Message for the Devil: A King Roger V Adventure by Jason McDonald and Stormy McDonald

King Roger is back and he's up to his armpits in trouble. There's a lot going on in the city of Charleston, South Carolina is in danger. People are dying hideously. Who did it? I didn't know. You still don't. In Message for the Devil by Jason and Stormy McDonald the police think it might be Roger himself. We'd never believe that though would we?

Part of the problem is with Roger. He grew up in a mystical land on the planet Gaia, sister to Earth, where magic is plentiful and customs are closer to Medieval European than they are to modern American. This creates some problems for our hero as he does not always know the right way to handle things. At one point it becomes obvious that he doesn't even know how to count change.  In some cases, I enjoyed that face immensely, because he acts more like a Player Character in a Dungeons & Dragons game than a modern American, but it makes sense in context. 

The story itself is a mystery. Roger has been hired to find a ghost, but it's not just any ghost. Nope. That would be too easy. It has to be the ghost of a convicted murderess who was executed. Rumor has it that she said some nasty things at her own execution...

Yeah, it gets ugly quickly. This may have escaped your notice up to this point, but vengeful spirits tend not to be very nice people. Sometimes they can get downright...

Vengeful

Okay, that was terrible, but you get the point.

Hence the whole "dying hideously" that I mentioned earlier. Of course, it gets worse because Roger isn't exactly the most popular guy with the local police and they don't really understand some of his methods. I mean, do you know what a rust potion is? Do you think the police would? Think about it. I wouldn't and I'm a fantasy fan.

In a lot of ways, Message for the Devil feels like an early Dresden novel. The hero uses magic, even if Roger doesn't have the raw power that Harry does. There's a mystery. There's a supporting cast of characters that includes the police. There's even a human skull, although Roger doesn't name his skull "Bob." I've always had the feeling that Harry Dresden felt a bit out of place and Roger is certainly out of place.  Both heroes have problems with using technology, even if they manifest themselves differently. The McDonalds' world is probably about as well developed as Butcher's was after two or three books as well. (And yes, that means that the McDonalds haven't managed as much worldbuilding in two books as Butcher has managed in eight million. They'll get there. Just 7,999,998 books to go.)

There's a lot of action in Message for the Devil, too. This is not the Hardy Boys by any stretch of the imagination. Roger is a big fan of bladed weapons and the police, of course, have guns. There is plenty of fighting and running and hiding to keep things lively. This is one of those areas where Roger clearly doesn't not understand the customs and laws of the United States and has a chance to get himself into some very real - and very serious - trouble. He somehow manages to get out of it, at least for the most part. Sort of. Read the book.

That's not to say that all there is to Message for the Devil is all action. This isn't a Michael Bay flick and there is no lens flare. 

Huh?

Oh, yeah. Listen, I'm not sure how you would do lens flare in a book either, but I'm fairly certain that Bay would find a way to do it. Just don't pay attention to the fact that it doesn't make sense and you'll get it.

There is some fairly serious research taking place in order to solve the mystery. Speaking as a guy who has spent his time at libraries pouring over microfilm, the research in Message for the Devil makes sense. It reads like it was written by someone who has done some real research, for the simple reason that the characters in the book are smart enough to find the right place to go to and talk to someone who knows the story and where to find the information they need. This isn't a case of some rando jumping on the internet and solving a two hundred year old mystery in five seconds using Google. There's some real work involved here. I like that. The McDonalds some how manage to keep these parts from dragging out too long as well, so props to them.

There's some personal drama here as well. King Roger abandons his chance to return to his kingdom at the end of Thief on King Street. He did so for the love of a woman that he had just met. Yes, that is a cliche but it's used so often because it works. So while all of the insanity is going on, with murders and police problems and hauntings and...

You get the idea.

...Roger has to get to know the woman that he stayed for and figure out how things work with her. And, quite frankly, IF they work with her. It's not that she's disloyal, or that he is, but we've all been there. Making things work with a new person is never easy. He's a good dude and makes his way through it, but it's not as easy as perhaps he'd like it to be. I'm okay with it though. Easy stuff doesn't make a good story. 

Message for the Devil is, as mentioned previously, a sequel. While I certainly do recommend reading the first book, you should be able to enjoy this work either way. There is enough here to move the story along independently and what callbacks there are to the previous story are brief and well enough explained so that you won't feel lost. All in all, this is a story worth reading.

Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Golden Coins

Message for the Devil: A King Roger V Adventure
Jason McDonald and Stormy McDonald
Parlatheas Press, 2024

Message for the Devil: A King Roger V Adventure is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you. 

Message for the Devil

CBS's Under the Dome

Under the Dome is the rarest of the rare: A Science Fiction TV series that is entertaining, exciting and got to finish its full run despite not having the word "Star Trek" in the title.  (And listen I've been a Trek fan since forever. I'm just saying that, other than TOS, Trek has gotten a lot of episodes for most of its series where other shows don't. I'm right.) It's a really cool show, despite being a bit on the weird side. I'm a huge Sci-Fi nerd and I'm the one saying that.

I don't want to get to far into the plot of the show. I'm not big on doing spoilers in general and this show has a lot of surprises that you deserve to enjoy for yourself. Lord knows that I did. I will say that no matter how long this show goes on, no matter how weird it gets, it's never more than five minutes from getting even weirder. Seriously, strangeness abounds. 

I mean, Under the Dome is based on a Stephen King novel and I'm pretty sure all of those are weird. I say "pretty sure" because, although I've seen a ton of movies based on his books, the only thing I've ever read by Stephen King was his book On Writing. I'm not sure I learned as much about writing as I should have, but even this dude's life has been weird in spots. Imagine writing a book like Cujo, that sold like crazy and got a movie and not even being able to remember it because you were riding the white horse. Crazy.

Even as weird as it is, though, it's still a believable tale if you can accept that the town of Chester's Mill was surrounded one day by an invisible, impenetrable and indestructable dome. What follows is some of the best tropes from post-apocalyptic literature and some of the awesome characterization every Stephen King movie seems to have. Seriously, it almost feels like I've met some of these people. 

At first no one knows what caused the dome, where it came from or how it is being powered. Things are revealed over the course of the series and that's where a lot of the weirdness comes from. It's not just the causes that are weird though. Sometimes it's the method of answering the questions or, indeed, the way that people come across the right question to ask.

There is a lot going on politically in the town of Chester's Mill and I don't want to get into all of it, but it will give you whiplash. No one knows who to trust. No one knows who to turn to. Then favorites start to emerge and things get crazy. The whole town turns into one conspiracy theory come true after another and each one weirder than the last. Sworn enemies in one episode are reluctant allies the next and soon best friends before eventually selling each other out and going back to emnity a few episodes later.

The thing is that it all makes sense in context. Every crazy moment is based on something that came before and leads to a logical outcome. I love that about this series. Every time I find myself saying "HOW COULD THAT POSSIBLY HAPPEN!?!?!?!?" The answer becomes "Well, first this happened, then that thing did and after the other thing, it couldn't have gone any other way." There's a reason that King has sold more copies than anyone this side of JK Rowling and it's not because he can't carry a plot.

The special effects for the series are really good for TV too. There are some shooting stars, and several disasters and they all look beautiful. I'd kind of like to see modern movies go back to looking like Under the Dome and spending the money on writers that CBS did for this series. This is a plot and character driven story. The effects add to it, but they're not what the show is based on. Under the Dome is what The Flash and Avatar: The Way of Water could have been if they had made an effort to do more than just look cool.

I want to talk about some of my favorite characters here, but I can't because I'd spoil too much. Trying to talk about what a character is like in a story like Under the Dome without talking about what they go through is basically impossible. I guess I'll just say to watch out for people with the following names: Big Jim, Junior, Barbie, Nori, and Julia. Those are some of my favorites because reasons. And one of my favorite actresses of all time shows up in Season Three, but saying who would risk telling too much. Let's just say I was happy to see her. 

And it's really the acting that makes Under the Dome as much as anything else does. The good guys are good guys, at least until they're the bad guys. The bad guys are bad, at least until they're the bad guys. And Big Jim is the consummate politician at all times, even when he's doing no-politicky stuff. He's also a used car salesmen with all that that implies. I'll shut up now. You'll thank me later.

Wait. That didn't come out right. 

Whatever.

The whole series is only thirty-nine episodes so it's an easy binge. I got through it in basically a week although a lot of that was being stuck in the house not feeling good for pretty much an entire weekend. I'm glad I did though. Other than the fact that I almost didn't get my laundry done that weekend at least. I kind of got wrapped up in what I was watching and lost track of little details like what the day and time were. 

And that's probably the best thing about the series. It's so good, so weird, so believable and you care so much about the characters (whether it's because you want to see them succeed or because you want to see them catch a bullet being a separate issue) that you can get lost and not want to find your way back. 

My one regret about watching Under the Dome is that I'll never get to watch it for the first time again. I really loved this show. Here's hoping we get more book to TV show translations, because this is how you can truly do justice to a long book with rich content. 

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Pink Stars

Under the Dome
CBS, 2013-2015

Great Lakes Comic Con After Action Report

 Did you ever have that feeling? You know the whole thing where something happens and you think to yourself, "I should have done this much sooner?" I was thinking the same thing yesterday when I got home from Great Lakes Comic Con in Warren, Michigan yesterday because, while it wasn't my first con (or even my first GLCC) and it wasn't my daughter Riley's first comic con, it was the first time we went to one together. I had a great time. He we both are with Ecto 1. 

Great Lakes Comic Con takes place four miles north of Detroit and I'm also a huge Ghostbusters fan, so there was really no choice. I had to take a picture with the Ghostbusters car. Oh, and did I mention Ghostbusters?

These guys were a lot of fun. They even gave me a poster for the movie. It's only four weeks away.Who else is excited? 

Of course I was there as a member of The Royal Manticoran Navy: The Official Honor Harrington Fan Association. We're a good group of people and we read lots of good books. Check us out!

Seriously, David Weber is an amazingly awesome author and the Honor Harrington books are his best work. As a personal favor, just because I like you, I'll let you know that you can download the first two books here: On Basilisk Station and The Honor of the Queen.  They're awesome books and I'm guessing you agree with my taste in books, so seriously, get them. Read them. Blame me when you buy the whole freaking series. I'm a big boy. I can take it.

Of course there was a ton of stuff to see and buy. That's a comic con standard. There were stands everywhere. Prices varied. I saw boxes of comics at fifty cents per book, classic comics at hundreds of dollars and like a billion different pieces of awesome art. That's standard at any comic con too and a lot of it was awesome. I didn't have the budget to buy all of the stuff I wanted and neither did any ten of the people you know, but if you can't go to a comic con and not just enjoy being around all the cool stuff you need to turn in your geek card and stop watching Firefly. You obviously no longer aim to misbehave. 

I've been a fan of GI Joe since his days as A Real American Hero back in the early 80s. I collected the comics and the toys as a kid and I still have a copy of the Sunbow movie from 1987. So when I walked in and saw The Finest (that's the GI Joe Cosplay society) there I had to get a pick, Those guys are awesome and they put a ton of work into their costumes. It was a real treat. Props to Central Command: The Fighting Fifth. You're a bunch of good guys.

Thank God for the Fridge. I was surrounded by snakes! And, if you spent any time at Hisstank back in the day, then you know old thatjimboguy was a loyal Joe. We kicked some serious tail in the GI Joe vs Cobra game on that site. I miss that game sometimes.

Speaking of serious cosplay, the TRMN booth was located right next to the booth of the 501st Legion. These guys set the standard for serious cosplay. Some of their members appeared in Attack of the Clones in the stormtrooper armor they had made to get into the club. I was impressed. They make some cool props, too.

Good times! I love these guys and I just noticed that I got the Han Solo in carbonite in the background. Seriously, when you're looking for good cosplay done right, look for the 501st. It's always a real treat to get a chance to meet some of these guys and it was super cool that our table was so close to ours. 

Of course, in the TRMN, we consider all cosplay/fan societies to be allies in the fight against...

Uhh...

Anyway, they're allies. And so I'm glad I got a chance to show them all a little love. Cosplayers are almost invariably kind and fun to be around. If you're ever at an event and you want to walk up to someone in cosplay, I recommend doing so. I've never had one say no to a picture and I've shaken the hands of quite a few. Of course, it's considered polite to start the conversation with, "Awesome cosplay! I love (insert character here)!" People like to be recognized for the hard work that goes into making these costumes. So let them know you appreciate what they did. You'll both feel good when you do it.

There were a butt-load of celebrities but I didn't get pics with any of them for budgetary reasons. It kinda sucks that I didn't get a chance to get an autograph from Eric Bischoff or Jason Moore and Noah Sult because I'm a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles guy, but it's all good. It's not the con's fault. It's nothing the celebrities did. It is what it is. Hopefully I'll get a promotion and have more money next year. And don't get me wrong. There were lots of other celebrities there. The celebrities I mentioned were just the one I was really excited about.

I played some D&D with my kid as well. There was a little group in the corner running introductory adventures. It wasn't my first adventure or Riley's but it was a good time. And, having only played in homebrew universes, it was nice to finally get to take a trip to Baldur's Gate. I know the place. I've read the books, but it was my first time there at a gaming table. The DM was a good guy whose name I don't remember and he did his best to get everyone involved. It was cool. 

The TMNT panel was at the same time as I was playing D&D so that was kinda rough, but we've all been there, right?

Of course, part of the fun of any con is getting pics with some of your favorite cosplayers that aren't really part of any cosplay organization, so here are a few of those.

Don't ask me why my hat is always crooked. I don't do that on purpose. 

The price was right, too. It was only twenty dollars for an all day pass. The food was about what you'd expect from a college expo center (the con was on the campus of Macomb Community College. I'm an alum, so that part was cool, too.) The prices were decent, too. I got dinner for myself and my kid for less than it probably would have cost me to go to McDonalds and we both got personal pizzas and a twenty ounce bottle of pop. So that part was cool.

All in all, it was a fun day and I can't wait to head back. I also managed to snag myself an autographed book, a comic from and indy comic maker and a Ghostbusters poster, so that part was good. I mean, it's not humanly possible to go to one of these and not buy SOMETHING. I can't wait to go back next year. Hopefully I can get Riley to come. She'll be in college by then, so we'll see how that goes but I plan to be there regardless.

A. Trae McMaken's Dwarves of Ice Cloak, Books 1-4

(Author's note: The author of this review loves dwarves. The author of this review wishes he was a dwarf. The author of this review writes his own dwarf based fiction. You will see the words, dwarf, dwarves and dwarven a lot, although I think I only used the word Dwarfdom once. For that you should be thankful. Unless you love dwarves like I love dwarves in which case I'm sorry I didn't up the dwarfness. For those of you bothered by this phonemon, I have the following to say. "DWARF UP AND READ THE REVIEW!!")

I have, in the past, been told that epic fantasy stories can only take place in worlds with high magic. I don't think I've ever believed that, but I've always seen it as a wee bit of a challenge to refute. That is the case no longer. A. Trae McMaken's The Dwarves of Ice Cloak, a four book series, puts that argument to rest. This is fantasy as epic as I've ever seen. It's got dwarves. It's got trolls. (and not the internet kind) it's got a dragon at one point. And no dwarf story is complete with goblins as an enemy, even if the author decides to use the dwarven word for the instead. I'm perfectly good with seeing an ursi get a spear to the chest. I mean, it's less typing for the same effect, right?

Good stuff, that.

But that's not what makes The Dwarves of Ice Cloak epic. Reading McMaken's series is almost like taking a history survey course (IE American History 1877- present or Japanese history since the Meiji Restoration) only it's taught using memoirs of the most important people during the time period. Imagine taking American History by reading four books: One about Washington, one about Lincoln, one about Reagan and one about like, Biden or probably someone later but I don't have anyone later to mention. (Oh, and for the record I have a BA in History and love reading that, too)

This analogy stuff, it's difficult okay. And yeah, it's actually a simile because I used like but whatever.

Listen, this is epic fantasy at its finest. The first book, The Crippled King starts out with one lone, poor, dwarven prospector on his own. During the series (of only four books) we see the rise and fall of a proud dwarven kingdom and a potential resurgence. A lonely mining claim becomes the capital of all Dwarfdom. It fights battles. It increases in size and wealth internally. It becomes someplace worth living and a capital worth having.

And the Ice Cloak dwarves are the dwarfiest dwarves that ever dwarfed. They work hard. They fight hard. They live underground for the most part, but have the inevitable surface dwarves that do the boring stuff like farming and husbandry and also the exciting things like scouting and ursi-slaying. But their miners mine, their crafters craft and dwarf-wifs and maids can craft just as well as the men with none of the factial hair. 

The Dwarven society presented in the books works is amazingly well crafted. I'm guessing that McMaken has done some studying in anthropology in his time. I'm also guessing that there is a huge pile, possibly digital, of notes that McMaken made to be able to keep everything consistent. Ice Cloak is home to a living, breathing group of people whose lives change over time. I got a sense of a grand history while reading these, but it's still undeveloped in most cases. A lot of the time when I started a new book I was wondering how we got here. I had to do a lot of the imagining myself and I like that because it's an excuse to write my own story. I just can't use the words "Ice Cloak." I'd even like to think I could do these concepts justice but we'll see.

As I alluded to above, there is a huge time gap between stories and the characters from one don't really carry over to the next. This kind of threw me when I first picked up Book Two, The Mouth of Fire. None of the dwarves I expected to see were there. It took me a bit to get into Mouth because of that but once I did I was off and running. For Book Three, The Second Gate and Book Four, Bones of Stone I didn't get that effect because I expected it. 

And that's probably another one of the strengths of The Dwarves of Ice Cloak. Although I recommend reading the books in order and all together, this is the kind of series where it wouldn't be at all hard to read the books individually or even pick up one of the later books by itself if you wanted to. There are occasional references that people who have read the prior books will enjoy and can hearken back to but they're not overly long nor are they all that important to understanding the story. They're basically just there as incredibly obvious Easter eggs.

None of the books end on what I would consider to be a true cliffhanger, but all of them end up somewhat unresolved. The reader is left to fill in the rest of the stories themselves and even reading what comes after (in the case of the first three books) doesn't fill in many of the details. I'm reminded, in a way, of the Dragonlance Chronicles, and how they skipped important parts of the story but then, the DC are much closer together in time. The gap between books is literally centuries. They still tie together nicely, but you don't have to know every word that has come before to enjoy the book in your hand right now. 

I'm sad to say that there doesn't seem to be a sequel to Bones of Stone. I feel like there was plenty of room to continue the story and that it hasn't happened. I'll be looking for it though, and I'll be following McMaken. He's got some other stuff out there and most of it appears to be fantasy, I'm sure to pick up another McMaken book sometime soon.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Living Steel Mining Picks

The Crippled King
The Mouth of Fire
The Second Gate
Bones of Stone
A. Trae McMaken
Lost Pathway Books, 2022-2023

David Weber's A Beautiful Friendship

The best way to follow up a super serious post about a graphic novel covering an important subject is by reviewing a Science Fiction novel about treecats.

Or sumfin'

Listen, this blog is a work in progress and sometimes it gets messy.

All of this to say that I recently read David Weber's novel A Beautiful Friendship. You purists out there may be tempted to point out that I did it because I was going to a meet up with a couple local chapters of The Royal Manticoran Navy: The Official Honor Harrington Fan Association. You may even be right. The fact remains that I helped plan the outing and I picked out the book (along with my buddy/Commanding Officer David) so neener, neener, neener. I read it. I loved it. And, put bluntly, who needs purists anyway?

So, right, the book...

This is the third time I've read the thing, and the first time I've reviewed it. My excuse is because this book is so old that I read it twice before I started my blog in 2015. No system's perfect, right. Better late that never?

I mean...

Yeah, the book.

A Beautiful Friendship is part of the Star Kingdom series which is in and of itself a part of the Honor Harrington universe aka the Honorverse. I've been following these books for about twenty-ish years now, going back to right around the time I met my ex-wife and before I had kids. My oldest is eighteen now. Suffice it to say that I'm a huge fan.

A Beautiful Friendship is a prequel leading back to the origins of the Star Kingdom (later Star Empire) of Manticore and also of the Harrington clan's beginnings as citizens therein. Stephanie Harrington, our heroine and all around likeable young girl, is on a quest to find something to do. Her family has recently immigrated to the SKM after living on a much older, more settled planet with a larger population, more forms of entertainment and people her age who aren't boring. The planet Sphinx is largely still wild with a small contingent of humanity on the planet, trying to make their way and build something.

Enter Stephanie who, quite frankly, is everything I taught my daughters to be; strong, smart, proud, tough and brave. She has a bit of that teenage brashness about her as well but that makes sense because she's a teenager. So when human settlers start reporting that celery is being burgled from their greenhouses (Sphinxian winters last a long time) she is intrigued. When celery starts disappearing from the Harrington greenhouse, she sets out to find out who or what is doing it. And what she catches on camera...

Fans of the mainline Honorverse books all knew what I was when they read the word "celery." What she discovers is the first treecat known to humanity. And when she finds out it has and uses a net made of local fibers, things start to get interesting. Treecats aren't the first sentient species known to humans, but there haven't been many and she's a kid. She's also afraid her parents will find out that she snuck out after dark, in the rain...

As adults we sometimes forget how badly it sucked to have to listen to parental instructions about everything. As parents, we know why they were necessary but that doesn't change the fact that we hated it. Weber does an awesome job of putting us back in that teenage mindset, wanting to do more than we're allowed to and frustrated because we can't. Of course, Stephanie is a Harrington and doesn't lack for personal initiative. She's also quite a bit less disciplined than her more famous descendant and finds ways around rules. 

Seriously, I had to pull out my copy of Better to Beg Forgiveness and make sure that it was indeed written by Michael Z. Williamson and not David Weber, because little Ms. Harrington lives that philosophy to its fullest. And, if it gets her in trouble from time to time, that just makes the whole experience more fun. Every story needs conflict after all.

I don't want to spoil too much of the book, but this isn't just a book about Man(girl) vs. Nature or Man vs. Parents. There is some serious villainy here and some more subtle danger emanating from pretty much everywhere around Harrington. She deals with it with equanimity for the most part. Stephanie Harrington is a girl who can keep her cool during a crisis. She's the kind of person I'd want along with me if I were doing something requiring guts and a calm mind, even if I might wish for a person with a bit more life experience.

There is a lot of really cool stuff here about the first few humans who bond with treecats, becoming almost the equivalent of a Treecat and their spouse. It's pretty cool if you've been following the series for a long time and maybe even cooler if you haven't. Those of us who are familiar with Honor and her treecat Nimitz take certain things for granted. Having read the later books, I know how smart treecats are. I'm used to the fact that they can bond with people and some very clear indications of the psychic abilities of treecats and their utility are listed in the later works. 

If you haven't read those books though, a lot of it will come as a surprise. It's a voyage of discovery for Stepanie, her treecat Lionheart and indeed the entire human and treecat species. No one had a way to anticipate what was possible before Lionheart accidentally bonded with Stephanie, and the world takes a weird turn afterward because neither one of them know what to expect, either. As experienced readers we know some of what's coming, but even then, not all of it and the human element in the book leads places I never expected it to go.

A Beautiful Friendship was one of the first books I managed to get my hands on and read after my divorce in 2012. Times were rough then, and it helped me get through a pretty rough time. It's a lot easier to enjoy it this time and I'm glad I took the time to reread it. The writing hasn't changed but I have. This is exactly the right type of book to read if you need a quick distraction from life to make you feel better. People are surprised when they find out that I didn't turn to drinking or drugs when my depression got bad. It's thanks to writers like David Weber and books like ABF that I'm not stuck in lifelong drug/alcohol rehab. If a pick me up is what you need, hie thee off to the bookstore and pick yourself up a copy. If not, buy one anyway. It's a good book regardless.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Carry Nets

A Beautiful Friendship
David Weber
Baen Books, 2013

A Beautiful Friendship is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

A Beautiful Friendship

They Called Us Enemy - Expanded Edition Written by George Takei, Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott. Art by Harmony Becker

Life as a young boy in my the McCoy household centered around three things: Star Trek, sports and World War II movies. I've seen more John Wayne flicks than John Wayne. I knew the names of the bridge crew of the Enterprise before I could name most of my friends parents. And don't get me started on sports or the creative way my own dear father was known to use profanity while watching our local Detroit teams play (and trust me, the man was a master.) It really kind of sucks then that I'm not more excited about sharing an experience that involved both George Takei from ST:TOS and World War II.

Don't get me wrong. They Called Us Enemy by George Takei et al. is actually a very well written and well drawn graphic novel. (I'm going with the name "graphic novel" even though novel implies fiction and They Called Us Enemy is a true story because there is no word or phrase for a comic book that's non-fiction, at least to the best of my knowledge and belief.) I just kind of wish it hadn't been written.

Listen folks, I know that the United States has done some screwed up stuff in its past. I have a BA in History, I've studied a bunch of it. From the Indian Wars (and yes, conquest is common throughout history, but paying a bounty for scalps of your enemies is not) slavery/racism, etc. None of that is good and all of it bothers me, but I can't help but have a special hatred of the internment of Japanese citizens of the United States at at time when Hitler was killing camps full of Jews a little bit worse than the rest of it. Maybe I'm wrong for that, but it is what it is. 

For all of that though, They Called Us Enemy is a well written, entertaining, touching and oddly honest depiction of what George Takei went through when his family was forced into a camp. I say oddly honest because he speaks of train trips from camp to camp almost fondly when I would have expected nothing but vitriol. He also makes a point at the end about Americans being willing to talk about the camps and about the beauty of American democracy even if it does screw up at times. It would have been very easy for him to be much more bitter and he's not. That says a lot about him as a person.

The story is told simply but well. This is not some unreadable treatise by some academic hack. It almost feels like sitting on my grandma's couch cracking nuts and listening to my grandpa tell stories. The writers of this story hit the perfect note. I followed the story from place to place and from event to event easily. Some of it I could readily sympathize with. 

We get a really good look at young George and the Takei family. He does his best to show his readers his parents point of view. His pride in his father's accomplishments and hard work is both obvious and well deserved. His pride in his mother's accomplishments and ingenuity is both of the above as well. Sneaking a forbidden sewing machine into an internment camp was quite the trick and it was every bit as necessary as it must have been frightening to pull off.

The art in the book is simple but beautiful. It's well drawn and pulls the reader in but it's not too much. It's this weird mix of "we need to use the art to tell the story" and "we need to keep the art from getting in the way of the story" and somehow Harmony Becker pulled it off. I don't know how that's possible, but I saw it with my own eyes. Her drawings depict what happened but without any type of an artistic flourish. This was art that was written by someone who was dedicated to sharing a story and not by someone who wanted to show off.

I'll take it one step further: The art in They Called Us Enemy is all in black and white and that was a great choice. I like it for two reasons. One is that I grew up on black and white World War II movies and the monochrome look is not just nostalgic, but it evokes that old world feeling for me. With the lack of color I'm transported to a time that feels familiar even though it was over three decades before I was born. The other reason is a little more complicated, but I'll try to explain it like this:

There are some things that just need to be shown in a somewhat muted manner. I'm not saying they should be silenced, but I am saying that too much color can give a somewhat celebratory mood. No one goes to a fireworks show to see black and white explosions. Patriotic types in the US (and this is a group I belong to) talk about the "red, white, and blue" and not some monochromatic depiction of the American flag. 

Another black and white comic I talked about, Maus, used a black and white color scheme to good effect as well. It is good to keep somber subjects (and the internment of Japanese citizens is certainly something that no one should be proud of) in a darker, more solemn setting. 

I find it necessary to repeat something I said about Maus though: I would be careful giving this type of a comic to a young person, or a classroom full of them, if they didn't have the historical background to go with this. I linked my Maus review earlier. There were some statistics I pointed to at the time regarding the fact that younger people aren't taking the Holocaust as seriously as they should be. I sometimes wonder if that's because of things like comic books about these events. 

I've been told that works like Maus and They Called Us Enemy are the only way to get the emotional impact of their respective events across. That may very well be true. It's also true that most people don't take things they read in comics seriously. I know that Spiegelman and Takei both intended their work to bring attention to important subjects and get a message out. I just hope that their work doesn't accomplish the opposite of what they intended. 

So if you're going to hand a copy of They Called Us Enemy to a young person, make sure you give them some historical background. Make sure that they know this is one family's story and that there were many more families and camps than just the ones in the book. And make sure they know this isn't some made up story. That it actually happened. But read They Called Us Enemy and share it because it's both a good story and an important one. Just do it right.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Watch Towers

They Called Us Enemy - Expanded Edition
George Takei, Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott. Art by Harmony Becker
Top Shelf Productions, 2019

They Called Us Enemy - Expanded Edition is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

They Called Us Enemy

Happy Golden Anniversary Dungeons and Dragons

Once upon a time, long ago, a cousin of mine who probably wouldn't admit it anymore introduced me to a game called Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, a game which was then in it Second Edition. It was a game that had everything a young man could ever want: Dragons, Dungeons, Gold, Fighting, Dice...

It was an adventure that never had to end because, once you were done with the current adventure, you could queue another one up. When I got tired of my dwarven fighter/mage/thief I could switch to playing my elven bard or my human paladin (which I _on no level_ fudged the rolls to make, unless you count reality) and off I would go in pursuit of more treasure, or that one annoying twit that kept arresting people and wanted to know what happened to the magistrate's amulet and why someone said they thought they saw me wearing it. (And that NEVER HAPPENED. Now, had someone said they saw it in my backpack, that may have been a different story.)

Now, if you were in the  mood to be pedantic (and if you're reading this, you're most likely a geek, a nerd, or both) you may be tempted to point out that my introduction to the game Dungeons and Dragons wasn't really my introduction to D&D overall. I had loved the cartoon when it was on Saturday mornings, even if I thought the Dungeon Master was a little creepy. But honestly, who wouldn't? I kind of still do.

And it didn't stop there. I discovered the various game world box sets: First Greyhawk, then Spelljammer, Forgotten Realms...

I could go on. The really important part is that the box sets led to books. I was introduced to The Dragonlance Chronicles by my friend Jeff Cauldwell, and I fell in love with the world of Krynn and fantasy literature in general (IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, JEFF!!). My sister grabbed me one of the Greyhawk novels for Christmas one year. The Dark Sun novels were freaking painfully amazing and gave me flashbacks to the Thomas Covenant novels. Then came Spelljammer and it's take on space travel. OMG DUDE!!! Trek/Wars in D&D. I was in love.

And then came the Dwarven Nations trilogy. I have a serious love for the dwarven folk and, while I enjoyed Flint Fireforge (and named both D&D and Everquest characters after him) the reason I'm writing a dwarf centered novel, the reason I'm reading an unrelated series about dwarves now, and the reason I started the last campaign I DM'ed in a dwarven town was really The Dwarven Nations Trilogy. I love the little buggers. Hardworking, no-nonsense taking, and yes, I am one of THOSE McCoys (if you don't believe me ask a Hatfield) never giving up, stubborn asshole, and orc skull splitting dwarves are the most bestest things about fantasy fiction. 

Wait what?

You disagree? You're wrong. Dwarves are objectively the best thing that ever happened to fantasy anything. There is no counter argument. 

But I digress.

As usual.

Digression is, however, my strongest skill as a blogger.

Anyone who reads fantasy fiction and hasn't read R.A. Salvatore's Forgotten Realms novels needs to have their head examined while they're wandering off to the bookstore to grab copies. Start with Drizzt Do'Urden and then head over toward Cadderly the cleric afterward. I haven't reviewed the books here because it's been a long time since I read one, but they are magnificent. What's more, the Forgotten Realms are extremely popular in not just Salvatore's novels, but in pretty much everything D&D that takes place in digital form: Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, even Tiny D&D Adventures the old Facebook app before the Google Play store was a thing. And, of course, for pretty much all of the D&D movies. 

I know I'm in the minority in that I loved all four of the movies. I know that most of you would disagree. I know that the first three movies basically felt like bad B movies. I've also sat at more than one gaming table and I have to say that most of those tables couldn't even aspire to be B movies. 

And the thing with D&D is that it doesn't even matter which form you prefer. Someone else out there loves it as much as you do and they'll be happy to discuss it with you. I've seen it happen. Two geeks sitting next to each other not knowing each other and all of a sudden someone mentions painting minis or playing video games and two hours later they're best friends talking about stuff they've done in the game. I have personally walked up to someone reading a copy of a D&D novel at the library and started a conversation. She was cute, too, only I was married at the time. (But if you're reading this, I'm divorced now!) It happens.

And listen...

I'm not here for the Edition Wars. I've never played Basic D&D regardless of what color the box was. I started with Second Edition, but my buddy Pat (RIP, brother. I told you that shit was bad for you.) had a first edition copy of Unearthed Arcana and it never really occurred to us to convert anything. I've played Third Edition, missed Fourth, and have played and DM'ed 5e. It's time for the proverbial "every edition has its strengths and weaknesses" routine, only I'm not going to bother. Play what you like. Leave others alone and, if you're not a dick, you can sit at my table.

The crazy part is that D&D is not just a game either. It's a creative outlet. The first worlds I created, I created for D&D and for the Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game (First Edition). If you can read through all of the various subclasses and/or kits and can't come up with a new twist on an old trope (even if it's just by tweaking something there) then I can't help you. It's all there. And if it's not there, you can create it.

That is why, in my opinion, the greatest of all forms of D&D is the homebrew edition. Why? Because it's all about a DM, their players, and what works for them. I've never seen the sheer volume of homebrew that I see in D&D anywhere else. Even if you play modules, I can pretty much guarantee your group is home ruling SOMETHING at your table. The Rules at Written have been trampled over so many times that it's laughable. I LOVE THAT ABOUT THEM.

Oh, right. Podcasts. I forgot the podcasts. That's probably because I don't listen to them because I suck and you should hate me. Or sumfin'. If my cousin Hallie finds out I haven't watched/listened to Critical Role she's probably gonna kick my ass. I'll get around to it at some point. Probably. I should probably watch/review a season of something at some point. Someday. When I get the time. But never mind me. I know a lot of people love them and that's what matters.

Oh crap, I forgot the art. I love the art. Larry Elmore is basically the greatest artist ever to pick up a paint brush but there have been a whole bunch of amazeballs fantasy artists and a lot of them have made D&D related artwork. And then there are the magazines...

Listen, I've gotta work in the morning. I need to end this here.

And yes, I know the whole gaming license thing made some people mad. Wizards retracted all the crap and fixed the problem. Everyone is back to making their money again. It's all good. Let's all move on. 

Roll those dice. Have fun storming the castle. Kill the dragon. Loot the horde. Whine to your DM because you can't afford full plate at first level. But fire it up folks and let's lay some D&D. Thank you, Mr Gygax for the endless hours of fun and fellowship your creation has provided. Here's to hoping it lasts at least another fifty years.

Some Dungeons & Dragons related merchandise is available for purchase at the links below. If you click the links and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

Player's Handbook

Dungeon Master's Guide