Running Commentary on The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie

2009-06-14T12:20:00.000-07:00

I'm almost finished with this novel and wanted to record some thoughts. I find that daily writing about what I'm reading sharpens my perceptiveness and prevents me from saying embarrasing and stupid things in reviews (uhm, yeah, I remember the part where Frodo, Sam and Pippin have dinner at Farmer Maggots, sure do. Just because I failed to mention it in a review doesn't mean I didn’t' remember it. That one took a lot of creativity to get out of). There are spoiler's here and I don’t feel the tiniest bit guilty about it. I see this blog as more of a reader's journal that is made open for those who want to share and compare. I just wish I had thought of the idea of daily posting commentaries on what I read before I actually started this book. One of my professors used to say that reading without written reflection is like sex without the orgasm. You can have a fun old time doing it but you're missing out on the complete experience. (I think she might have had issues, she used this joke a lot)

I'm at the part of the book where Glotka, Jezal, Bayaz, and Logen are standing before the Maker's tower. They've just inserted the lock into the door and its working. The lock of runes is spinning like a roulette wheel gone insane and even the cynical Glotka can't help but wonder what's next. Intriguing place to stop I know but I have papers that needed grading. I wonder sometimes why it is that other people' education so often interferes with my own. Society expects me as a teacher to be well read and well spoken but never seems to want to allow me the time to pursue these things.

I like the characters, I like the story, I also like the cynical and smart assed handling of it all. In the interviews I've seen on Abercrombie he cites George R R Martin as an influence. And I can see it. The heroes are trying save a world in which the wealthy and affluent don’t really give a shit. They could care less whether the world is destroyed as long as they hold on to power.
If there were one overriding theme of the fantasy novels that I've read this past year I would say the theme of holding on to power for the sake of power itself seems to be a major one. Beauracratic monopolies on power that are based on privilige and wealth rather than talent, ability and a solid work ethic are a central concern to most fantasy novelists. Brandon Sanderson uses this in Elantris and the Mistborn books. Patrick Rothfuss does it in The Name of the Wind, with sometimes nail biting and teeth gnashing results. Martin of course is a master at it. The barbarians are at the gate and all Cersei cares about is getting the oafish and disgusting Joffrey on the throne.

Whence comes this? Methinks we need look no farther than Messers. Bush, Cheney and company. True, beauracracies have always been with us but since when have they been this lethal, self centered and downright inept(FEMA, 911, the Iraq War, Gitmo).

Still, Abercrombie handles it well. One of the differences I've noticed between this series and Martin's series is that A Song of Ice and Fire tends to focus on characters that are the center of power. There are minor characters but they are seldom peasants or even small land owners. Most of the characters are in some way or other among the major players for power and the throne.

In Abercrombie's book though, and granted, I'm only partway through it, the characters exist on the periphery of the central power locations. Jezal is nobility but has a snowball's chance in hell of gaining a throne, and would hardly know what to do with it if he attained it. The only thing on his mind is getting laid and fencing. Logan knows too much about power politics and is sick of that life. He wants nothing to do with power but is close enough to it that he is understands the inner workings of the barbarians power systems. Though here too he is unlikely to ever gain complete control, should he even desire it. Glotka is in too much pain to want control, and is unpopular enough that he will be continaully passed over for it. Out of all the characters his world weariness is most paplable. And Bayaz. Well, he seems to already be in power, but only in the wizard or cleric way. He handles power differently than the court officials and nobility. He uses it for a purpose, to keep peace, for protection, to serve. He does not seek to eliminate those who pose a threat to him.

If I have one criticism of the book so far it’s the myth system requires checking and rechecking to understand. J.A. seems to have a healthy fear of info dumping but I think he takes it to an extreme. I think readers will tolerate info dumping or even a glossary so they can be clear on what the mythic allusions the characters discuss constantly are about. He does do a good job as an author as making the mythic references embedded in the dialogue and internal monologue of the characters. But with so much else going on in the story it becomes tedious to flip back through the book to find the conversation which explans for example, just who juvens is and what the maker did.

I think of J.K. Rowling and how she never had a glossary but also she had written the books for a character who is learning about his world from the start. Each new piece of info he gets on his world and his story is part of the narrative, the narrative of his education in the wizarding world.

That, and there were dozens of websites devoted to the background info.

Review of Mistborn

2009-06-13T09:33:00.000-07:00

Mistborn, Brandon Sanderson, Fantasy novel, 643 pages.

Mistborn is unconventional. Instead of knights, dragons, and damsels in distress we have metallurgists, kung fu fights, and factories. Sanderson believes in bending and changing the heroic fantasy genre, as was shown in his debut success Elantris. Every book he writes pushes past stereotypes to create strange yet familiar worlds peopled with memorable characters. The sheer inventiveness of his world building makes readers stop and simply ponder the enormous effort of invention that went into the creation of his backgrounds.

Mistborn, the first book in his first trilogy, gets high marks for sheer effort. Sanderson abandons the tropes of fantasy like swords, witches, wizards, and orcs and creates a world that seems to have more in common with the Russian Revolution than the medieval backdrop that is the common setting of heroic fantasy.

If world building were his only talent he would still be read avidly. But his characters, and their unique situations and conflicts, add a further layer of not just verisimilitude, but the simple unexpected joy we find when a novel hooks us and we "just want to find out what happens to this or that character."

Sanderson creates characters whose web of relationships are reminiscent of the high Victorians: George Eliot, Thackeray, Trollope, and Dickens. In Sanderson's novels family and the lack of it are as much a catalyst for the plot as the magic systems.

The main character of the series, Min, is reminiscent of the waif's found in Dickens novels. Self consciously so I believe. It is as if Sanderson were asking: What if Oliver Twist woke up one day and realized he could toss Fagin, the Artful Dodger, or Bill the murderer around the room without even lifting a finger. Of if he could pick a pocket from a mile away? Imagine what would happen if say Little Nell, or Little Dorritt, were given the power to kick the living shit out of the bullies and hypocrites that have plagued her life. How would life change if she could fly through the night, enhance her muscular strength to ten times that of a normal human, and have her senses sharpened to the point she could perceive conversations and faces from miles away. What would the story be like if she also learns she has been born with the kind of power that comes along once in a millennium? Commoners speak her name in whispers and even emperors secretly fear her.

What if she was trained like Oliver Twist to pull off heists and capers. She has these amazing powers, but before realizing them she worked her way up a heist gang to become a proficient burglar. She could become rich beyond her wildest dreams and not need anyone's help.
Along with her newfound powers she has a severe case of Reactive Attachment Disorder from life on the streets. Whenever Min finds herself getting close to someone in the novel she pulls away to avoid getting hurt. Or her powers flare and she finds she hurts people without meaning to.

The novel opens with Min serving as the low person on a gang of thieves in an industrial city. A scarred stranger recruits her to the revolution forming against the Lord Ruler, a being whose reign is repressive but who, we learn along the way, may simply be the lesser of evils plaguing the land. Killing him may do more harm than good.

Min is slowly drawn into the circle of the revolutionaries(who at one time were professional heist men) and the story begins to resemble ocean's eleven. She is expected to fulfill a minor role in the plot to overthrow the Lord Ruler but her co conspirators learn more about her power along the way and her importance in the novel grows from least likely to survive, to most likely to actually kill the Lord Ruler.

If Sanderson has one fault as a fantasy novelist it is that he is too good at world building. His worlds are rich and filled with complex, yet never boring, histories where the past is not just the past, it is the here and now. Events have as much bearing on the present as they did on the day they occurred.

Unfortunately for a reader this means that you find yourself following a plot line and the movements of characters but want to stick around and listen to the rest of the story. Its like when you went to the natural history museum and your parents pushed you through the exhibits but you gleefully wanted to stay and hear the whole story of the cro magnon man and his mate while your parents looked at their watches.

The ending of Mistborn left me with wanting more. And Sanderson does the professional novelist's job of using this book to sell the next book. You do want to find out more about the characters fates, you are emotionally involved with a child who should not have survived but seems to have done so not due to chance but to fate. And in the final pages of the novel you learn, much to your surprise, these characters and their fates have much to teach you about your own.

Books read in may

2009-06-01T13:41:00.000-07:00

Decent month for reading. Having a week off in the middle of the month did wonders for my biblioaspirations.

Writing the Breakout Novel, Donald Maas, Writer's Reference

The Well of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson, Fantasy Novel

Freddy's Book, John Gardner, Fiction

The Trojan War, Barry Strauss, Classical History

The Silent Blade, R A Salvatore, Fantasy Novel

Soldiers and Ghosts, J E Lendon, Classical Military History

Ludis Inventio (What the f is this?)

2009-05-02T19:28:00.000-07:00

This is a blog for readers of speculative fiction: fantasy, sci fi, magical realism, also including classical authors such as virgil, homer, statius and others. Graphic novels, comics, and manga are also reviewed from time to time.

One of the things this blog does not aspire to do is be a thinly disguised publisher's advertising site, giving away free copies as well offering to promote books. Though there are plenty of good websites out there reviewing spec fic I am squeamish when said writer of a blog decides to give away free copies of a book on the site. Or to hold contests to give away books a reviewer may not have read. I think it compromises the ability of the blogger to write an unbiased review of a work.

The title of the blog is latin for school of invention. I believe that one of the trademarks of good speculative fiction is the use of inventio, a classical rhetorical phrase that applied to original discovery and the organization of any literary work. Dr Johnson called invention "the faculty by which new trains of events are formed and new scenes of imagery are displayed."

That idea, the work as a discovery, and something new, is how i percieve speculative fiction. I believe what speculative fiction does is present a new way of seeing the world. It may be a new world altogether, but the world presented in the work usually has the virtue of removing us from the world we live in and allowing us to percieve it in a new way previously unnoticed.

There are several works I have read so far I believe have done this. One example is Neil Gaiman, whose books American Gods, Neverwhere, Anansi Boys, and Stardust all show the knack, or trait or ability, to take the known and what is human and present it in a new way, to startle us into something that mixes recognition with surprise.

I also percieve it in Homer, particularly in the Odyssey, where every line tells or shows something new. The scenes with the tree in the bedroom, the bow and axeheads, or even the sight of poor O weeping on the beach every day for seven years, shows an author who understood a things about what it means to be human, and found a creative and new way to present it. After three thousand years and countless works of fiction, the poem stil shocks us with something recognizeable and new.

Currently I'm midway through Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series. I finished the first book Mistborn and am now two hundred pages into The Well of Ascension. I began reading Sanderson when I learned he was contracted to conclude Jordan's Wheel of Time books. (Personally, I found it validating that he admitted on his blog he had stopped reading after book ten. Precisely where I stopped.) I started with Elantris and enjoyed it. Startled and surprised at the characters, the situation, but more than anything impressed with the pace. Most beginning fantasy writers start with a trilogy and progress with a liesurely pace. Sanderson wrote a compact, tightly structured book, with fresh characters and situations. Also, as Orson Scott Card suggested, he seems much wiser about life than his age would seem to indicate.

He also impressed me in this book so far with his ability to introduce fresh twists and turns in the plot at precisely the right moments: when the book seems flagging. I dont want to spoil the book but I will say reading him is like watching a rookie player in the big leagues. He makes the right moves at the right times. Moves you would only imagine a player with more experience would know when and how to do.

Longish post. Will try and write a little every day. Try to turn up a gem from reading every day.