Have you ever read a book (or watched a TV show or movie for that matter) that wasn't quite what you expected, but loved it anyway? I mean, it was a really good story, well paced, well written and thoroughly entertaining, but it didn't quite scan the way you thought it would? To the point where you'd read or watch it again but you're still kind of feeling like it's not quite in the genre you expected? I find myself at that point with Eclipse: The Girl Who Saved the World (The Shining Sea Book 1) by George Phillies. Don't get me wrong. I loved the book. It's just that...
Well...
I went into this expecting a Young Adult novel. And, to my complete, absolute and totally non-shocking sense of rightness, the main character and most of the important side characters are indeed teenagers. Some of their problems are things only teenagers would have to deal with. It's totally believable if you don't hold the fact that they have superhero powers against them They are the main storyline of the book and they're all well-formed and entertaining people. It's just that well...
Eclipse has enough political intrigue and side drama to make a good Harry Turtledove or David Weber novel. Being a fan of both writers, I mean that as a compliment. I don't want to give too much away here because that's not what I do, but there are some damn good reasons for the intrigue and political feuding at the highest levels. It makes all kinds of sense and honestly the book wouldn't work without it, but it just doesn't feel YA to me.
Now that I'm done whining like a punk...
Yeah, it was a good book. I seriously enjoyed Eclipse. I've always loved international intrigue. Eclipse mixes in some alternate history as well and that's something I've always enjoyed. The point of historical departure of this one seems to be too deep in the past for me to find out what it would be precisely, but I am well aware that there are several polities here that did not exist either simultaneously or at all. I really enjoyed trying to figure out who went where though and if if you have a sense of world history well enough developed to pass a sixth grade history class you'll get the joke.
Phillies has a rather unique take on superheroic powers as well. It almost has a LitRPG feel to it. The way he talks about levels of powers and summoning power really feels almost like a game. It's something that anyone who has played any type of video game or tabletop RPG should find both enjoyable and easy to follow, but without feeling derivative and boring. I've never seen it done quite this way and I like it.
There are many action sequences in Eclipse and they are well thought out, well written, entertaining and internally consistent. I want to see this thing on film. Well, I mean, not if I have to pay for all of the special effects myself, but I'd totally buy a ticket or two. I might even splurge on some popcorn, and maybe a DVD after it hit. Granted, I've got a fairly decent imagination, but some of these scenes are so well described and planned that I could see them in my head when I was reading the book. And if I'm left wanting to throw plasma bolts myself, well, what geek has never wanted to throw a plasma bolt? Or fly through space? Or teleport sans benefit of Mr. Scott? (Note: That's not a slam against Scotty. I'm a proud Scots-Irish lad and I love that guy.)
Our heroine is the titular Eclipse. I like this girl. At age thirteen she is one of the best educated, most intelligent heroes I've ever read. If the history she knows doesn't match ours that's because she comes from a different dimension and the history there _is_ different. She speaks several languages and collects books so rare that it makes a nerd like me jealous. Not only that but she manages to put her book collection together herself without assistance from any adults. She is caring, daring and brave. In short, she's the kind of girl I'd like my daughters to be with the added benefit of having having superpowers. Don't misunderstand: It would be cool to see Riley or Sealy take off and fly outside the atmosphere under her own power, I just know it'll never happen.
Phillies spent a lot of time building the world I was whining about earlier and he did a fine job of it. The world is almost recognizeable. The United States is almost recognizeable. The differences are real enough to keep things interesting and to avoid confusion. He didn't do things by half. I truly enjoyed the geopolitical rivalries and the way things broke down. I think this might be part of what I mentioned earlier though.
A lot of modern day Americans (as in a HUGE supermajority) and especially younger Americans, don't know much about history. I mean that seriously. They don't know American History. They don't know World History. They've been taught that Military History doesn't matter and they have no chance at all to understand the intersection of the three. That much having been said, the political stances taken by the US in Eclipse are much closer to what you would have expected out of the US in 1900 than in 2020. I worry that a lot of what made me enjoy Eclipse so much is going to make it hard for its intended audience to find it believable.
Having said that, I'd urge anyone over the age of probably twenty-five to check this thing out. I haven't conducted any surveys, but I'd be surprised if that didn't include the vast majority of my audience. So check this one out. I did. I'll be picking up the sequels as well. There are at least two of them that I know of.
Bottom Line: 4.5 out of 5 Namestones
Eclipse: The Girl Who Saved the World (The Shining Sea Book 1)
George Phillies
Self Published, 2018
Eclipse: The Girl Who Saved the World (The Shining Sea Book 1) is available for purchase at the following link. If you click it and buy literally anything at Amazon I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.
Showing posts with label Sci Fi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sci Fi. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
David Ryker's Invasion: Contact: Book One
So, let's say that you're a prospective space fighter pilot. You're a member of a military that is dedicated to protecting humanity from alien threats, only they've never had an engagement. There are no known alien species. You're out among the stars testing to receive your wings. Command calls with a course correction. What happens next? If you didn't guess that two alien species would show up and start shooting at each other, I'm guessing that
1.) You haven't read David Ryker's Invasion: Contact: Book One
and
2.) You're having a better day than Cadet Eddie Pale.
(For the record, no, that isn't a spoiler. It all happens in like the first three pages.)
What comes next? I guess you'll have to read the book. Nope, I'm not saying. Ask my daughter how many times she fell asleep watching The Half Blood Prince before she found out who the movie/book was named after. I'm a stinker. Nope, no spoilers here.
What I will say is that Invasion:Contact is a masterpiece of military action and political intrigue. There is a lot that would go into fending off an alien invasion and Ryker nails it. There is always something going on. Someone is always up to something and it's not always helpful. Then again sometimes it is, or at least the character thinks it is.
Ryker seems to have a really good grasp of human nature. When the end of the world comes knocking and we all need to work together to preserve ourselves as a species there are those who look to their own personal benefit. That's realistic. Whether it's a US President known to "never let a crisis go to waste" or Winston Churchill using a war with the Nazis to gain the office of Prime Minister, that's how some people will always act. In a lot of cases, they're powerful people, because they've found and/or manufactured so many opportunities in the past and it's become habit.
Oh, and factionalism still seems to be a thing too. That also is human nature and it works. Something that has kind of bothered me in the past is that a lot of Science Fictional work assumes that something will happen and humanity will start all working together and it will instantly be all hunky-dory. With Star Trek it's the arrival of the Vulcans. With Robotech it's the crash landing of the SDF-1. It's like one alien shows up and we all join hands and start singing Kumbaya (or Internationale if you prefer, I guess). It wouldn't work that way. Groups will still have their agendas and will be working for their own benefit, even if they're working together in public. Ryker gets that.
But there's the other side of the equation too. Sometimes a Commanding Officer makes the wrong call. Sometimes he makes the right one. Regardless, there are times when an officer's decisions are going to result in the death of his subordinates. It's not pretty but it's the way the world works. The good ones will not the losses and keep fighting. They'll mourn when they can but they'll understand that the job requires them to keep fighting until then. That's a pretty good description of Red Hand Loreto, commander of the human fleet. He's hard but fair and he gets the job done. I like this guy.
Invasion: Contact is called Book One for a reason. There are at least two sequels planned to be released in very short order. In watching some of these characters develop, I'm wondering if Ryker isn't already showing us some future villains. I'm thinking of one character in particular who appears to be more than just a little disgruntled. I know we've all blamed the boss for something that went wrong before. I just think that some cases are worse than others and that sometimes people are in a better spot to do something about their anger than others. Time, and the next two books, will tell if I'm right or wrong, but I know which way I'm betting.
The battles in this book are mesmerizing. Ryker does a damn fine job of not only keeping it interesting, but also making it believable. Yes, things blow up. Yes, troops are lost on all side because that's how things work in real wars. Sometimes shots hit. Sometimes they miss. It all makes sense. And if I got a chuckle out of one ship's weakness well, hey, that just makes the story better.
The aliens in this book actually don't think like human beings. That's awesome. I mean, I mentioned Robotech earlier, right? Who can ever forget Exedore appearing and saying "Take me to your leader"? but I find it hard to believe that a species that evolved on another planet under separate conditions and with a totally different biology would think like human beings. I mean, look at the planet we live on. There are so many differences here and biologically we're all compatible. Why would something with a completely different brain structure think like us? They wouldn't. That's one thing that really works in Invasion: Contact. The motivations of one of the two alien species can be figured out, but their mode of communication is just not what any human being would consider normal.
That leads into my only really complaint about the novel. One of the alien races is pretty cardboard. We know that they're the attackers. We know that they're to be feared. We just don't know why. I mean, it's possible that they're just xenophobic and out to destroy all other life as a threat. If so though, it would be great to know that. As of right now, they're just targets with better tech than humanity has. I hope that changes further into the series. A mysterious villain works well but a truly evil one would be even better. So here's hoping. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy because Invasion: Contact is an absolute blast. David Ryker has hit it out of the park in his first book.
Bottom Line: 4.5 out of 5 Rusty Fighters
Invasion: Contact: Book One
David Ryker
Self Published, 2018
Invasion: Contact: Book One is available for purchase at the following link:
1.) You haven't read David Ryker's Invasion: Contact: Book One
and
2.) You're having a better day than Cadet Eddie Pale.
(For the record, no, that isn't a spoiler. It all happens in like the first three pages.)
What comes next? I guess you'll have to read the book. Nope, I'm not saying. Ask my daughter how many times she fell asleep watching The Half Blood Prince before she found out who the movie/book was named after. I'm a stinker. Nope, no spoilers here.
What I will say is that Invasion:Contact is a masterpiece of military action and political intrigue. There is a lot that would go into fending off an alien invasion and Ryker nails it. There is always something going on. Someone is always up to something and it's not always helpful. Then again sometimes it is, or at least the character thinks it is.
Ryker seems to have a really good grasp of human nature. When the end of the world comes knocking and we all need to work together to preserve ourselves as a species there are those who look to their own personal benefit. That's realistic. Whether it's a US President known to "never let a crisis go to waste" or Winston Churchill using a war with the Nazis to gain the office of Prime Minister, that's how some people will always act. In a lot of cases, they're powerful people, because they've found and/or manufactured so many opportunities in the past and it's become habit.
Oh, and factionalism still seems to be a thing too. That also is human nature and it works. Something that has kind of bothered me in the past is that a lot of Science Fictional work assumes that something will happen and humanity will start all working together and it will instantly be all hunky-dory. With Star Trek it's the arrival of the Vulcans. With Robotech it's the crash landing of the SDF-1. It's like one alien shows up and we all join hands and start singing Kumbaya (or Internationale if you prefer, I guess). It wouldn't work that way. Groups will still have their agendas and will be working for their own benefit, even if they're working together in public. Ryker gets that.
But there's the other side of the equation too. Sometimes a Commanding Officer makes the wrong call. Sometimes he makes the right one. Regardless, there are times when an officer's decisions are going to result in the death of his subordinates. It's not pretty but it's the way the world works. The good ones will not the losses and keep fighting. They'll mourn when they can but they'll understand that the job requires them to keep fighting until then. That's a pretty good description of Red Hand Loreto, commander of the human fleet. He's hard but fair and he gets the job done. I like this guy.
Invasion: Contact is called Book One for a reason. There are at least two sequels planned to be released in very short order. In watching some of these characters develop, I'm wondering if Ryker isn't already showing us some future villains. I'm thinking of one character in particular who appears to be more than just a little disgruntled. I know we've all blamed the boss for something that went wrong before. I just think that some cases are worse than others and that sometimes people are in a better spot to do something about their anger than others. Time, and the next two books, will tell if I'm right or wrong, but I know which way I'm betting.
The battles in this book are mesmerizing. Ryker does a damn fine job of not only keeping it interesting, but also making it believable. Yes, things blow up. Yes, troops are lost on all side because that's how things work in real wars. Sometimes shots hit. Sometimes they miss. It all makes sense. And if I got a chuckle out of one ship's weakness well, hey, that just makes the story better.
The aliens in this book actually don't think like human beings. That's awesome. I mean, I mentioned Robotech earlier, right? Who can ever forget Exedore appearing and saying "Take me to your leader"? but I find it hard to believe that a species that evolved on another planet under separate conditions and with a totally different biology would think like human beings. I mean, look at the planet we live on. There are so many differences here and biologically we're all compatible. Why would something with a completely different brain structure think like us? They wouldn't. That's one thing that really works in Invasion: Contact. The motivations of one of the two alien species can be figured out, but their mode of communication is just not what any human being would consider normal.
That leads into my only really complaint about the novel. One of the alien races is pretty cardboard. We know that they're the attackers. We know that they're to be feared. We just don't know why. I mean, it's possible that they're just xenophobic and out to destroy all other life as a threat. If so though, it would be great to know that. As of right now, they're just targets with better tech than humanity has. I hope that changes further into the series. A mysterious villain works well but a truly evil one would be even better. So here's hoping. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy because Invasion: Contact is an absolute blast. David Ryker has hit it out of the park in his first book.
Bottom Line: 4.5 out of 5 Rusty Fighters
Invasion: Contact: Book One
David Ryker
Self Published, 2018
Invasion: Contact: Book One is available for purchase at the following link:
Friday, April 20, 2018
Life:Science Fiction 100 Years of Great Movies
Sometimes when you're a cab driver working the midnight shift you make a pit stop at the local gas station at three in the morning. And sometimes you're a bit tired because it's three AM and you're eleven hours into a thirteen hour shift and dammit, you need something to keep you up in case you get a call. So you buy a really cool looking magazine and then...
Proceed to fall asleep with the magazine in your hand. It's three o'clock and you were already half asleep when you bought it. Whatever, it's all good. What that means, really is that you've got something to look at when you get to the laundromat a week later. And, if it's a cool magazine then it's worth the wait. Fortunately, this magazine was definitely worth the wait. Actually, it was double fortunate, because when I read it, I noticed a tag on the front cover that said “Display until 9/23/16.” Oops, I guess I was later than I initially realized. Whatever, I still enjoyed it.
The magazine in question is Life: Science Fiction 100 Years of Great Movies. It was a lot of fun. It was kind of like walking into a room with an old friend and talking about some of my favorite movies. All of the best ones are here. The best stuff that you grew up watching is in the magazine. This thing is full of classics. Godzilla (the original), Star Wars, Planet of the Apes, 2001: A Space Odyssey (not that I liked it, but it is a classic), The Martian. They're all here.
Now, I don't agree with all of the choices. I get including Star Trek. I don't get making it the 2009 edition. Avatar is in here. Seriously. Avatar? Why? I mean it wasn't all that good of a movie. It's not as bad as some people have said, but it's maybe a 3.5 out of 5 Annoying Blue Dudes. I mean, how did that land in here? Overall though, I really do appreciate the choices that they made and it's pretty much inevitable that I wasn't going to agree with them on everything.
This magazine is gorgeous. The cover is beautiful. The table of contents features the Millennium Falcon taking fire from a TIE Fighter. Every movie has a layout of big, awesome pictures. Someone put a lot of work into laying this out and it shows. OK, so maybe the Invasion of the Body Snatchers pictures were a little gross, but it's Invasion of the stinking Body Snatchers. They couldn't NOT look gross. It just wouldn't have worked that way. I have a feeling that some of the older pictures may have been digitally remastered. The 1953 War of the Worlds was never that clear. It was clearly improved. That's good though, because they kept the content of the picture and made it look better.
There is a lot of political commentary included in SF100GM. It's not overwhelming and some of it actually fits. Some of it I'm not so sure of. Specifically, they quote Jack Finney as saying he never wrote Invasion of the Body Snatchers to have a message... and then assign a message to it. Call me crazy, but I'm a bit more convinced by what the author says than by someone else's interpretation. That having been said, a lot of movies are influenced by cultural and political zeitgeist and most of it fits.
There is a story to go with each movie that is featured. In many cases (Star Wars, Star Trek, etc.) there is talk of the series of flicks that come after. It's weirdly awesome to see a story about the original Star Wars (before it was known as Episode IV) and seeing a picture of Rey and BB8 but it works. It seems appropriate to talk about each films legacy and, let's face it, sequels are part of that legacy. Without Star Wars, we don't get The Last Jedi. Without Back to the Future, we don't get Back to the Future II and III. It just makes sense. Oh, and we also get more of those gorgeous pictures that way. This makes me happy.
The work begins with an introduction. It's a good one. As Science Fiction fans, we all remember the first movies we saw in the genre. For me, there will never be anything to match sitting in a theater with my mother watching Return of the Jedi just a couple weeks after it's initial release. That was my first. What a lot of us forget though is that before we were born, even before the classics that so many of us watched on TV because they had been out long before we were born, there was the foundation. Le Voyage Dans le Lune was the first ever SF movie. It was released in 1902. Metropolis (nothing to do with Superman) was released in 1927 and had the biggest budget in movie history up to that point. (It's also the subject of a beautiful picture on the back cover of the magazine.) They don't spend a lot of time on it, but it's good information. A lot of fans will tell you that modern day SF is simply a recycling of old tropes. These old, old flicks are where those tropes come from. Would I read a thousand page book about them? Probably not. The fact remains that giving them a few pages in a magazine makes sense and is entertaining.
The magazine is further divided into sections entitled “The Age of Anxiety”, “A New Hope?” and “Reel to Reality.” Each includes a couple pages about the cultural background at the time. I like this a lot. Speaking as a man with a history degree, it's important to remember that the past is a foreign country. That may be more true now than ever before. I remember watching an episode of House. It featured a man coming out of a coma. He had been asleep for like two to three years, I believe. In the backseat of one of the doctor's cars, he found and Ipod and didn't know what it was. (Granted, it's an older episode, so they were still kind of new.) Technology had changed that much in only a couple of years. I'm still pretty young but I remember turntables and eight tracks. My parents had both. I owned a tape recorder. I owned a CD player. I even owned an .mp3 player, but who needs one of those anymore? I 've got a cell phone now.
Along with all of the technological changes come the cultural changes. Sixty years ago, McCarthyism was prevalent. People were investigated for communist leanings. In the here and now, you're more likely to be investigated for NOT being a Leftist. When the cultures change, the movies change and spending a page or two to set the stage for what comes next is the smart thing or two. Movies don't happen in a vacuum.
All in all, I really enjoyed this. Oh, and I got all my laundry done too, which is a plus. A trip down memory lane is good for the soul. My wa is very settled now. I had a blast.
Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Classic Flicks
Life: Science Fiction 100 Years of Great Movies
Life, 2016
Life: Science Fiction 100 Years of Great Movies is available for purchase at the following link:
Proceed to fall asleep with the magazine in your hand. It's three o'clock and you were already half asleep when you bought it. Whatever, it's all good. What that means, really is that you've got something to look at when you get to the laundromat a week later. And, if it's a cool magazine then it's worth the wait. Fortunately, this magazine was definitely worth the wait. Actually, it was double fortunate, because when I read it, I noticed a tag on the front cover that said “Display until 9/23/16.” Oops, I guess I was later than I initially realized. Whatever, I still enjoyed it.
The magazine in question is Life: Science Fiction 100 Years of Great Movies. It was a lot of fun. It was kind of like walking into a room with an old friend and talking about some of my favorite movies. All of the best ones are here. The best stuff that you grew up watching is in the magazine. This thing is full of classics. Godzilla (the original), Star Wars, Planet of the Apes, 2001: A Space Odyssey (not that I liked it, but it is a classic), The Martian. They're all here.
Now, I don't agree with all of the choices. I get including Star Trek. I don't get making it the 2009 edition. Avatar is in here. Seriously. Avatar? Why? I mean it wasn't all that good of a movie. It's not as bad as some people have said, but it's maybe a 3.5 out of 5 Annoying Blue Dudes. I mean, how did that land in here? Overall though, I really do appreciate the choices that they made and it's pretty much inevitable that I wasn't going to agree with them on everything.
This magazine is gorgeous. The cover is beautiful. The table of contents features the Millennium Falcon taking fire from a TIE Fighter. Every movie has a layout of big, awesome pictures. Someone put a lot of work into laying this out and it shows. OK, so maybe the Invasion of the Body Snatchers pictures were a little gross, but it's Invasion of the stinking Body Snatchers. They couldn't NOT look gross. It just wouldn't have worked that way. I have a feeling that some of the older pictures may have been digitally remastered. The 1953 War of the Worlds was never that clear. It was clearly improved. That's good though, because they kept the content of the picture and made it look better.
There is a lot of political commentary included in SF100GM. It's not overwhelming and some of it actually fits. Some of it I'm not so sure of. Specifically, they quote Jack Finney as saying he never wrote Invasion of the Body Snatchers to have a message... and then assign a message to it. Call me crazy, but I'm a bit more convinced by what the author says than by someone else's interpretation. That having been said, a lot of movies are influenced by cultural and political zeitgeist and most of it fits.
There is a story to go with each movie that is featured. In many cases (Star Wars, Star Trek, etc.) there is talk of the series of flicks that come after. It's weirdly awesome to see a story about the original Star Wars (before it was known as Episode IV) and seeing a picture of Rey and BB8 but it works. It seems appropriate to talk about each films legacy and, let's face it, sequels are part of that legacy. Without Star Wars, we don't get The Last Jedi. Without Back to the Future, we don't get Back to the Future II and III. It just makes sense. Oh, and we also get more of those gorgeous pictures that way. This makes me happy.
The work begins with an introduction. It's a good one. As Science Fiction fans, we all remember the first movies we saw in the genre. For me, there will never be anything to match sitting in a theater with my mother watching Return of the Jedi just a couple weeks after it's initial release. That was my first. What a lot of us forget though is that before we were born, even before the classics that so many of us watched on TV because they had been out long before we were born, there was the foundation. Le Voyage Dans le Lune was the first ever SF movie. It was released in 1902. Metropolis (nothing to do with Superman) was released in 1927 and had the biggest budget in movie history up to that point. (It's also the subject of a beautiful picture on the back cover of the magazine.) They don't spend a lot of time on it, but it's good information. A lot of fans will tell you that modern day SF is simply a recycling of old tropes. These old, old flicks are where those tropes come from. Would I read a thousand page book about them? Probably not. The fact remains that giving them a few pages in a magazine makes sense and is entertaining.
The magazine is further divided into sections entitled “The Age of Anxiety”, “A New Hope?” and “Reel to Reality.” Each includes a couple pages about the cultural background at the time. I like this a lot. Speaking as a man with a history degree, it's important to remember that the past is a foreign country. That may be more true now than ever before. I remember watching an episode of House. It featured a man coming out of a coma. He had been asleep for like two to three years, I believe. In the backseat of one of the doctor's cars, he found and Ipod and didn't know what it was. (Granted, it's an older episode, so they were still kind of new.) Technology had changed that much in only a couple of years. I'm still pretty young but I remember turntables and eight tracks. My parents had both. I owned a tape recorder. I owned a CD player. I even owned an .mp3 player, but who needs one of those anymore? I 've got a cell phone now.
Along with all of the technological changes come the cultural changes. Sixty years ago, McCarthyism was prevalent. People were investigated for communist leanings. In the here and now, you're more likely to be investigated for NOT being a Leftist. When the cultures change, the movies change and spending a page or two to set the stage for what comes next is the smart thing or two. Movies don't happen in a vacuum.
All in all, I really enjoyed this. Oh, and I got all my laundry done too, which is a plus. A trip down memory lane is good for the soul. My wa is very settled now. I had a blast.
Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Classic Flicks
Life: Science Fiction 100 Years of Great Movies
Life, 2016
Life: Science Fiction 100 Years of Great Movies is available for purchase at the following link:
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
How this Author Got his Co- Warren Hammond
(I'm really excited here everybody and let me tell you why:
I received an email one day from Sarah Craft, publicist for Hex Publishers. She offered me a chance to review some work in a new franchise they've got cooking over there called Denver Moon. I read a little bit about the book and it's got me stoked. Not only is it Science Fiction, and this is an SF blog, but it's a detective story. I got my start reading detective stories with the Hardy Boys and, even if my current consumption of mystery is mainly through police procedurals on TV, I still love them. But it gets better.
In my very first post I wrote of how comic books/graphic novels are totally SF. I've loved comics since I was a wee little Jimbo and my neighbor gave me a bunch of older books that his nephew was done with. AND NOW I GET TO REVIEW A GRAPHIC NOVEL!!!! YAY!!!!! It'll be my first review of a comic. I'm geeked. So thanks to Sarah and Hex for that opportunity. I have the first two comics of Metamorphosis, the graphic novel. They're entitled Murder on Mars and Rafe's Revenge. I also have a copy of the novella, Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars. I haven't reviewed them yet because they haven't been released and I'm not sure what the legalities are regarding publishing a review for something that hasn't been released.
I was also offered the chance to host a guest post by one of the authors and I jumped at the chance. JABAMR is a place where authors are encouraged to share their thoughts with the public. So without further ado, here are the thoughts of Warren Hammond about co-authoring a piece. Oh, and thank you for the opportunity to host a guest post and review some really cool stuff!)
It was about two years ago when Josh Viola sent me an email. “Let me buy you a beer,” he said. “I have a project I hope will interest you.”
Sold by the first part, I met him on the north side of Denver. We’d gotten to know each other a bit over the preceding year or two. Josh is the owner of Hex Publishers, and I’d written a short story for his company’s very first book, Nightmares Unhinged. Then came book signings and more short story anthologies, and dare I say, we became friends.
Then came his offer of a free beer and a mysterious project. “I have this great idea,” Josh said. “A detective on Mars, and her name is Denver Moon. We can write it together.”
I wouldn’t say I was immediately taken with the idea of co-authoring, but I wasn’t opposed to it either. Lots of writers collaborate, especially in movies and television, where much of the content we see is produced by committee. Co-authoring is rarer in the book world but certainly not unheard of.
“Tell me more,” I said.
Josh elaborated on the story concept. “Denver Moon is a PI. Her sidekick is an artificial intelligence that’s been installed in her gun. Oh, and she’s colorblind.”
“Colorblind?”
“Yes, but somehow that gives her an advantage.”
“How would that work?”
“I have no idea. What do you think?”
And that’s how it started. The sharing of ideas. The shaping and honing of those ideas. The creation of story.
Like most creative projects, you don’t know where to start, until you start. A short story seemed as good a place as any. Josh took the first stab by writing the first draft. Then I went in for the second crack. We were just starting to learn how to work together, and we passed the story back and forth a few times, each time making the story stronger and more complete, until finally, both of us were happy. That story, Metamorphosis, then became the basis for our graphic novel.
Enter a third collaborator, Aaron Lovett. Aaron is an artist, and I’d been plenty impressed by what I’d seen of his work. He’d done the cover art for Nightmares Unhinged, and I’d seen early versions of a comic book that became Tooth and Claw. Truth be told, Aaron was a huge reason I got involved in the Denver Moon project. Josh had been clear from the beginning that he wanted to do a three-issue comic, and I knew right then, I might never get an opportunity like this again. It’s a common dream amongst authors—especially those who write SF and fantasy—to see a story you wrote turned into a graphic novel. So how could I pass up the opportunity to see a story I co-wrote through the lens of an artist as talented as Aaron?
As I write this, Aaron is working on the third and final issue, and I can’t wait to see it. To me, this is the exciting part of collaborating. We all bring our own talents and perspectives, and the ultimate beneficiary is the work itself. Like the short story and the graphic novel, I couldn’t have written our next project, a novella, on my own. And neither could Josh. The novella, Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars, was product of the two of us.
This time we changed our process, and I was the one who wrote the first draft. We’d meet after every two or three chapters to discuss what was going to happen next, and only after I’d gotten to the end did Josh go in to clean it up, flesh it out, and add his personal touch.
Some co-authors use a different method. One author might write all the scenes from the point of view of one character, while the other author takes responsibility for a second character’s POV chapters. A friend of mine co-authored an urban fantasy series, where one author took the action scenes, and the other took the romantic scenes. I’ve also seen co-authors who simply break up the responsibility for chapters into odds and evens. In the end it doesn’t really matter as long as the reader can’t tell who wrote what. In fact, as my memory fades, it gets hard for even me to tell.
Our next novella (for now titled the unimaginative Denver Moon: Book Two) is currently under way. The first 9,000 words are written, and Josh and I met over beers just a couple nights ago to discuss what’s coming next in Denver’s world. We both had a ton of ideas. Some we’ll keep. Some we’ll have to toss. And some will stew in our collective mind until they morph into something new and unexpected.
After this next novella, we don’t know what’s next. We’ve thrown around some ideas, but to this point no decisions have been made. We’ll work that out later. Anything for an excuse to have a beer with a friend.
Some of the Hex Publishers products listed above are available for sale at the links below:
I received an email one day from Sarah Craft, publicist for Hex Publishers. She offered me a chance to review some work in a new franchise they've got cooking over there called Denver Moon. I read a little bit about the book and it's got me stoked. Not only is it Science Fiction, and this is an SF blog, but it's a detective story. I got my start reading detective stories with the Hardy Boys and, even if my current consumption of mystery is mainly through police procedurals on TV, I still love them. But it gets better.
In my very first post I wrote of how comic books/graphic novels are totally SF. I've loved comics since I was a wee little Jimbo and my neighbor gave me a bunch of older books that his nephew was done with. AND NOW I GET TO REVIEW A GRAPHIC NOVEL!!!! YAY!!!!! It'll be my first review of a comic. I'm geeked. So thanks to Sarah and Hex for that opportunity. I have the first two comics of Metamorphosis, the graphic novel. They're entitled Murder on Mars and Rafe's Revenge. I also have a copy of the novella, Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars. I haven't reviewed them yet because they haven't been released and I'm not sure what the legalities are regarding publishing a review for something that hasn't been released.
I was also offered the chance to host a guest post by one of the authors and I jumped at the chance. JABAMR is a place where authors are encouraged to share their thoughts with the public. So without further ado, here are the thoughts of Warren Hammond about co-authoring a piece. Oh, and thank you for the opportunity to host a guest post and review some really cool stuff!)
It was about two years ago when Josh Viola sent me an email. “Let me buy you a beer,” he said. “I have a project I hope will interest you.”
Sold by the first part, I met him on the north side of Denver. We’d gotten to know each other a bit over the preceding year or two. Josh is the owner of Hex Publishers, and I’d written a short story for his company’s very first book, Nightmares Unhinged. Then came book signings and more short story anthologies, and dare I say, we became friends.
Then came his offer of a free beer and a mysterious project. “I have this great idea,” Josh said. “A detective on Mars, and her name is Denver Moon. We can write it together.”
I wouldn’t say I was immediately taken with the idea of co-authoring, but I wasn’t opposed to it either. Lots of writers collaborate, especially in movies and television, where much of the content we see is produced by committee. Co-authoring is rarer in the book world but certainly not unheard of.
“Tell me more,” I said.
Josh elaborated on the story concept. “Denver Moon is a PI. Her sidekick is an artificial intelligence that’s been installed in her gun. Oh, and she’s colorblind.”
“Colorblind?”
“Yes, but somehow that gives her an advantage.”
“How would that work?”
“I have no idea. What do you think?”
And that’s how it started. The sharing of ideas. The shaping and honing of those ideas. The creation of story.
Like most creative projects, you don’t know where to start, until you start. A short story seemed as good a place as any. Josh took the first stab by writing the first draft. Then I went in for the second crack. We were just starting to learn how to work together, and we passed the story back and forth a few times, each time making the story stronger and more complete, until finally, both of us were happy. That story, Metamorphosis, then became the basis for our graphic novel.
Enter a third collaborator, Aaron Lovett. Aaron is an artist, and I’d been plenty impressed by what I’d seen of his work. He’d done the cover art for Nightmares Unhinged, and I’d seen early versions of a comic book that became Tooth and Claw. Truth be told, Aaron was a huge reason I got involved in the Denver Moon project. Josh had been clear from the beginning that he wanted to do a three-issue comic, and I knew right then, I might never get an opportunity like this again. It’s a common dream amongst authors—especially those who write SF and fantasy—to see a story you wrote turned into a graphic novel. So how could I pass up the opportunity to see a story I co-wrote through the lens of an artist as talented as Aaron?
As I write this, Aaron is working on the third and final issue, and I can’t wait to see it. To me, this is the exciting part of collaborating. We all bring our own talents and perspectives, and the ultimate beneficiary is the work itself. Like the short story and the graphic novel, I couldn’t have written our next project, a novella, on my own. And neither could Josh. The novella, Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars, was product of the two of us.
This time we changed our process, and I was the one who wrote the first draft. We’d meet after every two or three chapters to discuss what was going to happen next, and only after I’d gotten to the end did Josh go in to clean it up, flesh it out, and add his personal touch.
Some co-authors use a different method. One author might write all the scenes from the point of view of one character, while the other author takes responsibility for a second character’s POV chapters. A friend of mine co-authored an urban fantasy series, where one author took the action scenes, and the other took the romantic scenes. I’ve also seen co-authors who simply break up the responsibility for chapters into odds and evens. In the end it doesn’t really matter as long as the reader can’t tell who wrote what. In fact, as my memory fades, it gets hard for even me to tell.
Our next novella (for now titled the unimaginative Denver Moon: Book Two) is currently under way. The first 9,000 words are written, and Josh and I met over beers just a couple nights ago to discuss what’s coming next in Denver’s world. We both had a ton of ideas. Some we’ll keep. Some we’ll have to toss. And some will stew in our collective mind until they morph into something new and unexpected.
After this next novella, we don’t know what’s next. We’ve thrown around some ideas, but to this point no decisions have been made. We’ll work that out later. Anything for an excuse to have a beer with a friend.
Some of the Hex Publishers products listed above are available for sale at the links below:
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Seriously, Stop It
In the deep dark distant past, say like five years ago, it used to be that you had to have some creativity to write a movie script and have a prayer to have it accepted. Once upon a time you had to have an idea that centered around a group of characters and made us all care about them. Think about it. A lot has been said about George Lucas's inspirations in writing the original Star Wars trilogy. The fact remains that he conceived the character of Luke Skywalker, the existence of the Galactic Republic and even the Force as a concept. Once upon a time, a man named Gene Roddenberry conceived a group of characters named Kirk, Spock and McCoy and built an empire that is still producing new TV shows five decades later. I don't even know who wrote Avatar, but at least even that was a new concept be it one with a political message that I wasn't really a big fan of.
In the modern (or should I say "post-modern") world though, you don't need an idea. You don't need a new set of characters that people will care about. No, all you need is an all female cast, an idea that worked for someone else and the word "sexist." Yup, as in "You are sexist if you don't like this movie." That, after all, is the slogan of the new Ghostbusters flick. We're all supposed to love this movie even though the trailers for it so far have sucked. Given the fact that the best parts of the movie are usually what's shown in trailers that's scary. But hey, it stars women so I have to watch it and love it or I'm a sexist, patriarchal oppressor. Note that there is no mention in this theory that a movie should be GOOD to be loved. No, it is supposed to be enough that women have taken over roles that were once played by men.
Granted, this started a few years ago with specific roles but it's never been necessary. Seriously. Marlon Wayans was selected to play Ripcord in GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Why? Is GI Joe a franchise that is lacking in black characters? Doc, Heavy Duty, Stalker, Roadblock, Hardball, Alpine, Colonel Courage, Iceberg, Double Blast, Dr Link Talbott, hell even The Fridge are all GI Joe figures that have black skin. It was done as a political move. There is no other possible reason for it. Listen, if you want to make movies about your particular point of view you have the right to do so, even if I disagree with your point. Dammit though, make your own movie with your own characters and leave us geeks alone.
Look, I get it. Anybody who is familiar with Soviet art and architecture knows that leftists and creativity go together like oil and water. I get that. The leftists in the US haven't been raised in a truly communist society though. They should be better equipped to create something decent. This is pathetic. No, screaming the same old crap about patriarchy is not creative, nor is yelling the word racist at anyone you don't like. Political threats are old hat. Ruining someone's career because they said something that doesn't follow the party line is a trick that was used by both Stalin (he's the leftist here) and Hitler (who people claim was a rightist even though he led the National _Socialist_ German Workers Party). There is nothing new here.
Speaking of Hitler, he pulled exactly this type of stunt. Anything written or conceived by a Jew or disagreeing with the Nazi ideal was seen as "degenerate" and therefore banned. Sound familiar? It sounds an awful lot like re-writing Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. It sounds a lot like taking white male characters and changing them to something else. Seriously, let's just brand people who look like me as "untermenschen" and get it over with.
Again, I'm not calling for women or minorities to be left out of the arts. They have a very valuable place in our culture. Hip hop music has had an influence on our culture that is undeniable and the only people who try to stop that are the same people who call me racist. Apparently, liking something that was made by someone who doesn't look like me is "appropriation" and "racist". Newsflash people: The majority of voters in this country are white. The majority of the voters that elected a black president are white. The real breakthrough between cultures that made Barack Obama possible was made by guys with names like Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel and Jam-master Jay. Oh, and let's not forget MC Lyte, Yo-yo or The Lady of Rage. By pushing this crap you are doing far more to hurt yourselves than a white girl with dreads could ever hope to.
This applies to gender as well. This is an SF/F blog, so let's talk female authors: Some of my favorites are Kate Paulk, Sarah Hoyt, Mercedes Lackey and Catherine Asaro. Actually, my favorite of Catherine Asaro's books is Radiant Hawk which posits a matriarchal society. It's an awesome read. I haven't reviewed it here because it's been a long time since my last re-read but it rocks. There are several books reviewed here (probably actually a majority, but I honestly haven't counted) by female authors.
It's time to stop the madness. I'm completely open to female characters and authors. I'm completely open to characters and authors of any race. Granted, to the best of my knowledge and belief I have reviewed precisely one non-white author (James Young) but that's because he's the only person I have received a book for review from. If you're not white and you're an author of SF/F, or if you have a SF/F movie that you would like review, send it to me. I'll give it a fair review. Keep in mind that FAIR means that if you want a good review it better be a good story. I'm not going to give you a good review based on race, skin color, sexual orientation or any other reason than the story. There are many of you out there who can do it. I've seen it.
Ruining old material won't do anything to advance your cause with the general public. Neither will a bunch of preachy bullshit stories. Well written stories will. One of the reasons Twelve Years a Slave is so powerful a story is because it's so well written and acted. Yes, it's based on a true story. Yes, slavery was wrong. The fact remains that the movie makes its point not by being preachy (although it has a powerful message) but by showing a person that the audience cares about going through emotionally wrenching trials. Not by harping at its audience and not by replacing a white man with a black one or man with a woman. Watch that movie. Learn not just the lesson you're meant to learn but the lesson about story telling. Stop the madness. Create something yourself. Make it good. The influence you exert on an audience will be much more intense if they enjoy what you're saying. Even those who disagree with you will respect you. Right now I don't and neither do a lot of other people who enjoy good stories.
Some Good Stories by Minority and Female authors are available below:
In the modern (or should I say "post-modern") world though, you don't need an idea. You don't need a new set of characters that people will care about. No, all you need is an all female cast, an idea that worked for someone else and the word "sexist." Yup, as in "You are sexist if you don't like this movie." That, after all, is the slogan of the new Ghostbusters flick. We're all supposed to love this movie even though the trailers for it so far have sucked. Given the fact that the best parts of the movie are usually what's shown in trailers that's scary. But hey, it stars women so I have to watch it and love it or I'm a sexist, patriarchal oppressor. Note that there is no mention in this theory that a movie should be GOOD to be loved. No, it is supposed to be enough that women have taken over roles that were once played by men.
Granted, this started a few years ago with specific roles but it's never been necessary. Seriously. Marlon Wayans was selected to play Ripcord in GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Why? Is GI Joe a franchise that is lacking in black characters? Doc, Heavy Duty, Stalker, Roadblock, Hardball, Alpine, Colonel Courage, Iceberg, Double Blast, Dr Link Talbott, hell even The Fridge are all GI Joe figures that have black skin. It was done as a political move. There is no other possible reason for it. Listen, if you want to make movies about your particular point of view you have the right to do so, even if I disagree with your point. Dammit though, make your own movie with your own characters and leave us geeks alone.
Look, I get it. Anybody who is familiar with Soviet art and architecture knows that leftists and creativity go together like oil and water. I get that. The leftists in the US haven't been raised in a truly communist society though. They should be better equipped to create something decent. This is pathetic. No, screaming the same old crap about patriarchy is not creative, nor is yelling the word racist at anyone you don't like. Political threats are old hat. Ruining someone's career because they said something that doesn't follow the party line is a trick that was used by both Stalin (he's the leftist here) and Hitler (who people claim was a rightist even though he led the National _Socialist_ German Workers Party). There is nothing new here.
Speaking of Hitler, he pulled exactly this type of stunt. Anything written or conceived by a Jew or disagreeing with the Nazi ideal was seen as "degenerate" and therefore banned. Sound familiar? It sounds an awful lot like re-writing Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. It sounds a lot like taking white male characters and changing them to something else. Seriously, let's just brand people who look like me as "untermenschen" and get it over with.
Again, I'm not calling for women or minorities to be left out of the arts. They have a very valuable place in our culture. Hip hop music has had an influence on our culture that is undeniable and the only people who try to stop that are the same people who call me racist. Apparently, liking something that was made by someone who doesn't look like me is "appropriation" and "racist". Newsflash people: The majority of voters in this country are white. The majority of the voters that elected a black president are white. The real breakthrough between cultures that made Barack Obama possible was made by guys with names like Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel and Jam-master Jay. Oh, and let's not forget MC Lyte, Yo-yo or The Lady of Rage. By pushing this crap you are doing far more to hurt yourselves than a white girl with dreads could ever hope to.
This applies to gender as well. This is an SF/F blog, so let's talk female authors: Some of my favorites are Kate Paulk, Sarah Hoyt, Mercedes Lackey and Catherine Asaro. Actually, my favorite of Catherine Asaro's books is Radiant Hawk which posits a matriarchal society. It's an awesome read. I haven't reviewed it here because it's been a long time since my last re-read but it rocks. There are several books reviewed here (probably actually a majority, but I honestly haven't counted) by female authors.
It's time to stop the madness. I'm completely open to female characters and authors. I'm completely open to characters and authors of any race. Granted, to the best of my knowledge and belief I have reviewed precisely one non-white author (James Young) but that's because he's the only person I have received a book for review from. If you're not white and you're an author of SF/F, or if you have a SF/F movie that you would like review, send it to me. I'll give it a fair review. Keep in mind that FAIR means that if you want a good review it better be a good story. I'm not going to give you a good review based on race, skin color, sexual orientation or any other reason than the story. There are many of you out there who can do it. I've seen it.
Ruining old material won't do anything to advance your cause with the general public. Neither will a bunch of preachy bullshit stories. Well written stories will. One of the reasons Twelve Years a Slave is so powerful a story is because it's so well written and acted. Yes, it's based on a true story. Yes, slavery was wrong. The fact remains that the movie makes its point not by being preachy (although it has a powerful message) but by showing a person that the audience cares about going through emotionally wrenching trials. Not by harping at its audience and not by replacing a white man with a black one or man with a woman. Watch that movie. Learn not just the lesson you're meant to learn but the lesson about story telling. Stop the madness. Create something yourself. Make it good. The influence you exert on an audience will be much more intense if they enjoy what you're saying. Even those who disagree with you will respect you. Right now I don't and neither do a lot of other people who enjoy good stories.
Some Good Stories by Minority and Female authors are available below:
Friday, April 29, 2016
Hugos, Puppies and Left Wing Whiners
For the second straight year a Hugo Controversy has erupted. This is the fourth iteration of the Sad Puppies movement, the second year of the Rabid Puppies and yet another year of many when SJWs and other assorted vermin thought that they had the right to lock anyone out of their awards if they didn't have the right, by which I mean Left, politics. Here's the funny things: As nerds and geeks we don't give a rat's ass what you think about us as people. I've been called names since before I knew there was a Right and a Left. I'm used to people like you and the bullshit they spout. Bring it.
Here's the thing folks: It is not possible to compromise with totalitarians. The only workable options are to rebel or submit. I choose to rebel. It's time to burn it all down. If you believe you're too good to share your awards then maybe you don't deserve to have them. What is happening here is not just a fight over awards, it's a fight over the only type of diversity that matters: The diversity of ideas.
Look guys, we tried being nice. Yes, for Sad Puppies One, Larry Correia got himself nominated because he knew you would all freak out. You did. Then came Sad Puppies 2. Correia decided he would nominated one work in each category based on entertainment value instead of Social Relevance and you got a little more pissed. How dare this misbegotten son of a conservative and his flea-bitten followers violate your safe space. And then, Sad Puppies 3 appeared over the horizon.
Sad Puppies 3 had a new leader. Brad Torgersen appeared over the horizon and he wasn't screwing around. This time he accepted suggestions from others for his list and came up with a bunch of nominees in most categories. He had the temerity to suggest that people read what was on the list and make their own decisions. You Leftist types were outraged. I get it. Free thought is anathema to those of you who wish to control decisions. How can the rest of us be forced to think as you do if you can't control the information we absorb? I get it. It was an approach that worked for Stalin, Mao and Hitler and now the Left in the United States wants to use the same approach. This is just one battlefront.
I've written here about the types of tactics the left is using in the United States and who pioneered them. TL:DR Berntards and Black Lives Matter types are using the same techniques Mussolini and especially Hitler did by committing violence to their enemies and attempting to rewrite history. And no, the SJW types in this country haven't quite burned the books that they hate, electing so far to either rewrite or ban them. I'd give even money as to what tomorrow holds. Make no mistake, the SJW types that want to ban alternate political views from their awards are using the same techniques.
Here's the thing folks: It is not possible to compromise with totalitarians. The only workable options are to rebel or submit. I choose to rebel. It's time to burn it all down. If you believe you're too good to share your awards then maybe you don't deserve to have them. What is happening here is not just a fight over awards, it's a fight over the only type of diversity that matters: The diversity of ideas.
The Puppy Kickers would have you believe that we are the Nazis. Not so. Irene Gallo was one hundred and eighty degrees away from the truth. Let me tell you a story to illustrate my point:
Once upon a time there was a man. He believed in a cause. He railed against social injustices carried out by a race of people that controlled the money, the power, the press and even international banking. He blamed them for all of society's problems. He believed that the lives of people like him mattered and the lives of those he hated did not. He banned all ideas except his own and banned "degenerate" works. In other words, he removed the right of anyone to disagreed with him. His name was Adolph Hitler. Although he is best known for hating and killing Jews, they only make up six million of the twelve million people he murdered.
As a matter of fact, when the concentration camps first opened, they weren't meant for Jews or Gypsies. The first people put into the camps were political prisoners: Those who committed the crime of disagreeing. That's why the gates of Auschwitz read "Arbeit Macht Frei." That translates roughly as "Work will make you free". The Jews weren't going to be released and everyone knew it. The point of the sign is that the political prisoners could eventually make it out... if they did as they were told and didn't step out of line. That's pretty much what the Puppy Kickers want from us.
Look, I'm not saying that the gas chambers are about to open for conservatives or that it's the Puppy Kickers who would do the gassing if they did. What I'm saying is that creating a precedent of banning people from things because they disagree with you is a dangerous step to take but it's one that WorldCon seems incredibly comfortable with. Refusing to vote for someone who deserves an award because of a possible political association between them and the people who nominated them is a symptom. If the Kickers want totalitarianism and unity of thought they're welcome to seek it, just not in my country or my genre.
The next question then becomes what to do with Vox Day because, let's face it, he's no different than the people that he hates. The SJW types and Vox want a war with each other with us caught in the middle. I say a pox on both of their houses. We're SF fans right? How many of you have read The Ashes series by William W Johnstone? In one of the books, and I can't remember which one in particular, Rebel leader Ben Raines is faced with fighting a group of white supremacists one on hand and a group of white hating blacks on the other, so he does the intelligent thing: He incites a fight between the two groups. He lets them kill each other. When they're too hotly engaged to effectively disengage from each other he cuts loose with the heavy artillery and kills both sides. I'm not advocating actual physical violence here, but if the two sides want to metaphorically beat each other to death it's only smart to let them. The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy and nothing more, yet there is an opportunity here. Let them burn each other out. Once we've cleared the field of both sides we can help pick up the pieces and support stories that entertain rather than "inform."
Listen people, I have a degree in history. I understand the importance of academic presses and their mission of increasing the knowledge of humanity. The fact remains that houses like Baen, Tor and even Castalia do not exist in that capacity. They exist to entertain a mass audience, not to support one side or another politically. The big publishers in the genre keep complaining about how their market is shrinking even while Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Deadpool break box office records. Pull your head out of your ass people: Make the genre fun again. Make the award fun again. That's how you'll attract more attention and more readers. That's how you'll expand the genre. That's how you'll make more money for the dirty capitalist business owners that sign your royalty checks and provide you with the means to feed your family or at least live more comfortably. It's time to get over yourselves people.
Some Hugo related items can be purchased below:
Once upon a time there was a man. He believed in a cause. He railed against social injustices carried out by a race of people that controlled the money, the power, the press and even international banking. He blamed them for all of society's problems. He believed that the lives of people like him mattered and the lives of those he hated did not. He banned all ideas except his own and banned "degenerate" works. In other words, he removed the right of anyone to disagreed with him. His name was Adolph Hitler. Although he is best known for hating and killing Jews, they only make up six million of the twelve million people he murdered.
As a matter of fact, when the concentration camps first opened, they weren't meant for Jews or Gypsies. The first people put into the camps were political prisoners: Those who committed the crime of disagreeing. That's why the gates of Auschwitz read "Arbeit Macht Frei." That translates roughly as "Work will make you free". The Jews weren't going to be released and everyone knew it. The point of the sign is that the political prisoners could eventually make it out... if they did as they were told and didn't step out of line. That's pretty much what the Puppy Kickers want from us.
Look, I'm not saying that the gas chambers are about to open for conservatives or that it's the Puppy Kickers who would do the gassing if they did. What I'm saying is that creating a precedent of banning people from things because they disagree with you is a dangerous step to take but it's one that WorldCon seems incredibly comfortable with. Refusing to vote for someone who deserves an award because of a possible political association between them and the people who nominated them is a symptom. If the Kickers want totalitarianism and unity of thought they're welcome to seek it, just not in my country or my genre.
The next question then becomes what to do with Vox Day because, let's face it, he's no different than the people that he hates. The SJW types and Vox want a war with each other with us caught in the middle. I say a pox on both of their houses. We're SF fans right? How many of you have read The Ashes series by William W Johnstone? In one of the books, and I can't remember which one in particular, Rebel leader Ben Raines is faced with fighting a group of white supremacists one on hand and a group of white hating blacks on the other, so he does the intelligent thing: He incites a fight between the two groups. He lets them kill each other. When they're too hotly engaged to effectively disengage from each other he cuts loose with the heavy artillery and kills both sides. I'm not advocating actual physical violence here, but if the two sides want to metaphorically beat each other to death it's only smart to let them. The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy and nothing more, yet there is an opportunity here. Let them burn each other out. Once we've cleared the field of both sides we can help pick up the pieces and support stories that entertain rather than "inform."
Listen people, I have a degree in history. I understand the importance of academic presses and their mission of increasing the knowledge of humanity. The fact remains that houses like Baen, Tor and even Castalia do not exist in that capacity. They exist to entertain a mass audience, not to support one side or another politically. The big publishers in the genre keep complaining about how their market is shrinking even while Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Deadpool break box office records. Pull your head out of your ass people: Make the genre fun again. Make the award fun again. That's how you'll attract more attention and more readers. That's how you'll expand the genre. That's how you'll make more money for the dirty capitalist business owners that sign your royalty checks and provide you with the means to feed your family or at least live more comfortably. It's time to get over yourselves people.
Some Hugo related items can be purchased below:
Friday, March 25, 2016
Dissolution by Lee S. Hawke
Welcome to a city where everyone and everything is owned by corporations. This is a place where the outcasts are known as corpless, because they have no corporation to care for them. The city is known as Unilox. The book is Dissolution by Lee S.Hawke and it is way too easy to get sucked into this one. I'd be careful here folks. This is one of those "I sat down for a sec while my coffee was perking and thought I'd start it. Then I ended up half an hour late to work" kind of books.This one moves quick right up until the end and it's well imagined and engaging.
Dissolution is a highly Dystopic work. I like that about it. Society has gone too far to the uhh.. something. An all encompassing government (and in effect that's what the corporations in the book are) that exists to provide for their citizens and squish as much work out of them while owning all of the proceeds is Leftist. A totally unregulated economy is Rightist. A total lack of religion as shown in the book is Leftist. The society of the corpless on the edges of town with no real government who help each other without having to be told to are showing Rightist values. I don't know how to classify this one politically. I'm guessing that people on the edges of either side are going to see a lot of the other side in this work. I find it fascinating.
Be prepared to be shocked by this one. It's pretty edgy. The story starts with our heroine, Madeline preparing to be auctioned to a number of corporations. She's hoping to go for over a hundred-thousand credits, a "century" as she calls it. I don't do spoilers so I won't reveal what happens but it's nowhere near what she expected - and that's what launches the rest of the book. Things go from bad to worse to hopeful to "Wow, did that really just happen?" and it's the journey that makes it fun.
The characters in the book are awesome starting with our very own Madeline, who sees her world turned upside down and won't stop. She is resilient when many others would not be. She strips herself of everything she is used to. All of her comforts and advantages as an Experimental are cast aside when she needs to go dark to avoid the people pursuing her. She manages to thrive and succeed anyway. This is a young girl with the intestinal fortitude that I would hope for my own daughters to show in a situation as crazy as Madeline finds herself in. She's hardcore.
The rest of the cast is equally as interesting. Madeline's parents are very believable as people who want the best for their daughter and risk themselves and everything they have to get it. From her boyfriend who helps her, to his boss who is apparently part of some resistance movement. The good guys are the good guys. That's not to say that there isn't some nuance or that the actions of the characters don't make sense intrinsically but there is a clear line between those who are working for a better world and those working to support the status quo.
Part of the fascination of this book for me is that a lot of the people within the story are so steeped in their own society that they don't see what's wrong with it. Madeline begins the work excited because she is about to be auctioned off to a corporation. She dreams of bringing in a good price. Her parents wish her luck on her big day and assure her that she'll be bought by the corp that she desires. The librarian in the book is a member of the resistance (I think) and uses her monetary value to shield herself from harm. I approve of the woman doing whatever she could to defend herself, but I don't know that I would have ever thought to use the threat of a lawsuit to save my own life. Kudos to Hawke for writing an internally consistent story and making it work in just the right ways to keep the action moving and the story believable.
Despite all of this, the work has one major problem for me: It's too short. This is a one hundred seven page book that takes a HUGE leap on about page ninety-three. I don't want to go into details because it would spoil the ending but there needs to be something else here. I'm thinking some planning, some sneaking and some wiring for starters. I like the ending. I really do. I just think it comes up too quickly with too many of the details missing. I get the fact that this would have taken longer to write and edit, but I think it would have been worth it. I mean this as a compliment to the author. I want to see more of your work. I wish it were here.
Speaking of seeing more of Hawke's work, I'm hoping she writes more in this universe. There is a lot of potential here. Some of the characters in the work deserve their own books. I don't think we'll be seeing much more of Madeline, although it is theoretically possible. Still, the existence of a potential resistance in this environment is something I find exciting. I'm hoping that before too long there will be a story released that will fill in a couple of the blanks in this book. I'd love a chance to read through something along those lines.
Despite the fact that there are some things missing, I really enjoyed this work. Granted, it was short but I literally read it in less than a day. I just checked Amazon and Ms Hawke only has one other work out and that is a collection of short stories. I intend to pick that up in the not too distant future, but I'm really hoping for some longer fiction as well. She has the ability to do it based on what I just read. I'm hoping to see it happen soon.
Bottom Line: 4.75 out of five Uconns
Dissolution
Lee S. Hawke
Blind Mirror Publishing, 2016
Dissolution is available for purchase at the link below:
Dissolution is a highly Dystopic work. I like that about it. Society has gone too far to the uhh.. something. An all encompassing government (and in effect that's what the corporations in the book are) that exists to provide for their citizens and squish as much work out of them while owning all of the proceeds is Leftist. A totally unregulated economy is Rightist. A total lack of religion as shown in the book is Leftist. The society of the corpless on the edges of town with no real government who help each other without having to be told to are showing Rightist values. I don't know how to classify this one politically. I'm guessing that people on the edges of either side are going to see a lot of the other side in this work. I find it fascinating.
Be prepared to be shocked by this one. It's pretty edgy. The story starts with our heroine, Madeline preparing to be auctioned to a number of corporations. She's hoping to go for over a hundred-thousand credits, a "century" as she calls it. I don't do spoilers so I won't reveal what happens but it's nowhere near what she expected - and that's what launches the rest of the book. Things go from bad to worse to hopeful to "Wow, did that really just happen?" and it's the journey that makes it fun.
The characters in the book are awesome starting with our very own Madeline, who sees her world turned upside down and won't stop. She is resilient when many others would not be. She strips herself of everything she is used to. All of her comforts and advantages as an Experimental are cast aside when she needs to go dark to avoid the people pursuing her. She manages to thrive and succeed anyway. This is a young girl with the intestinal fortitude that I would hope for my own daughters to show in a situation as crazy as Madeline finds herself in. She's hardcore.
The rest of the cast is equally as interesting. Madeline's parents are very believable as people who want the best for their daughter and risk themselves and everything they have to get it. From her boyfriend who helps her, to his boss who is apparently part of some resistance movement. The good guys are the good guys. That's not to say that there isn't some nuance or that the actions of the characters don't make sense intrinsically but there is a clear line between those who are working for a better world and those working to support the status quo.
Part of the fascination of this book for me is that a lot of the people within the story are so steeped in their own society that they don't see what's wrong with it. Madeline begins the work excited because she is about to be auctioned off to a corporation. She dreams of bringing in a good price. Her parents wish her luck on her big day and assure her that she'll be bought by the corp that she desires. The librarian in the book is a member of the resistance (I think) and uses her monetary value to shield herself from harm. I approve of the woman doing whatever she could to defend herself, but I don't know that I would have ever thought to use the threat of a lawsuit to save my own life. Kudos to Hawke for writing an internally consistent story and making it work in just the right ways to keep the action moving and the story believable.
Despite all of this, the work has one major problem for me: It's too short. This is a one hundred seven page book that takes a HUGE leap on about page ninety-three. I don't want to go into details because it would spoil the ending but there needs to be something else here. I'm thinking some planning, some sneaking and some wiring for starters. I like the ending. I really do. I just think it comes up too quickly with too many of the details missing. I get the fact that this would have taken longer to write and edit, but I think it would have been worth it. I mean this as a compliment to the author. I want to see more of your work. I wish it were here.
Speaking of seeing more of Hawke's work, I'm hoping she writes more in this universe. There is a lot of potential here. Some of the characters in the work deserve their own books. I don't think we'll be seeing much more of Madeline, although it is theoretically possible. Still, the existence of a potential resistance in this environment is something I find exciting. I'm hoping that before too long there will be a story released that will fill in a couple of the blanks in this book. I'd love a chance to read through something along those lines.
Despite the fact that there are some things missing, I really enjoyed this work. Granted, it was short but I literally read it in less than a day. I just checked Amazon and Ms Hawke only has one other work out and that is a collection of short stories. I intend to pick that up in the not too distant future, but I'm really hoping for some longer fiction as well. She has the ability to do it based on what I just read. I'm hoping to see it happen soon.
Bottom Line: 4.75 out of five Uconns
Dissolution
Lee S. Hawke
Blind Mirror Publishing, 2016
Dissolution is available for purchase at the link below:
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Pam Uphoff's Outcasts and Gods
How far will we go to create a better type of humanity? I'm not referring to that the way a liberal would because I'm not defining "better" as more compassionate and easily herded. I'm defining "better" here as being stronger or at least less weak. Is it possible that we could one day be willing to alter our very DNA to do it? What would the reaction to such a thing be? Would "normal" (IE unaltered persons) be comfortable around those who had been altered? Would they want them around? I'm not sure what my answer would be to any of those questions, but Pam Uphoff lets us all know where she stands in her book Outcasts and Gods and she doesn't seem to be all that optimistic.
This book cooks from beginning to end. The pace is relentless. It starts out with genetically improved children being seized from their parents and moves through training, subterfuge and ultimately exploration. There is always more going on than there seems to be. The main character, a young man named Wolfgang, is perpetually three to four steps ahead of everyone and he needs to be. The one time he goofs it costs him his freedom.
OAG's heroes are a group of genetically engineered teens and young adults (up to, I think, age twenty-four) who have been taken from their families or raised in captivity under the guidance of a company. The government has decided that since they have been genetically altered they are not human and can be treated as property. Basically, they're treated as slaves and they're not happy about it but here's the kicker: These are kids who have been given powers the rest of humanity never had. They can throw fireballs, open and closes locks using telekinesis and do all sorts of other interesting things. I don't want to spoil too much but let's just say that messing with a telekinetic person is not a good plan. The fun really starts when they figure out how to open gates to other dimensions with alternate Earths.
The genetically engineered "gods" (as they are derisively referred to) are not at all passive participants. They work throughout the tale to improve their living situation and/or escape. The guards are afraid of them. They do whatever they can for themselves and hide things from their captors for as long as they can in an effort to give themselves an advantage. They're hardcore people stuck in a jacked up environment. It's not hard to make a comparison between Uphoff's "gods" and Jews in a Nazi concentration camp as long as it's not taken too far. The gods are enslaved and dehumanized but they do at least receive decent food and clothing. It's not a one to one match but for government work, it's a reasonable approximation.
Speaking of government, Uphoff's opinion toward government and mine appear to be not far off from each other. The US government in OAG is a greedy, control-hungry structure that takes over later than it could have simply because it can't get its act together to pass the necessary legislation. In short, Uphoff's government is bumbling, incompetent and power-hungry. I calls 'em as I sees 'em and I think she's got it right. The kids are left in bondage not for any real biological reason, they're as human as you or I, but because it's more convenient that way. There would be nothing stopping the company from hiring these people and paying them. They just don't want to and they're aided and abetted by a government that sees things as more convenient that way.
The thing that I really like about this book is that it was written first in a series and it NEEDS to be that first book. When I read the Dragonriders of Pern series at first I had no clue that it had ever had a basis in science fiction. I assumed that it was a purely fantasy story. It wasn't until I read The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall that I had any clue about the true origins of the series. Uphill has done an excellent job in putting the first story first and cluing her readers in on how things started and why they happen the way they do. Kudos to her.
If there is anything that bothers me about the book it's that Wolfgang seems to be just a bit too slick and to have knowledge that he really should not. At one point he uses medical knowledge that he had no way to obtain to create a solution to a problem and not get caught. It didn't quite work for me. Also, some of the (admittedly lesser used) powers of the gods seem just a bit too convenient. Then again, I grew up watching Transformers and the same type of thing happened there all the time. All in all though the book was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to reading all of the sequels. I think. There seemed to be two missing from the list on Amazon or maybe I just missed them. But, if I can find them, I intend to buy them. If I can't, well.... Let's just say I hope I can. Oh, and it looks like Outcasts and Gods is available for ninety-nine cents on Amazon as of the date I posted this. I'm not sure how long that'll last.
Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Altered Genes
Outcasts and Gods
Pam Uphoff
Self Published, 2011
Outcasts and Gods is available for purchase here:
This book cooks from beginning to end. The pace is relentless. It starts out with genetically improved children being seized from their parents and moves through training, subterfuge and ultimately exploration. There is always more going on than there seems to be. The main character, a young man named Wolfgang, is perpetually three to four steps ahead of everyone and he needs to be. The one time he goofs it costs him his freedom.
OAG's heroes are a group of genetically engineered teens and young adults (up to, I think, age twenty-four) who have been taken from their families or raised in captivity under the guidance of a company. The government has decided that since they have been genetically altered they are not human and can be treated as property. Basically, they're treated as slaves and they're not happy about it but here's the kicker: These are kids who have been given powers the rest of humanity never had. They can throw fireballs, open and closes locks using telekinesis and do all sorts of other interesting things. I don't want to spoil too much but let's just say that messing with a telekinetic person is not a good plan. The fun really starts when they figure out how to open gates to other dimensions with alternate Earths.
The genetically engineered "gods" (as they are derisively referred to) are not at all passive participants. They work throughout the tale to improve their living situation and/or escape. The guards are afraid of them. They do whatever they can for themselves and hide things from their captors for as long as they can in an effort to give themselves an advantage. They're hardcore people stuck in a jacked up environment. It's not hard to make a comparison between Uphoff's "gods" and Jews in a Nazi concentration camp as long as it's not taken too far. The gods are enslaved and dehumanized but they do at least receive decent food and clothing. It's not a one to one match but for government work, it's a reasonable approximation.
Speaking of government, Uphoff's opinion toward government and mine appear to be not far off from each other. The US government in OAG is a greedy, control-hungry structure that takes over later than it could have simply because it can't get its act together to pass the necessary legislation. In short, Uphoff's government is bumbling, incompetent and power-hungry. I calls 'em as I sees 'em and I think she's got it right. The kids are left in bondage not for any real biological reason, they're as human as you or I, but because it's more convenient that way. There would be nothing stopping the company from hiring these people and paying them. They just don't want to and they're aided and abetted by a government that sees things as more convenient that way.
The thing that I really like about this book is that it was written first in a series and it NEEDS to be that first book. When I read the Dragonriders of Pern series at first I had no clue that it had ever had a basis in science fiction. I assumed that it was a purely fantasy story. It wasn't until I read The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall that I had any clue about the true origins of the series. Uphill has done an excellent job in putting the first story first and cluing her readers in on how things started and why they happen the way they do. Kudos to her.
If there is anything that bothers me about the book it's that Wolfgang seems to be just a bit too slick and to have knowledge that he really should not. At one point he uses medical knowledge that he had no way to obtain to create a solution to a problem and not get caught. It didn't quite work for me. Also, some of the (admittedly lesser used) powers of the gods seem just a bit too convenient. Then again, I grew up watching Transformers and the same type of thing happened there all the time. All in all though the book was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to reading all of the sequels. I think. There seemed to be two missing from the list on Amazon or maybe I just missed them. But, if I can find them, I intend to buy them. If I can't, well.... Let's just say I hope I can. Oh, and it looks like Outcasts and Gods is available for ninety-nine cents on Amazon as of the date I posted this. I'm not sure how long that'll last.
Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Altered Genes
Outcasts and Gods
Pam Uphoff
Self Published, 2011
Outcasts and Gods is available for purchase here:
Friday, August 21, 2015
As We Go a Little Something Like This
(Somewhere out there may be someone who gets the reference to a B-side track off of the 1980s DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince album He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper. If so, you rock. If not, well it uhh... sounded good right? Oh, and if any Puppy Kickers come here in anticipation of awards night feel free to use that as evidence of cultural appropriation.)
Tomorrow is award night! In just a few short hours, hosts David Gerrold and Tananarive Due will hand out awards to all of the most deserving people in the world of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Hopefully. If the CHORFS have their way, Noah Ward may sweep the field and destroy a year's worth of SF/F history just because he can. It's too late now to urge anyone on how to vote, so I'll just make an observation.
This isn't about what the other side says it's about. It's really not. I'd love to see any writer of any color, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation write a deserving story and win. I really would. I love SF/F as a genre. I have for nearly forty years now. (I'm 38 and legend has it I watched my first Star Trek episode before I placed into my crib for the first time. If you knew my dad, you'd believe it.) Let's face it though: SF/F isn't that popular among minority audiences, at least in written form. Minority participation would be a great way to grow the genre and increase readership moving forward but here is what the other side is missing:
Once upon a time there were three leagues in baseball. There were the American and National Leagues that, at the time, were completely composed of white players. There was also the Negro League that was composed of entirely black players. This was unfair. There was no reason for the segregation other that pure racism. That's historical fact. Then along came the Brooklyn Dodgers and signed Jackie Robinson and that man could play. He is in the Baseball Hall of Fame because he freaking belongs there. In a ten year career, he had a .311 batting average, 1518 hits, 137 home runs (before the Steroid Era. For the reading comprehension impaired that means that Robinson was clean and DID NOT DO STEROIDS) and six straight All Star Game appearances. In plain English: He earned his spot in the majors by playing well. He earned his spot in those All Star Games by playing well. He earned his spot in the Hall of Fame by playing well enough to be considered a legend of the game and he didn't get to start his career in MLB until he was twenty-eight years old. Once again HE FREAKING EARNED IT.
The other side, be they called the CHORFS, the Anti-Puppies, the Puppy Kickers, the SJWs or the Truefen misses this basic fact. They would have you believe that an "award-worthy story" is defined not by the ability of the fans to enjoy the work or the amount of people who appreciate it. It should be defined by it's "social relevance." There is no need to entertain an audience. There is no need to write something that will grow the genre and increase readership. It is all about writing pseudo-intellectual babble of the type most often published by scholarly presses.
Here's the thing about scholarly presses: They serve a limited clientele for the limited purpose of "increasing human understanding." Eight hundred books sold is considered to be respectable. That's fine. It's a different animal. SF is a mass market genre. Think about it. Let's list some of the greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy stories of all time, both in print and on screen:
1.)The Foundation Series - Isaac Asimov - The story of a man (later his Foundation) and his plan to create a socialistic utopia. It's entertaining. The plot moves. There are some twists and some turns. You can drop a reference to "Seldonian calculus" into a story in 2015 and people will get it. The characters in these books are amazing. They're all normal human beings trying to do what's right. They succeed. They fail. It matters to the audience. The first book was originally serialized in 1942. You can still find it on shelves too. It's still selling.
2.) Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury - The story of a future America where dissenting ideas are banned and incorrect books are burned. I would assume the SJWs would enjoy this because it fits with their MO and push for censorship. It is also the story of a man named Montag and his redemption. He transforms from a book burning rube to a man who stands for something. Oddly enough, this also sells and appeals to a mass audience.
3.) Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkein - Tolkein is the master of world building. He's a little on the wordy side but his story is epic in scope and tells the story of a young hobbit who wanders far from home and completes a quest that would have broken most people several times his size. It is also the story of a man named Aragorn and his quest to right past wrongs and accept the responsibility he was born to. Three movies later it is all still selling because it still speaks to people.
4.) The Honor Harrington Series - David Weber - The story of a woman who will not quit. She gets abandoned by her superior and wins a battle anyway. She gets captured and escapes. She becomes a Steadholder on a planet where that is the ultimate honor. She is targeted for assassination. She has the guilt of millions of deaths-in-combat hanging over her. She has a child. She continues moving forward. She is featured in only God knows how many books now. Her series is still unfinished and growing.
5.) Star Wars - George Lucas - Yes, I said screen as well. This is the story of a young man who finds himself in a world much bigger than he ever realized it could be. He learns not about Galactic politics. He learns about The Force. He learns about friendship. He learns about himself.
It is also about a smuggler named Han Solo who realizes that there is more to the world than just himself and his selfish concerns. A man whose very name means alone. By the end of the series he is in love with a woman and has dedicated himself to a cause that is bigger than him.
And, yes, let's talk prequels. They're popular with the younger crowd who didn't have the nostalgia that all of us old fogies did. It's the story of a young boy and his slow corruption into a monster. The kid who starts out sweet and innocent grows into a man who enslaves whole planets sand murders without hesitation or remorse.
There is a lot more to Star Wars, including an entire Expanded Universe of books, a cartoon series and upcoming sequels beyond count. So it's obviously still selling.
6.) Star Trek: The Original Series (I'm going to limit this in size so that I'm not here all day) -Gene Rodenberry - A story about three men really and their interaction. Kirk learns to be more responsible and less brash through a series of adventures. Spock learns to acknowledge his human side and admit that he feels things like friendship. McCoy learns to temper his emotion with logic. The three men form one of the strongest friendships in fiction history and one that lasts beyond death.
And yeah, it's still selling too. There are books, movies, posters toys, a reboot, etc. That doesn't even mention the spinoff series that it produced. There are very few things, inside of SF/F or out, that have produced a Fandom the size of Star Trek's.
I could go on forever, but I'm not going to. Let's step back and see why all of this works. Hmmm... It's character driven. It's well plotted. (Jar Jar aside) We care about what happens to the people in the story. There is real change in their personalities and their lives. They're worth worrying about.
And that, my friends and enemies, is what makes a good story. It's not about the cause du jour. It's not about whether the proper minority is given enough of the spot light. It's not about including members of the proper gender identity or sexual orientation. I'm not say that a good story cannot include a minority or gay main character - Mercedes Lackey's The Last Herald Mage is an awesome series whose main character is gay - but there has to be a good story to go with it or it's going to suck even if it is socially relevant. The reader needs to care about the characters. They need to be interesting.
I have a degree in history. I've read several scholarly works. The fact of the matter is that scholarly writing and fiction writing are two completely different styles. If you want to change the world get published on Harvard Press or something and leave the people who want to read fun stuff alone. Seriously.
I am willing to put my money where my mouth is. This is a review blog. The submission guidelines are listed above. I don't care if you're white, black or otherwise. I don't care who you sleep with or what genitalia you want/have. If you've written a work of Science Fiction and/or fantasy of at least novella length, send it to me and I'll review it. If you're character is a gay black person who has a penis but identifies as female that's OK. I'll read it and I'll review it. Be prepared though; A good story will get a good review. A bad story will get a bad review. No, the fact that your main character is not a straight white male does not, in and of itself, make your story a good one.
Yes, I am a straight, White, Christian male. No, I'm not ashamed of any of those. I don't hate people who aren't like me. That's not what I'm about and it's not what the Sad Puppies are about. You can put your racist beliefs on us if that's what makes you happy. We're adults and we can take it. Just know that that's not what this is about and when you try to make it that way, you're lying.
Several of the works mentioned above are available for purchase at the links below:
Tomorrow is award night! In just a few short hours, hosts David Gerrold and Tananarive Due will hand out awards to all of the most deserving people in the world of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Hopefully. If the CHORFS have their way, Noah Ward may sweep the field and destroy a year's worth of SF/F history just because he can. It's too late now to urge anyone on how to vote, so I'll just make an observation.
This isn't about what the other side says it's about. It's really not. I'd love to see any writer of any color, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation write a deserving story and win. I really would. I love SF/F as a genre. I have for nearly forty years now. (I'm 38 and legend has it I watched my first Star Trek episode before I placed into my crib for the first time. If you knew my dad, you'd believe it.) Let's face it though: SF/F isn't that popular among minority audiences, at least in written form. Minority participation would be a great way to grow the genre and increase readership moving forward but here is what the other side is missing:
Once upon a time there were three leagues in baseball. There were the American and National Leagues that, at the time, were completely composed of white players. There was also the Negro League that was composed of entirely black players. This was unfair. There was no reason for the segregation other that pure racism. That's historical fact. Then along came the Brooklyn Dodgers and signed Jackie Robinson and that man could play. He is in the Baseball Hall of Fame because he freaking belongs there. In a ten year career, he had a .311 batting average, 1518 hits, 137 home runs (before the Steroid Era. For the reading comprehension impaired that means that Robinson was clean and DID NOT DO STEROIDS) and six straight All Star Game appearances. In plain English: He earned his spot in the majors by playing well. He earned his spot in those All Star Games by playing well. He earned his spot in the Hall of Fame by playing well enough to be considered a legend of the game and he didn't get to start his career in MLB until he was twenty-eight years old. Once again HE FREAKING EARNED IT.
The other side, be they called the CHORFS, the Anti-Puppies, the Puppy Kickers, the SJWs or the Truefen misses this basic fact. They would have you believe that an "award-worthy story" is defined not by the ability of the fans to enjoy the work or the amount of people who appreciate it. It should be defined by it's "social relevance." There is no need to entertain an audience. There is no need to write something that will grow the genre and increase readership. It is all about writing pseudo-intellectual babble of the type most often published by scholarly presses.
Here's the thing about scholarly presses: They serve a limited clientele for the limited purpose of "increasing human understanding." Eight hundred books sold is considered to be respectable. That's fine. It's a different animal. SF is a mass market genre. Think about it. Let's list some of the greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy stories of all time, both in print and on screen:
1.)The Foundation Series - Isaac Asimov - The story of a man (later his Foundation) and his plan to create a socialistic utopia. It's entertaining. The plot moves. There are some twists and some turns. You can drop a reference to "Seldonian calculus" into a story in 2015 and people will get it. The characters in these books are amazing. They're all normal human beings trying to do what's right. They succeed. They fail. It matters to the audience. The first book was originally serialized in 1942. You can still find it on shelves too. It's still selling.
2.) Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury - The story of a future America where dissenting ideas are banned and incorrect books are burned. I would assume the SJWs would enjoy this because it fits with their MO and push for censorship. It is also the story of a man named Montag and his redemption. He transforms from a book burning rube to a man who stands for something. Oddly enough, this also sells and appeals to a mass audience.
3.) Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkein - Tolkein is the master of world building. He's a little on the wordy side but his story is epic in scope and tells the story of a young hobbit who wanders far from home and completes a quest that would have broken most people several times his size. It is also the story of a man named Aragorn and his quest to right past wrongs and accept the responsibility he was born to. Three movies later it is all still selling because it still speaks to people.
4.) The Honor Harrington Series - David Weber - The story of a woman who will not quit. She gets abandoned by her superior and wins a battle anyway. She gets captured and escapes. She becomes a Steadholder on a planet where that is the ultimate honor. She is targeted for assassination. She has the guilt of millions of deaths-in-combat hanging over her. She has a child. She continues moving forward. She is featured in only God knows how many books now. Her series is still unfinished and growing.
5.) Star Wars - George Lucas - Yes, I said screen as well. This is the story of a young man who finds himself in a world much bigger than he ever realized it could be. He learns not about Galactic politics. He learns about The Force. He learns about friendship. He learns about himself.
It is also about a smuggler named Han Solo who realizes that there is more to the world than just himself and his selfish concerns. A man whose very name means alone. By the end of the series he is in love with a woman and has dedicated himself to a cause that is bigger than him.
And, yes, let's talk prequels. They're popular with the younger crowd who didn't have the nostalgia that all of us old fogies did. It's the story of a young boy and his slow corruption into a monster. The kid who starts out sweet and innocent grows into a man who enslaves whole planets sand murders without hesitation or remorse.
There is a lot more to Star Wars, including an entire Expanded Universe of books, a cartoon series and upcoming sequels beyond count. So it's obviously still selling.
6.) Star Trek: The Original Series (I'm going to limit this in size so that I'm not here all day) -Gene Rodenberry - A story about three men really and their interaction. Kirk learns to be more responsible and less brash through a series of adventures. Spock learns to acknowledge his human side and admit that he feels things like friendship. McCoy learns to temper his emotion with logic. The three men form one of the strongest friendships in fiction history and one that lasts beyond death.
And yeah, it's still selling too. There are books, movies, posters toys, a reboot, etc. That doesn't even mention the spinoff series that it produced. There are very few things, inside of SF/F or out, that have produced a Fandom the size of Star Trek's.
I could go on forever, but I'm not going to. Let's step back and see why all of this works. Hmmm... It's character driven. It's well plotted. (Jar Jar aside) We care about what happens to the people in the story. There is real change in their personalities and their lives. They're worth worrying about.
And that, my friends and enemies, is what makes a good story. It's not about the cause du jour. It's not about whether the proper minority is given enough of the spot light. It's not about including members of the proper gender identity or sexual orientation. I'm not say that a good story cannot include a minority or gay main character - Mercedes Lackey's The Last Herald Mage is an awesome series whose main character is gay - but there has to be a good story to go with it or it's going to suck even if it is socially relevant. The reader needs to care about the characters. They need to be interesting.
I have a degree in history. I've read several scholarly works. The fact of the matter is that scholarly writing and fiction writing are two completely different styles. If you want to change the world get published on Harvard Press or something and leave the people who want to read fun stuff alone. Seriously.
I am willing to put my money where my mouth is. This is a review blog. The submission guidelines are listed above. I don't care if you're white, black or otherwise. I don't care who you sleep with or what genitalia you want/have. If you've written a work of Science Fiction and/or fantasy of at least novella length, send it to me and I'll review it. If you're character is a gay black person who has a penis but identifies as female that's OK. I'll read it and I'll review it. Be prepared though; A good story will get a good review. A bad story will get a bad review. No, the fact that your main character is not a straight white male does not, in and of itself, make your story a good one.
Yes, I am a straight, White, Christian male. No, I'm not ashamed of any of those. I don't hate people who aren't like me. That's not what I'm about and it's not what the Sad Puppies are about. You can put your racist beliefs on us if that's what makes you happy. We're adults and we can take it. Just know that that's not what this is about and when you try to make it that way, you're lying.
Several of the works mentioned above are available for purchase at the links below:
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Nemo's World :The Substrate Wars 2 by Jeb Kinnison
Justin Smith, Steve Duong and friends are back again and this time it's WAR... err... peace. Sort of. The crew is up to no good (lots of good?) for the second time and this time they're facing off against the whole world. This one is not for the faint hearted. Kidnappings, theft (granted, of nuclear warheads and for the good of mankind) and gunfights about as we're brought into the world of a bunch of idealistic kids who want nothing but peace and freedom from government constraint. Nemo's World: The Substrate Wars 2 discusses some great ideas while still putting story first.
Kinnison spends quite a bit of time on the politics and diplomacy of his new world in his volume. Smith is doing a lot of work toward setting up a new interstellar government. Relationships are set up between the new planet and the existing governments of Earth. New planets are being applied for and assigned. There is a lot here. There has to be though, because this is a very political story.
The goals of the students (and that's what most of the good guys are) are laudable and they're very aware of the potential downside of the computers they have built. They can detect and destroy just about everything. They seize all of the world's nuclear weapons and hide them in space. They can destroy just about everything and Steve Duong knows all the tricks to do so. So far they haven't succumbed to the evil possibilities of their technology, at least by their standards. They're well aware of some of the potential damage that can be done with a technology that can detect, transport and create just about everything. Even punishment of criminals is performed with an eye toward mercy. In the end, not everything works the way it was intended to, but that in and of itself makes sense.
Nuclear weapons are stolen back by the United States government. A fight breaks out on the penal planet. It's made possible by the use of replicator technology (very similar to that used in Star Trek) that wasn't meant to produce weapons. Kinnison is very well aware of what can go wrong here and he is making the point. Sometimes I wonder if he takes it far enough though.
One of the factions that is on the "Good guy" side is the Grey Tribe. They're a group of cyber-rebels who have been sought by various governments. A lot of them are also programmers. So far Steve Duong has managed to keep them from getting loose and doing something - seeking revenge against the government on a personal level? - that he doesn't want. No one seems to have gotten hold of a joystick and taken something they shouldn't have for their own enrichment. Kinnison is obviously aware of the terrible potential of a computer that can move/create just about anything but he seems to be unwilling to take the logical next step. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. It hasn't happened yet. Equally as strange is that nothing has gone hideously wrong. With technology this new and radical I would expect more accidents.
There could be a bit less talk in this book and a bit more action as well. Granted, there are fights, assassination attempts and a potential nuking so the story is not all talk, but there are large chunks of people talking instead of doing. Even a few minutes in the computer lab with Steve Duong while he is attempting his newest innovation and worrying about a potential failure might spice things up.
For all of that though, this is a really solid story. I read through it in about two days and I really did enjoy it. I'm waiting for the next book in the series (err, well... I hope I am. I haven't heard anything from Kinnison about whether it's going to happen or not) with bated breath.
Bottom line:4.25 out of 5 Stolen Nukes.
Nemo's World: The Substrate Wars
Jeb Kinnison
Jeb Kinnison, 2015
On Thursday : Cedar Sanderson's Trickster Noir if I'm done reading it by then. If not, whatever movie I decide to watch and review.
Kinnison spends quite a bit of time on the politics and diplomacy of his new world in his volume. Smith is doing a lot of work toward setting up a new interstellar government. Relationships are set up between the new planet and the existing governments of Earth. New planets are being applied for and assigned. There is a lot here. There has to be though, because this is a very political story.
The goals of the students (and that's what most of the good guys are) are laudable and they're very aware of the potential downside of the computers they have built. They can detect and destroy just about everything. They seize all of the world's nuclear weapons and hide them in space. They can destroy just about everything and Steve Duong knows all the tricks to do so. So far they haven't succumbed to the evil possibilities of their technology, at least by their standards. They're well aware of some of the potential damage that can be done with a technology that can detect, transport and create just about everything. Even punishment of criminals is performed with an eye toward mercy. In the end, not everything works the way it was intended to, but that in and of itself makes sense.
Nuclear weapons are stolen back by the United States government. A fight breaks out on the penal planet. It's made possible by the use of replicator technology (very similar to that used in Star Trek) that wasn't meant to produce weapons. Kinnison is very well aware of what can go wrong here and he is making the point. Sometimes I wonder if he takes it far enough though.
One of the factions that is on the "Good guy" side is the Grey Tribe. They're a group of cyber-rebels who have been sought by various governments. A lot of them are also programmers. So far Steve Duong has managed to keep them from getting loose and doing something - seeking revenge against the government on a personal level? - that he doesn't want. No one seems to have gotten hold of a joystick and taken something they shouldn't have for their own enrichment. Kinnison is obviously aware of the terrible potential of a computer that can move/create just about anything but he seems to be unwilling to take the logical next step. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. It hasn't happened yet. Equally as strange is that nothing has gone hideously wrong. With technology this new and radical I would expect more accidents.
There could be a bit less talk in this book and a bit more action as well. Granted, there are fights, assassination attempts and a potential nuking so the story is not all talk, but there are large chunks of people talking instead of doing. Even a few minutes in the computer lab with Steve Duong while he is attempting his newest innovation and worrying about a potential failure might spice things up.
For all of that though, this is a really solid story. I read through it in about two days and I really did enjoy it. I'm waiting for the next book in the series (err, well... I hope I am. I haven't heard anything from Kinnison about whether it's going to happen or not) with bated breath.
Bottom line:4.25 out of 5 Stolen Nukes.
Nemo's World: The Substrate Wars
Jeb Kinnison
Jeb Kinnison, 2015
On Thursday : Cedar Sanderson's Trickster Noir if I'm done reading it by then. If not, whatever movie I decide to watch and review.
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Sunbow's GI Joe: The Movie (1986)
(Sorry this is late. I had something come up last night.)
If I told you that movie had:
A secret tropical hideaway hidden under an arctic mountain;
A Broadcast Energy Transmitter that could beam energy from the ground to any spot on Earth or even into space;
Man eating plants;
Guns that shot not bullets or even lasers but tentacles;
Deadly spores capable of causing humans to devolve into animals;
An important character that slowly turned into a snake;
and another important character created in a lab using the DNA of various military leaders, would you consider it to be SF?
If other characters could pull tentacle monsters our of nowhere and use them as weapons to smother their enemies and there was a half man/half snake centauroid as another important character would you consider it to have a fantasy element?
Good! I'm glad you agree that this is indeed a SF/F movie. Seriously. GI Joe: The Movie is part of the genre I love. There's more genre related goodness in this flick than in a lot of the stuff I've reviewed here.
The story revolves around a group of new recruits. Law (with his dog Order), Jinx, Lieutenant Falcon, Jinx, Tunnel Rat and Big Lob and their attempts to finish training and become valued members of the GI Joe team. Lt. Falcon especially ends up in trouble and spends the movie fighting to make his name. Jinx is known as a bad luck charm. The rest are mainly just raw. Beachhead does his best as their trainer. Hilarity, hijinks and dramatics ensue.
SPOILER
Cobra-la is shown as the new faction. Their emergence was shocking to me the first time I saw this. Cobra-la is a major change in the previous Joe universe. GI Joe had always included a SF element but Cobra-la was an entirely new alien culture. I was impressed. The Cobra-la portions of this movie are a major departure from what had come before, but ultimately one I entirely enjoyed. Evil just seems more evil when the bad guy (Golobulous) is half snake.
This was a long way from being a perfect movie. I'm not at all an expert in the science involved but I know enough to believe that anyone who is would probably want to faint at the sight of this thing. Some of the acting is a bit on the melodramatic side for an adult. The death scene that would have added that needed bit of gritty realism got axed by Hasbro, owner of the toy line and the Joe trademark. That much being said, IT'S FREAKING GI JOE. How much realism do you want?
Bottom Line: 4.5 out of 5 mutant spores.
GI Joe: The Movie
Sunbow, Hasbro, 1986
If I told you that movie had:
A secret tropical hideaway hidden under an arctic mountain;
A Broadcast Energy Transmitter that could beam energy from the ground to any spot on Earth or even into space;
Man eating plants;
Guns that shot not bullets or even lasers but tentacles;
Deadly spores capable of causing humans to devolve into animals;
An important character that slowly turned into a snake;
and another important character created in a lab using the DNA of various military leaders, would you consider it to be SF?
If other characters could pull tentacle monsters our of nowhere and use them as weapons to smother their enemies and there was a half man/half snake centauroid as another important character would you consider it to have a fantasy element?
Good! I'm glad you agree that this is indeed a SF/F movie. Seriously. GI Joe: The Movie is part of the genre I love. There's more genre related goodness in this flick than in a lot of the stuff I've reviewed here.
The story revolves around a group of new recruits. Law (with his dog Order), Jinx, Lieutenant Falcon, Jinx, Tunnel Rat and Big Lob and their attempts to finish training and become valued members of the GI Joe team. Lt. Falcon especially ends up in trouble and spends the movie fighting to make his name. Jinx is known as a bad luck charm. The rest are mainly just raw. Beachhead does his best as their trainer. Hilarity, hijinks and dramatics ensue.
SPOILER
Cobra-la is shown as the new faction. Their emergence was shocking to me the first time I saw this. Cobra-la is a major change in the previous Joe universe. GI Joe had always included a SF element but Cobra-la was an entirely new alien culture. I was impressed. The Cobra-la portions of this movie are a major departure from what had come before, but ultimately one I entirely enjoyed. Evil just seems more evil when the bad guy (Golobulous) is half snake.
This was a long way from being a perfect movie. I'm not at all an expert in the science involved but I know enough to believe that anyone who is would probably want to faint at the sight of this thing. Some of the acting is a bit on the melodramatic side for an adult. The death scene that would have added that needed bit of gritty realism got axed by Hasbro, owner of the toy line and the Joe trademark. That much being said, IT'S FREAKING GI JOE. How much realism do you want?
Bottom Line: 4.5 out of 5 mutant spores.
GI Joe: The Movie
Sunbow, Hasbro, 1986
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