Somebody call Piers Anthony, because I found an author who actually knows how to do humorous fantasy and it's not the way he did it. Seriously, I read two of the Xanth novels. One on purpose and the other because I was book starved and in a position where I couldn't get more. One of my friends gave it to me for free. I almost asked for my money back. I mean, it sucks because I really loved his Bio of Space Tyrant series but Oh my God, did the Xanth novels suck. Every joke was a bad pun. At least they eventually ended and I was able to get somewhere to buy a new Battletech novel. Now that I'm done nerd raging about something that has nothing to do with what I'm writing about...
I recently received a copy of P.A. Piatt's Redcaps Rising: A Walter Bailey Misadventure. He warned me that it would be funny, and he wasn't wrong. I love a good comedy, but very rarely have I seen it done well in a novel length work. P.A. Piatt managed to knock it out of the park though. I'll be honest. I found P.A. asking how to get more reviews in a Facebook group and told him to send me a copy. He sent me one, then told me it was humor. I got a little nervous and flashed back to dandy-lions and hypnogourds. I mean, dude's intials were even P.A. I was about to get Anthonied. The Xanth bomb was dropping. Oh God. Oh God, Oh... Wow. I'm actually enjoying this. How did that happen?
Seriously, the humor is well done and not always tasteful. That's okay, tasteless humor is my favorite kind. I'll say this much: Don't ever get hit with a curse in a Walter Bailey Misadventure. The cost of breaking it is just too damn high. Oh, and I'm not a fan of anything that involves a mullet. Really. Even if I end up with a curse sticking to my achy, breaky ass. I just couldn't do it. I'd have to live the rest of my life like that.
Redcaps Rising also turns into a written version of one of my favorite movie genres: The roadtrip flick. I have to admit that I've never seen a movie with quite as motley a crew as Redcaps Rising but it works. Our main character, Walter Bailey ends up in situations he never anticipated with friends and enemies he never would have believed possible and ends up traveling cross-country on the run. There are food fights and shenanigans. There are serious, worrisome moments. There is hijinks and hilarity. It's really well done.
And then Boosh farted.
BAM!
Anyway...
It occurs to me that Redcaps Rising included one of a very few prologues that I have ever enjoyed. It was entertaining. It set the stage for the story and it included characters that were in the rest of the story. Ordinarily prologues are against my religion, but I'll make an exception here. It's actually relevant.
Redcaps Rising started off like a mystery novel, but that only lasted a couple of chapters. I like that though. Not only does it show a bit of range as writer on the part of Piatt, but it was a good lead-in to the rest of the book. Walter needs a reason to start on his journey of laughs and the first couple of chapters do a good job of getting things headed in the right direction.
The cast of characters Redcaps Rising is slightly non-standard, but I mean that in a good way. The garden gnome is nutty. The elves that live in the shed are... well... not Tolkien-esque to put it mildly. The main character doesn't really seem to be the Chosen One. Seriously, Walter is just a guy doing what he can in a situation that he never really wanted. I don't want to spoil too much but the supporting cast isn't exactly archetypal either. He does an excellent job here.
I really like the way that Piatt brings fantasy races into the modern world. He is hardly the first author to write urban fantasy, but he gives an interesting take on the way the classic races would act in a modern world. His non-human races are not just cardboard cut outs either. They're real people who just don't happen to exist. They do things for the own motivations. From orcs to elves to gnomes to all kinds of crazy stuff. I kind of wish he had included a dwarf but that's just me. I have a thing for dwarves in fantasy stories.
This novel cooks. Something is always happening. There is no downtime and even a stop for dinner can turn into a riot. You never know what's coming next but it gets here quickly. I loved that aspect of this book. Redcaps Rising is far from being the longest book I've ever read, but it has more action than a lot of longer books. It doesn't take long to read and I never got bored. This one had me hooked all the way through.
My only real beef with Redcaps Rising is that I needed to see our chief villains more. My favorite part of any fantasy is hating the villain. The Redcap sisters are portrayed as evil and power hungry. Their minions are out for blood. It would be fun to spend more time with them though. I'd like to get to know them more. There is the potential for these three to be every bit as classic as the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz but he just hasn't taken them there yet. Then again, the series is The Misadventures (plural) of Walter Bailey, so maybe we'll get to know and hate them a bit more in future novels. Here's hoping anyway.
You know what? Yeah, I'm going to take it there. I was going to nominate Declan Finn for the Dragon Award for Best Fantasy. I think I'll still nominate him, but I'm going to move him down to Best Horror. He writes vampires after all. That makes it horror, right? I'm going to nominate Redcaps Rising for the Dragon Award for Best Fantasy Novel. I would urge all of you to buy and read the book and if you agree with me to nominate Piatt as well. How cool would it be to see someone you nominated on the final ballot. Help your boy out! Let's get this thing done. This work is that good. Take a bow, P.A.
Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Cursed Elves
Redcaps Rising
P.A. Piatt
Self Published, 2018
Redcaps Rising is available for purchase at the following link:
Thursday, April 12, 2018
Saturday, April 7, 2018
SF Awards That Do Matter, SF Awards That Don't Matter, and Why
First off, let me begin by stating what this post is not: This post is in no way meant to denigrate females, minorities, LBGT+ individuals or any damn other person who thinks they have an excuse to whine. I mean that. I want to see the fields of Science Fiction and Fantasy expand. I want to see people of all races, colors, creeds and all of that other crap come together over a really awesome hobby and have more fun than they know how to handle. Seriously. I review books, movies and comics. If you produce any of the above and would like to see your work reviewed here then please see the top right corner of the page and submit your work for review.
Oh, what's that? Right. You're reading this on your phone and can't see what I'm talking about because blogger shrinks things to make it all fit on your phone. Gotcha. That happens to me too. It's annoying as all get out. Well, here's what it says:
All submissions must be in .epub, .mobi or .pdf format. Only novella length or better works will be reviewed. All entries must be in the science fiction or fantasy genres. All submissions should be formatted in exactly the way they will be (or have been) released. Any exceptions to any of these rules will be deleted without reading. Please send any and all materials to thatjimboguy@gmail.com.
That's simple. It's easy. And I won't delete your work without reading it if you follow those guidelines. Nor will I ask you what your race/orientation/age/whatever else you think matters. I'm looking for good stories. That's all. If your story is good, you will get a good review. If it is bad, you will get a bad review. It's that simple. That's the way it should be. If you want equality, well, that's what it looks like. Same rights, same rules, same standards.
Unfortunately, it seems that neither the Hugos nor the Nebulas get this. Both seem to think that their awards should be limited to members of a small slice of the population. Both would have you believe that they're trying to be more inclusive, but they're lying. You don't become inclusive by excluding large segements of the population. That's not how it works. If you want to make an award "inclusive" then by all means allow PoCs and women and whoever compete. That's the way it's supposed to work. But handing someone an award simply because they're a female PoC (I'm looking at you Nebulas) is not "inclusion" it's EXclusion. Seriously. No, it's not a response to historical injustices. It is an injustice. Really.
Look, I know that the Nebula Award was limited to white writers for a long time. I'm aware that no woman won a Nebula the first three years they were given out. (The first female winners were Anne McCaffrey in 1968 for her novella "Dragonrider" and Kate Wilhelm for her short story "The Planner") And yes, I fully acknowledge that was sick, twisted and wrong. Yes, I'll use the word racist (and this was a racist practice) although that word is so overused that it no longer has meaning. In this case, it's actually true. Here's the thing Nebulas: You're acting the same way.
Yes, you read that right. There is no difference between excluding minorities and excluding white people. None whatsoever. I mean, you can make whatever excuses you want, but that's what it boils down to. The worst part about limiting the field (and that's what you've done) isn't even that you're leaving out talented people, although that's bad enough. No, the truth is even worse.
You're wronging your winners. When you deliberately excluded anyone who was not a female PoC in 2015 what you were in fact stating is that they couldn't write well enough to win an award if they had to compete with other demographics. Seriously. I'll be honest in stating that I don't know what percentage of SF/F authors are Female PoCs but I'm guessing it's pretty small. How many deserving authors who were not Female PoCs got screwed out of their chance to win an award because of their race and/or gender? I'm guessing it happened. What that means is that we have no way of knowing if those women actually deserved their award or not. Seriously. They didn't win that award for writing the best story in their category that year. They won their Nebulas for having dark skin and a vagina. Maybe their stories would have been good enough to win in a year with the full field competing, but maybe not.We'll never know. Oh, and when you've limited the field that far, it's not really a victory for "diversity" either. There's no "diversity" in a group of all PoC women. That's one demographic, not many.
Once you've destroyed an entire year's worth of your own awards you no longer matter. Sorry Nebulas, but you're irrelevant now. It's sad too, because when I first started shoveling snow for cash (no, my parents didn't pay me for that, but my dad let me borrow the snow shovel and go around the neighborhood) and later started making money with my first job in June of 1991 (I was fourteen) I used to look for books with a Nebula logo on them because it meant that I was getting a good book. Now publishers don't even bother putting a logo on the cover because the logo doesn't boost sales. Why? Because winning a Nebula no longer means that you've written a good book.
Okay, sidebar: Yes, there is a long history of women in SF/F. No, there was no need for a work entitled Women Destroy Science Fiction because women have been in the field for decades. For those that missed it, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was the first ever Science Fiction novel published in English and probably first ever period. Happy anniversary, ladies. Women have been making contributions in the field of Science Fiction since 1818 at the latest. That's two hundred years of inclusion. Anyone telling you otherwise is lying. Anyone publishing a collection claiming that they're "destroying" SF is either lying or an idiot. I'm guessing idiot since most of the people who push that kind of drek don't bother to learn the history. They just assume. But honestly, that's a different subject for a different blog. For further reference, see Kristine Katheryn Rusch's Women of Future's Past: Classic Stories.
Now, the Hugos. The Hugos lied to us for decades. They told us that they were the peoples awards. The were "voted on by the fans." Ummm...No. They're the awards of a cabal of self-interested individuals who give each other awards for having the correct political opinions. When Larry Correia started the Sad Puppies movement he remarked on this. He talked about the political bias of the voters because of the way he was treated at the Hugo Award Banquet as a nominee for the John W. Campbell Award. (For those who may not be aware, the Campbell Award is for Best New Author and is given out at the Hugo Awards Banquet.) He wanted to expose the awards for what they were. He succeeded.
Once "the Peoples' Awards" found out the wrong people were voting, they lost their minds. Larry Correia urged people to nominate his novel, Monster Hunter Legion. His goal was to make the establishment freak out because an author who did not push the correct political agenda had been nominated. It didn't attract much attention. The next year, however, it got ugly.
Correia put his own book, Warbound up for nomination, along with some other books that he had enjoyed. The Hugo voters lost their minds. Controversy flared. How dare this upstart author who had owned a gun store and supported the incorrect political causes encourage the great unwashed to vote in their awards? This guy was a *spit* conservative. He didn't belong here.
Then it got worse. The next year, the Puppies put together a strong campaign and dominated. Once again, the voters and officials lost went crazy. They decided to trash their own awards. The Pups had put forth more votes in the nominations than had ever been cast in one year in the history of the award. There were record numbers of memberships purchased. (A membership in WorldCon is required to vote. There is a cheaper membership offered for those who wish to vote but will not be attending the convention itself.) The members of the convention voted for no award to be given in most categories rather than allow someone who was nominated by people with the wrong politics to win.
And there you have it. Another award that practices inclusion by exclusion. Not only was the Hugo not the award of the people as they claimed to be they decided that they'd rather lock people out because they didn't conform to an archetype.Not only that, they risked destroying their own awards ( If the No Award result is elected in two straight years in a single category, the category is scrapped. They didn't know what would happen the following year. If the Pups had dominated the nominations again they could have ended up with no Best Novel award.) in order to keep people they didn't like off of the ballot.
Oh, and after decades of claiming to be the award of the fans, they exposed themselves as liars. The Hugo Award is an award given by the elites in the field to the people they like on a personal level. If you eat at the right table at the banquet and support the right causes you can win the award. It's not a Science Fiction award. It's a circle of people awarding their own for loyalty. It is not given for producing a good story and therefore has no relevance to the general public. Seriously, these awards are beneath notice and I'd like to thank Larry Correia, Brad Torgersen and Kate Paulk for their work in pointing that out.
It sucks. An award that was once prestigious has turned into a shadow of its former self. I used to search for Hugo Award winners on those same trips to the bookstore when I was looking for Nebula winners. Now I'd be more likely to leave a book on the shelf if I knew it were a Hugo winner than I would be to buy it. It's not an SF/F award anymore. It's a political award.
The only award that matters in a modern sense is the Dragon Award. Why? Because it is truly an award given by the people. Don't get me wrong. A black transwoman lesbian in a wheelchair could very well win the award, but so could a straight white male, or a gay Arabic male, or a genderfluid Asian person, or well.... you get the idea. The catch is that they would have to write a good story, invent a good game, be in a good movie, etc. to win the award. You're not going to get the votes just because of your demographic
There is no requirement to vote except an email address and you can get one of those for free. I would know. I have multiple email addresses and I don't pay for any of them. Most public libraries have computers you can use for free as well. That's if you don't have/want to use a smart phone to vote/nominate. (I personally don't like to use my phone. I've got fat fingers and the fields are too small and close together.Then again, I have a desktop computer.) Having said that, if you're the person nominating and you want to see your favorite genderqueer Native American then by all means nominate them! If you want to see them on the list of finalists though, you'd better get some friends to nominate along with you. If they're fans though, it shouldn't be hard to do. It won't cost them anything either and they should be happy to support the person/project they're a fan of.
This is an award that hasn't been spoiled by politics. It doesn't go to the same small clique of content producers every year. It goes to whoever the fans want it to go to. This really is the Peoples' Award. Anyone can win it if they can attract a big enough following. Anyone can get their favorite content producer nominated if they can organize a movement to do so. Seriously. Don't believe me? The nomination form is here. Go nominate some good stuff. If you want to nominate in every category, do so. If you don't want to nominate books and nothing else do that. You don't have to nominate in every category. I personally haven't played any new SF/F board games so I can promise you I won't be voting on that, but I will be voting in some other categories. I may share my slate, I may not. I'll nominate what I like. You nominate what you like. That's how it works.
Nominations are open until July 20, 2018. Not long after that, finalists will be named and the award will be given out at DragonCon which, according to the World's Most Awesome Girlfriend (TM), takes place at the end of August on the first weekend of college football season. I uhh... don't have the date handy, it's five thirty in the morning and I want to get this written and go to bed. I'm sure the dates are easy to google, but I'm just not feeling up to it.
So, just to quickly recap, if you freeze people out of your award for political or racial reasons (even if those people are white) you suck, you're irrelevant and you're not worth acknowledging. This includes both the Hugos and Nebulas, specifically. An award that accepts all (and all includes minorities, women and liberals but it also includes men, whites and conservatives) is worth voting for and getting excited about. Now go forth and vote! Err...Nominate now, vote later. Let's enjoy this thing together with everyone.
Oh, what's that? Right. You're reading this on your phone and can't see what I'm talking about because blogger shrinks things to make it all fit on your phone. Gotcha. That happens to me too. It's annoying as all get out. Well, here's what it says:
All submissions must be in .epub, .mobi or .pdf format. Only novella length or better works will be reviewed. All entries must be in the science fiction or fantasy genres. All submissions should be formatted in exactly the way they will be (or have been) released. Any exceptions to any of these rules will be deleted without reading. Please send any and all materials to thatjimboguy@gmail.com.
That's simple. It's easy. And I won't delete your work without reading it if you follow those guidelines. Nor will I ask you what your race/orientation/age/whatever else you think matters. I'm looking for good stories. That's all. If your story is good, you will get a good review. If it is bad, you will get a bad review. It's that simple. That's the way it should be. If you want equality, well, that's what it looks like. Same rights, same rules, same standards.
Unfortunately, it seems that neither the Hugos nor the Nebulas get this. Both seem to think that their awards should be limited to members of a small slice of the population. Both would have you believe that they're trying to be more inclusive, but they're lying. You don't become inclusive by excluding large segements of the population. That's not how it works. If you want to make an award "inclusive" then by all means allow PoCs and women and whoever compete. That's the way it's supposed to work. But handing someone an award simply because they're a female PoC (I'm looking at you Nebulas) is not "inclusion" it's EXclusion. Seriously. No, it's not a response to historical injustices. It is an injustice. Really.
Look, I know that the Nebula Award was limited to white writers for a long time. I'm aware that no woman won a Nebula the first three years they were given out. (The first female winners were Anne McCaffrey in 1968 for her novella "Dragonrider" and Kate Wilhelm for her short story "The Planner") And yes, I fully acknowledge that was sick, twisted and wrong. Yes, I'll use the word racist (and this was a racist practice) although that word is so overused that it no longer has meaning. In this case, it's actually true. Here's the thing Nebulas: You're acting the same way.
Yes, you read that right. There is no difference between excluding minorities and excluding white people. None whatsoever. I mean, you can make whatever excuses you want, but that's what it boils down to. The worst part about limiting the field (and that's what you've done) isn't even that you're leaving out talented people, although that's bad enough. No, the truth is even worse.
You're wronging your winners. When you deliberately excluded anyone who was not a female PoC in 2015 what you were in fact stating is that they couldn't write well enough to win an award if they had to compete with other demographics. Seriously. I'll be honest in stating that I don't know what percentage of SF/F authors are Female PoCs but I'm guessing it's pretty small. How many deserving authors who were not Female PoCs got screwed out of their chance to win an award because of their race and/or gender? I'm guessing it happened. What that means is that we have no way of knowing if those women actually deserved their award or not. Seriously. They didn't win that award for writing the best story in their category that year. They won their Nebulas for having dark skin and a vagina. Maybe their stories would have been good enough to win in a year with the full field competing, but maybe not.We'll never know. Oh, and when you've limited the field that far, it's not really a victory for "diversity" either. There's no "diversity" in a group of all PoC women. That's one demographic, not many.
Once you've destroyed an entire year's worth of your own awards you no longer matter. Sorry Nebulas, but you're irrelevant now. It's sad too, because when I first started shoveling snow for cash (no, my parents didn't pay me for that, but my dad let me borrow the snow shovel and go around the neighborhood) and later started making money with my first job in June of 1991 (I was fourteen) I used to look for books with a Nebula logo on them because it meant that I was getting a good book. Now publishers don't even bother putting a logo on the cover because the logo doesn't boost sales. Why? Because winning a Nebula no longer means that you've written a good book.
Okay, sidebar: Yes, there is a long history of women in SF/F. No, there was no need for a work entitled Women Destroy Science Fiction because women have been in the field for decades. For those that missed it, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was the first ever Science Fiction novel published in English and probably first ever period. Happy anniversary, ladies. Women have been making contributions in the field of Science Fiction since 1818 at the latest. That's two hundred years of inclusion. Anyone telling you otherwise is lying. Anyone publishing a collection claiming that they're "destroying" SF is either lying or an idiot. I'm guessing idiot since most of the people who push that kind of drek don't bother to learn the history. They just assume. But honestly, that's a different subject for a different blog. For further reference, see Kristine Katheryn Rusch's Women of Future's Past: Classic Stories.
Now, the Hugos. The Hugos lied to us for decades. They told us that they were the peoples awards. The were "voted on by the fans." Ummm...No. They're the awards of a cabal of self-interested individuals who give each other awards for having the correct political opinions. When Larry Correia started the Sad Puppies movement he remarked on this. He talked about the political bias of the voters because of the way he was treated at the Hugo Award Banquet as a nominee for the John W. Campbell Award. (For those who may not be aware, the Campbell Award is for Best New Author and is given out at the Hugo Awards Banquet.) He wanted to expose the awards for what they were. He succeeded.
Once "the Peoples' Awards" found out the wrong people were voting, they lost their minds. Larry Correia urged people to nominate his novel, Monster Hunter Legion. His goal was to make the establishment freak out because an author who did not push the correct political agenda had been nominated. It didn't attract much attention. The next year, however, it got ugly.
Correia put his own book, Warbound up for nomination, along with some other books that he had enjoyed. The Hugo voters lost their minds. Controversy flared. How dare this upstart author who had owned a gun store and supported the incorrect political causes encourage the great unwashed to vote in their awards? This guy was a *spit* conservative. He didn't belong here.
Then it got worse. The next year, the Puppies put together a strong campaign and dominated. Once again, the voters and officials lost went crazy. They decided to trash their own awards. The Pups had put forth more votes in the nominations than had ever been cast in one year in the history of the award. There were record numbers of memberships purchased. (A membership in WorldCon is required to vote. There is a cheaper membership offered for those who wish to vote but will not be attending the convention itself.) The members of the convention voted for no award to be given in most categories rather than allow someone who was nominated by people with the wrong politics to win.
And there you have it. Another award that practices inclusion by exclusion. Not only was the Hugo not the award of the people as they claimed to be they decided that they'd rather lock people out because they didn't conform to an archetype.Not only that, they risked destroying their own awards ( If the No Award result is elected in two straight years in a single category, the category is scrapped. They didn't know what would happen the following year. If the Pups had dominated the nominations again they could have ended up with no Best Novel award.) in order to keep people they didn't like off of the ballot.
Oh, and after decades of claiming to be the award of the fans, they exposed themselves as liars. The Hugo Award is an award given by the elites in the field to the people they like on a personal level. If you eat at the right table at the banquet and support the right causes you can win the award. It's not a Science Fiction award. It's a circle of people awarding their own for loyalty. It is not given for producing a good story and therefore has no relevance to the general public. Seriously, these awards are beneath notice and I'd like to thank Larry Correia, Brad Torgersen and Kate Paulk for their work in pointing that out.
It sucks. An award that was once prestigious has turned into a shadow of its former self. I used to search for Hugo Award winners on those same trips to the bookstore when I was looking for Nebula winners. Now I'd be more likely to leave a book on the shelf if I knew it were a Hugo winner than I would be to buy it. It's not an SF/F award anymore. It's a political award.
The only award that matters in a modern sense is the Dragon Award. Why? Because it is truly an award given by the people. Don't get me wrong. A black transwoman lesbian in a wheelchair could very well win the award, but so could a straight white male, or a gay Arabic male, or a genderfluid Asian person, or well.... you get the idea. The catch is that they would have to write a good story, invent a good game, be in a good movie, etc. to win the award. You're not going to get the votes just because of your demographic
There is no requirement to vote except an email address and you can get one of those for free. I would know. I have multiple email addresses and I don't pay for any of them. Most public libraries have computers you can use for free as well. That's if you don't have/want to use a smart phone to vote/nominate. (I personally don't like to use my phone. I've got fat fingers and the fields are too small and close together.Then again, I have a desktop computer.) Having said that, if you're the person nominating and you want to see your favorite genderqueer Native American then by all means nominate them! If you want to see them on the list of finalists though, you'd better get some friends to nominate along with you. If they're fans though, it shouldn't be hard to do. It won't cost them anything either and they should be happy to support the person/project they're a fan of.
This is an award that hasn't been spoiled by politics. It doesn't go to the same small clique of content producers every year. It goes to whoever the fans want it to go to. This really is the Peoples' Award. Anyone can win it if they can attract a big enough following. Anyone can get their favorite content producer nominated if they can organize a movement to do so. Seriously. Don't believe me? The nomination form is here. Go nominate some good stuff. If you want to nominate in every category, do so. If you don't want to nominate books and nothing else do that. You don't have to nominate in every category. I personally haven't played any new SF/F board games so I can promise you I won't be voting on that, but I will be voting in some other categories. I may share my slate, I may not. I'll nominate what I like. You nominate what you like. That's how it works.
Nominations are open until July 20, 2018. Not long after that, finalists will be named and the award will be given out at DragonCon which, according to the World's Most Awesome Girlfriend (TM), takes place at the end of August on the first weekend of college football season. I uhh... don't have the date handy, it's five thirty in the morning and I want to get this written and go to bed. I'm sure the dates are easy to google, but I'm just not feeling up to it.
So, just to quickly recap, if you freeze people out of your award for political or racial reasons (even if those people are white) you suck, you're irrelevant and you're not worth acknowledging. This includes both the Hugos and Nebulas, specifically. An award that accepts all (and all includes minorities, women and liberals but it also includes men, whites and conservatives) is worth voting for and getting excited about. Now go forth and vote! Err...Nominate now, vote later. Let's enjoy this thing together with everyone.
Friday, April 6, 2018
The Prince of Artemis V Written by Jennifer Brozek Artwork by Elizabeth Guizzetti
Long ago, in a decade now remembered as "The Eighties" my neighbor Dennis brought open a large box. I wasn't sure what was in it, but once he saw me playing in the yard, he made me carry it into the house. Once there, he opened it and showed the contents to my father. They were comic books. On those pages of wonder were stories of mutants, stories of transforming robots, stories of beings with power rings who could travel the stars through the force of their will...
I fell in love. My love of science fiction and fantasy broadened. Then, in the fullness of time, I started a blog. I went out on a limb with my first post and stated that comic books were indeed part of the universe of Science Fiction and Fantasy (which I consider to be an incontrovertible fact but others disagree with) and proceeded to...
Never do a review of a comic book, Well, at least until now. What you are reading is a moment I've been waiting for since I started this blog. I GET TO REVIEW A COMIC BOOK!!! And it's a good one too.
The Prince of Artemis V is a pretty awesome story. It goes quickly, as comics are wont to do, but it's full of action. I find it kind of ironic that the story takes place in dreams but it's so entertaining. Actually, maybe I don't. It's not like A Nightmare on Elm Street was ever boring. At any rate, the story is a good one and asks a lot of questions.
There is a mystery with this book, but it's not one that is solved/revealed by the end of the story. That's okay. The characters themselves know who the villains are.. sort of. They know that they're older brother was a victim, but not why. The weird thing about this comic is that, while there is a name for the villains, no one knows who they really are or why they do what they do.
I'm really hoping that there is a sequel coming to this story. There is so much here that is unknown that I'd love to see revealed at some future date. Note that this is meant as a compliment to the author of the piece. I want to see more! I want to know more! This is a good thing. If I ever get something published (Don't hold your breath waiting) it's the response I want. There needs to be more here. I want to know more.
Ok, so this one ends on a cliffhanger and I'm not a fan of cliffhangers. I've stated that many times before. The fact remains that they're a good marketing tactic because they make you want to buy the next book and/or watch the next episode. This one is no exception, or it wouldn't be if I knew there was a sequel coming to answer some of these questions. We'll see what Brozek, Guizzetti and Apocalypse Ink decide to do, but I think it's fairly obvious what my suggestion would be.
When talking about a comic, one must always mention the art. Elizabeth Guizzetti has done and outstanding job here. This book is beautiful. The people come alive on the page. The facial expressions do an awesome job of portraying emotion. There is a picture of a castle (supposedly drawn by one of the characters) that just sings to me. Guizzetti has created an amazing world with her drawings. Seriously. I want to travel to the planet of the Takers (assuming that it's accurately represented in the dreams) and I damn sure don't want to be anywhere near the misery of Artemis V, the dark, dreary world where life sucks, everything is dreary and kids disappear. Granted, both were created by Brozek with her writing (and she did a damn good job) but it's Guizzetti's artwork that really brings it to life. She really needs to take a bow.
The majority of the action in this story takes place between the members of the royal family on Artemis V. It feels real. The family has suffered a horrible loss and it shows. Hurt feelings and resentment abound. Through it though, the fact that they love each other is obvious. They look out for each other, tying their legs together to avoid being taken. Mom makes her kids wear their coats. In a weird way, the mundane things about the story and the family interactions are what make the fantastic elements of the story work. All of the normal stuff is so believable that everything else just fits in place around it.
My only complaint is that this work doesn't really provide the satisfying ending I wanted. I was really hoping that something would be revealed about the Takers. I wanted to know more. So, I guess my main complaint is the same as my chief compliment: There needs to be more here. If the Takers are taking kids, why? What do they hope to gain by it? They state that they're doing it for the good of the children, but are they really? I mean, they could be but that doesn't mean they are.
All in all though, I really enjoyed this comic. I can't wait to see more from the creative team that came up from this one, whether together or separately. I'd pay for another installment.
Bottom Line: 4.5 out of 5 Awesome Illustrations
The Prince of Artemis V
Written by Jennifer Brozek Artwork by Elizabeth Guizzetti
Apocalypse Ink Productions, 2018
The Price of Artemis V is available at the following link:
I fell in love. My love of science fiction and fantasy broadened. Then, in the fullness of time, I started a blog. I went out on a limb with my first post and stated that comic books were indeed part of the universe of Science Fiction and Fantasy (which I consider to be an incontrovertible fact but others disagree with) and proceeded to...
Never do a review of a comic book, Well, at least until now. What you are reading is a moment I've been waiting for since I started this blog. I GET TO REVIEW A COMIC BOOK!!! And it's a good one too.
The Prince of Artemis V is a pretty awesome story. It goes quickly, as comics are wont to do, but it's full of action. I find it kind of ironic that the story takes place in dreams but it's so entertaining. Actually, maybe I don't. It's not like A Nightmare on Elm Street was ever boring. At any rate, the story is a good one and asks a lot of questions.
There is a mystery with this book, but it's not one that is solved/revealed by the end of the story. That's okay. The characters themselves know who the villains are.. sort of. They know that they're older brother was a victim, but not why. The weird thing about this comic is that, while there is a name for the villains, no one knows who they really are or why they do what they do.
I'm really hoping that there is a sequel coming to this story. There is so much here that is unknown that I'd love to see revealed at some future date. Note that this is meant as a compliment to the author of the piece. I want to see more! I want to know more! This is a good thing. If I ever get something published (Don't hold your breath waiting) it's the response I want. There needs to be more here. I want to know more.
Ok, so this one ends on a cliffhanger and I'm not a fan of cliffhangers. I've stated that many times before. The fact remains that they're a good marketing tactic because they make you want to buy the next book and/or watch the next episode. This one is no exception, or it wouldn't be if I knew there was a sequel coming to answer some of these questions. We'll see what Brozek, Guizzetti and Apocalypse Ink decide to do, but I think it's fairly obvious what my suggestion would be.
When talking about a comic, one must always mention the art. Elizabeth Guizzetti has done and outstanding job here. This book is beautiful. The people come alive on the page. The facial expressions do an awesome job of portraying emotion. There is a picture of a castle (supposedly drawn by one of the characters) that just sings to me. Guizzetti has created an amazing world with her drawings. Seriously. I want to travel to the planet of the Takers (assuming that it's accurately represented in the dreams) and I damn sure don't want to be anywhere near the misery of Artemis V, the dark, dreary world where life sucks, everything is dreary and kids disappear. Granted, both were created by Brozek with her writing (and she did a damn good job) but it's Guizzetti's artwork that really brings it to life. She really needs to take a bow.
The majority of the action in this story takes place between the members of the royal family on Artemis V. It feels real. The family has suffered a horrible loss and it shows. Hurt feelings and resentment abound. Through it though, the fact that they love each other is obvious. They look out for each other, tying their legs together to avoid being taken. Mom makes her kids wear their coats. In a weird way, the mundane things about the story and the family interactions are what make the fantastic elements of the story work. All of the normal stuff is so believable that everything else just fits in place around it.
My only complaint is that this work doesn't really provide the satisfying ending I wanted. I was really hoping that something would be revealed about the Takers. I wanted to know more. So, I guess my main complaint is the same as my chief compliment: There needs to be more here. If the Takers are taking kids, why? What do they hope to gain by it? They state that they're doing it for the good of the children, but are they really? I mean, they could be but that doesn't mean they are.
All in all though, I really enjoyed this comic. I can't wait to see more from the creative team that came up from this one, whether together or separately. I'd pay for another installment.
Bottom Line: 4.5 out of 5 Awesome Illustrations
The Prince of Artemis V
Written by Jennifer Brozek Artwork by Elizabeth Guizzetti
Apocalypse Ink Productions, 2018
The Price of Artemis V is available at the following link:
Thursday, April 5, 2018
Warner Brothers Ready Player One
So I went to see Ready Player One today. Fans of my blog will remember that I recently reviewed the book. This time, it's the movie and I kind of have an odd reaction to it. I'm going to try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, but a lot of my reaction to the movie was based on where it differed from the book. Basically if you haven't read and seen both and you don't like spoilers...Uhhh.... I've done some other posts you might like, I guess. I'm not saying you're not welcome to read. Everyone is welcome here. I'm just saying you may not want to. Spoilers start in the next paragraph.
If Ready Player One were a standalone movie, it would have been freaking awesome. The 80s nostalgia was was again excellent, even if there wasn't as much of it. Then again, it's just not possible to fit as much into a movie as it is into a book. I get that. It was just kind of weird. Don't get me wrong. I really enjoyed this movie. It just felt like it was missing a lot of the background.
Actually, let me get this out of my system now. They changed A LOT of the book for this movie. A whole lot. A huge, quivering mass of lot was transformed from what it was in the book to what it became in the movie. I don't know if I can remember it all, but I'll try.
First off is the relationship between the characters. Somehow, Parzival, a lone gunter, ends up in a semi-alliance (not a clan, because "I don't clan up") in the first five minutes of the movie. In the book, Art3mis is a blogger that Parzival (he's our hero) has a thing for. At first she wants nothing to do with him. Then they meet and fall in love in the Oasis. They don't meet until the last couple of pages of the book though. In the movie, they're in each other's physical presence in meatspace for a good chunk of the movie. Daito and Sho work together for the whole book but Parzival doesn't know much about them until they get onto the scoreboard. In the movies they're all chilling on Planet Doom together at the beginning. Aech and Parzival do hangout throughout the book and the movie, so I guess that stays the same.
It's not just the relationships either, although that is probably the biggest thing. Stories are about characters. There are a lot of other differences as well. The wrong character infiltrates the IOI stronghold the wrong way. Odgen Morrow doesn't show up until the challenges are over. That's a major subplot that gets thrown to the wolves. It drives me bonkers. Probably the biggest problem I have with the movie is what they've done, not to Wade Watts the human, but to Parzival the avatar.
In the book, Parzival is a broke-ass n00b. He has to hitch rides to low level planets to kill kobolds to make copper to try to level a little and get some coins. I really don't see how he could have paid for that Delorean. It really sucks to be him. He wouldn't last five seconds in player versus player combat in a place like Planet Doom. He's too weak and way too undergeared. For all of my WoW players out there (and others who will probably still get the reference) he's basically a level six toon in gear with no gear gifted from another toon and Planet Doom is a max-level battleground. Yeah, deadski. Game over man! Seriously. Parzival is the kind of toon that you would roll up on with your caster and kill with your staff because he wasn't worth the mana. But somehow he has a high enough level with good enough gear to go to Planet Doom to make money off the enemies he kills. The fact that he's able to level up his toon after getting the first key is a major thing in the book. The movie completely cuts it out.
Oh, did I say key? That is another huge change. In the book, the first key has been hidden for five years. No one knows where to go to get it. Parzival ditches his hangout time with Aech when he figures it out and heads to go get the first key. After he gets the first key, he has to solve the clue to the whereabouts of the first gate. He has to get to the first gate and solve the puzzle there before continuing and so on for the next two keys. In the movie everyone knows where to go to get the first key, it's just a matter of doing what needs to be done. Once Parzival gets the key, the gate appears in front of him. He puts the key in and that's it. Credit achieved. It takes a lot of the suspense out of the story. Ok, now I'm done whining.
Wow, I just realized that I totally nerd raged about a movie that I really freaking enjoyed. Sorry if I gave the wrong impression.
At any rate...
Viewed on its own terms, this really is a good movie. The plot moves. It's action packed. The characters are believable. I'm really getting into SF that goes back and forth between the "real" world and the online universe. This is the type of thing that makes sense in a modern context. How much time do people in the here and now, Planet Earth, 2018 spend online? How much more time do gamers spend online? Dear lord, how much time have I spent gaming online? It just makes sense that this will continue into the future. I don't see it ever quite getting to the point that it gets to in Ready Player One but it could. With the appearance of Bitcoin, it even seems realistic that online currency would have real world value as well.
Ready Player One is visually gorgeous, except in the instance when it is intentionally ugly. I went and saw it in 3D (which I highly recommend if you can come up with an extra few bucks) and it was stunning. Seriously. Explosions, gunfire, magic, drones, mecha, it all looks wonderful. There is so much here and anything that is meant to be recognized is easy to recognize. Seriously, I saw the 1970s Batmobile, a Gundam, the Iron Giant, Mechagodzilla, you name it.
Not all of the graphics were licensed from other products either. The avatars in the movie were amazing. I-Rok was awesome. Sorrento looked sweet. Honestly, Parzival didn't but he wasn't supposed to. Being broke has its drawbacks after all. All in all though, the unique aspects of the story were amazing. I loved it.
The acting was good as well. When Wade finally got to kiss the girl I wanted to cheer for him. When Art3mis gets taken by IOI the freak out on her face looked real. If that was really Tye Sheridan in those last couple of chase scenes then that kid can take a sick bump.
All in all, this really was a good movie. Others have complained that it was too long but it needed this much time. There really wasn't anything they could have eliminated that wouldn't have made Ready Player One worse by its absence. One of my college professors used to have a saying about a story, "It needs to be like a woman's skirt, long enough to cover the subject, but short enough to keep things interesting." I think two hours and twenty minutes fits that description to a T. It just worked.
I may have been a bit harsh earlier as well. Although the movie does abandon many of the particulars of the book, it does retain a large part of the spirit of the book. This is still the story of a bunch of plucky freedom fighters trying to keep the corporation from taking over their playground. It still combines danger in the real world and the Oasis. It still holds your attention and won't let go. It's still a great story.
Bottom Line as a Stand Alone Movie: 4.75 out of 5 Easter Eggs
Bottom Line as a Translation of the Novel: 3.5 out of 5 Easter Eggs
Ready Player One
Warner Brothers Entertainment, 2018
Ready Player One is available for purchase the following links:
If Ready Player One were a standalone movie, it would have been freaking awesome. The 80s nostalgia was was again excellent, even if there wasn't as much of it. Then again, it's just not possible to fit as much into a movie as it is into a book. I get that. It was just kind of weird. Don't get me wrong. I really enjoyed this movie. It just felt like it was missing a lot of the background.
Actually, let me get this out of my system now. They changed A LOT of the book for this movie. A whole lot. A huge, quivering mass of lot was transformed from what it was in the book to what it became in the movie. I don't know if I can remember it all, but I'll try.
First off is the relationship between the characters. Somehow, Parzival, a lone gunter, ends up in a semi-alliance (not a clan, because "I don't clan up") in the first five minutes of the movie. In the book, Art3mis is a blogger that Parzival (he's our hero) has a thing for. At first she wants nothing to do with him. Then they meet and fall in love in the Oasis. They don't meet until the last couple of pages of the book though. In the movie, they're in each other's physical presence in meatspace for a good chunk of the movie. Daito and Sho work together for the whole book but Parzival doesn't know much about them until they get onto the scoreboard. In the movies they're all chilling on Planet Doom together at the beginning. Aech and Parzival do hangout throughout the book and the movie, so I guess that stays the same.
It's not just the relationships either, although that is probably the biggest thing. Stories are about characters. There are a lot of other differences as well. The wrong character infiltrates the IOI stronghold the wrong way. Odgen Morrow doesn't show up until the challenges are over. That's a major subplot that gets thrown to the wolves. It drives me bonkers. Probably the biggest problem I have with the movie is what they've done, not to Wade Watts the human, but to Parzival the avatar.
In the book, Parzival is a broke-ass n00b. He has to hitch rides to low level planets to kill kobolds to make copper to try to level a little and get some coins. I really don't see how he could have paid for that Delorean. It really sucks to be him. He wouldn't last five seconds in player versus player combat in a place like Planet Doom. He's too weak and way too undergeared. For all of my WoW players out there (and others who will probably still get the reference) he's basically a level six toon in gear with no gear gifted from another toon and Planet Doom is a max-level battleground. Yeah, deadski. Game over man! Seriously. Parzival is the kind of toon that you would roll up on with your caster and kill with your staff because he wasn't worth the mana. But somehow he has a high enough level with good enough gear to go to Planet Doom to make money off the enemies he kills. The fact that he's able to level up his toon after getting the first key is a major thing in the book. The movie completely cuts it out.
Oh, did I say key? That is another huge change. In the book, the first key has been hidden for five years. No one knows where to go to get it. Parzival ditches his hangout time with Aech when he figures it out and heads to go get the first key. After he gets the first key, he has to solve the clue to the whereabouts of the first gate. He has to get to the first gate and solve the puzzle there before continuing and so on for the next two keys. In the movie everyone knows where to go to get the first key, it's just a matter of doing what needs to be done. Once Parzival gets the key, the gate appears in front of him. He puts the key in and that's it. Credit achieved. It takes a lot of the suspense out of the story. Ok, now I'm done whining.
Wow, I just realized that I totally nerd raged about a movie that I really freaking enjoyed. Sorry if I gave the wrong impression.
At any rate...
Viewed on its own terms, this really is a good movie. The plot moves. It's action packed. The characters are believable. I'm really getting into SF that goes back and forth between the "real" world and the online universe. This is the type of thing that makes sense in a modern context. How much time do people in the here and now, Planet Earth, 2018 spend online? How much more time do gamers spend online? Dear lord, how much time have I spent gaming online? It just makes sense that this will continue into the future. I don't see it ever quite getting to the point that it gets to in Ready Player One but it could. With the appearance of Bitcoin, it even seems realistic that online currency would have real world value as well.
Ready Player One is visually gorgeous, except in the instance when it is intentionally ugly. I went and saw it in 3D (which I highly recommend if you can come up with an extra few bucks) and it was stunning. Seriously. Explosions, gunfire, magic, drones, mecha, it all looks wonderful. There is so much here and anything that is meant to be recognized is easy to recognize. Seriously, I saw the 1970s Batmobile, a Gundam, the Iron Giant, Mechagodzilla, you name it.
Not all of the graphics were licensed from other products either. The avatars in the movie were amazing. I-Rok was awesome. Sorrento looked sweet. Honestly, Parzival didn't but he wasn't supposed to. Being broke has its drawbacks after all. All in all though, the unique aspects of the story were amazing. I loved it.
The acting was good as well. When Wade finally got to kiss the girl I wanted to cheer for him. When Art3mis gets taken by IOI the freak out on her face looked real. If that was really Tye Sheridan in those last couple of chase scenes then that kid can take a sick bump.
All in all, this really was a good movie. Others have complained that it was too long but it needed this much time. There really wasn't anything they could have eliminated that wouldn't have made Ready Player One worse by its absence. One of my college professors used to have a saying about a story, "It needs to be like a woman's skirt, long enough to cover the subject, but short enough to keep things interesting." I think two hours and twenty minutes fits that description to a T. It just worked.
I may have been a bit harsh earlier as well. Although the movie does abandon many of the particulars of the book, it does retain a large part of the spirit of the book. This is still the story of a bunch of plucky freedom fighters trying to keep the corporation from taking over their playground. It still combines danger in the real world and the Oasis. It still holds your attention and won't let go. It's still a great story.
Bottom Line as a Stand Alone Movie: 4.75 out of 5 Easter Eggs
Bottom Line as a Translation of the Novel: 3.5 out of 5 Easter Eggs
Ready Player One
Warner Brothers Entertainment, 2018
Ready Player One is available for purchase the following links:
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars by Warren Hammond and Joshua Viola
(First off, I'd like to again thank Warren Hammond, co-author of this Denver Moon:The Minds of Mars for his guest post. You rock Warren! Also, there is a review of the Denver Moon trade paperback coming, but I'm waiting until I get the third comic as I plan to review the whole thing at once. Also, the ARC of the novel that I received came with a copy of the short story that got turned into the TPB, I'm holding off on reviewing that until I can review the TPB itself.I did enjoy it. It's just not time to review it yet.)
I grew up on far-future science fiction. Humanity had colonized the stars. Whether it was (ironically) long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away or the final frontier, humanity had spread far beyond the limits of the Solar System and into the far reaches of space. What humanity found among the stars varied widely of course. Usually it was aliens but not always. Always though, we were outside of our Solar System and among the stars. It wasn't until I got older that I experienced SF and the struggle to make things much closer to home work. What I've found though, is that I've thoroughly enjoyed the battles that I first became aware of as a result of reading Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy. It's not all that surprising that I thought of that either, given the fact that I'm reviewing Warren Hammond and Joshua Viola's Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars. This book has all of the fun of near future SF and some unique twists as well. I had fun with this one.
Denver Moon is our title character and she is a bit unusual. For one, she's a colorblind private eye. This makes things a bit unusual. I was skeptical that this would work when I first realized it, but as I was reading it didn't harm the story at all. As a matter of fact, Denver actually needed to be a monochrome because of some later parts of the story.
As befits a story about a detective, DM:TMOM is a mystery. The great thing about this being a mystery is that it's an EPIC mystery. I recently reviewed Ready Player One and this Denver Moon is out to solve a mystery that is every bit as big and as important as the mystery in RPO but even more important... even if our heroine doesn't realize that at first.
Probably the best part about this book is all of the twists and turns that it takes. Every time you think the mystery is solved it gets deeper. I've read mysteries since my days as a fan of the Hardy Boys and you don't see this in a lot of places. Lots of mysteries are murder mysteries (ala just about every police procedural on TV) and once you know whodunit the story is over. Not so much here. It actually reaches the point where the solution to the initial mystery just introduces the next one, which morphs into another one you didn't even know existed. This thing doesn't stop and it doesn't rest.
Things are not always as they appear here either. The people you think are your friends may not be. The people you believe are the villains might just be heroes. You'll know who is who by the end of the book (at least I think I do now) but it's not until the last few pages that everything sorts itself out... probably. I think. Unless I'm wrong. Which I may be, but there's a sequel coming and once I read that... Well, who knows. This thing has a bunch of twists and it's intended as a series so there could be a bunch more coming. I'm not making any guarantees here, except to buy the next one. Oh, and I also promise to stay
Speaking as a man who fired his first BB gun at the age of five and his first rifle at the age of eight, I have to give props to Hammond and Viola for placing Moon's person AI in his pistol. Smith, as the AI is known is a mix between a high powered computer, a best friend and a tactical advising/targeting system. Oh, and toss in a smartgun feature ala the first (and possible later) edition(s) of Shadowrun. Smith is freaking awesome. I want like six of these things. It doesn't get any better than this. Putting an AI in a private eye's gun makes every bit as much sense as giving Tony Stark access to Jarvis in his Iron Man suit. Both AIs are integral parts of the characters they partner with as well as being characters in their own right.
One of the key aspects of the mysteries that Moon tries to solve is "The Feve". The feve is a disease that effects the brain and causes extreme violence. No one is sure what causes it. Everyone knows that only monochromatic individuals are immune to it, but no one is sure why. It could be because so much of Mars is red or it may not be. All that they know for sure about the feve is that it comes randomly and without warning. People are scared and they should be.
Hammond and Viola manage to avoid two of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to mysteries: They don't bring in a solution out of nowhere that makes no sense. They didn't telegraph the eventual ending of the book in the first then pages. Those two facts combine to make this mystery worth reading. I want a mystery that keeps me wondering and DM:TMOM definitely does. I could read this all day long. Actually, I did read most of it during a slow shift at work. Thank God for cellphones and their lit up faces. I drive a cab on the midnight shift and this book gave me something to focus on and stay awake. It kept me interested when I got fatigued. That's about the biggest compliment I know how to give to a book.
Now, I don't do spoilers, so I'll just leave this here and let the reader figure out if they can figure out why I wrote it. Ready? I have a very strong and visceral dislike for cliffhanger endings, especially in books when you don't know when the sequel is coming. I get the fact that they're somewhat entertaining as well as a good business move. I just don't like them. That much being said, this is still a really good book. I can't wait to read the next one.
Bottom Line: 4.5 out of 5 Martian Rocks
Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars
Warren Hammond and Joshua Viola
Hex Publishers, 2018
Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars is available for purchase at the link below:
I grew up on far-future science fiction. Humanity had colonized the stars. Whether it was (ironically) long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away or the final frontier, humanity had spread far beyond the limits of the Solar System and into the far reaches of space. What humanity found among the stars varied widely of course. Usually it was aliens but not always. Always though, we were outside of our Solar System and among the stars. It wasn't until I got older that I experienced SF and the struggle to make things much closer to home work. What I've found though, is that I've thoroughly enjoyed the battles that I first became aware of as a result of reading Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy. It's not all that surprising that I thought of that either, given the fact that I'm reviewing Warren Hammond and Joshua Viola's Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars. This book has all of the fun of near future SF and some unique twists as well. I had fun with this one.
Denver Moon is our title character and she is a bit unusual. For one, she's a colorblind private eye. This makes things a bit unusual. I was skeptical that this would work when I first realized it, but as I was reading it didn't harm the story at all. As a matter of fact, Denver actually needed to be a monochrome because of some later parts of the story.
As befits a story about a detective, DM:TMOM is a mystery. The great thing about this being a mystery is that it's an EPIC mystery. I recently reviewed Ready Player One and this Denver Moon is out to solve a mystery that is every bit as big and as important as the mystery in RPO but even more important... even if our heroine doesn't realize that at first.
Probably the best part about this book is all of the twists and turns that it takes. Every time you think the mystery is solved it gets deeper. I've read mysteries since my days as a fan of the Hardy Boys and you don't see this in a lot of places. Lots of mysteries are murder mysteries (ala just about every police procedural on TV) and once you know whodunit the story is over. Not so much here. It actually reaches the point where the solution to the initial mystery just introduces the next one, which morphs into another one you didn't even know existed. This thing doesn't stop and it doesn't rest.
Things are not always as they appear here either. The people you think are your friends may not be. The people you believe are the villains might just be heroes. You'll know who is who by the end of the book (at least I think I do now) but it's not until the last few pages that everything sorts itself out... probably. I think. Unless I'm wrong. Which I may be, but there's a sequel coming and once I read that... Well, who knows. This thing has a bunch of twists and it's intended as a series so there could be a bunch more coming. I'm not making any guarantees here, except to buy the next one. Oh, and I also promise to stay
Speaking as a man who fired his first BB gun at the age of five and his first rifle at the age of eight, I have to give props to Hammond and Viola for placing Moon's person AI in his pistol. Smith, as the AI is known is a mix between a high powered computer, a best friend and a tactical advising/targeting system. Oh, and toss in a smartgun feature ala the first (and possible later) edition(s) of Shadowrun. Smith is freaking awesome. I want like six of these things. It doesn't get any better than this. Putting an AI in a private eye's gun makes every bit as much sense as giving Tony Stark access to Jarvis in his Iron Man suit. Both AIs are integral parts of the characters they partner with as well as being characters in their own right.
One of the key aspects of the mysteries that Moon tries to solve is "The Feve". The feve is a disease that effects the brain and causes extreme violence. No one is sure what causes it. Everyone knows that only monochromatic individuals are immune to it, but no one is sure why. It could be because so much of Mars is red or it may not be. All that they know for sure about the feve is that it comes randomly and without warning. People are scared and they should be.
Hammond and Viola manage to avoid two of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to mysteries: They don't bring in a solution out of nowhere that makes no sense. They didn't telegraph the eventual ending of the book in the first then pages. Those two facts combine to make this mystery worth reading. I want a mystery that keeps me wondering and DM:TMOM definitely does. I could read this all day long. Actually, I did read most of it during a slow shift at work. Thank God for cellphones and their lit up faces. I drive a cab on the midnight shift and this book gave me something to focus on and stay awake. It kept me interested when I got fatigued. That's about the biggest compliment I know how to give to a book.
Now, I don't do spoilers, so I'll just leave this here and let the reader figure out if they can figure out why I wrote it. Ready? I have a very strong and visceral dislike for cliffhanger endings, especially in books when you don't know when the sequel is coming. I get the fact that they're somewhat entertaining as well as a good business move. I just don't like them. That much being said, this is still a really good book. I can't wait to read the next one.
Bottom Line: 4.5 out of 5 Martian Rocks
Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars
Warren Hammond and Joshua Viola
Hex Publishers, 2018
Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars is available for purchase at the link below:
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Let's Bring in Some New People
https://www.shapeways.com/shops/dots-rpg-project-dice-shop
Heads up folks. Here at Jimbo's Science Fiction and Fantasy Reviews we don't generally do commercials as such. I am more than happy to review something I've read or watched but this is a bit different. Today I'm doing an advert for a product that I flat out wouldn't know how to use if I had it. So needless to say, I don't have any personal experience with this. I just wanted to throw my weight behind it because I thought it was a really good idea.
Yes, you read that right. No, it's not a typo. See, here at Jimbo's we (all one of us) like to promote true inclusiveness into our hobbies. No, I don't mean fake inclusiveness that comes from excluding certain people in the style of K. Tempest Teacup or the last couple years or the Nebula Awards where "inclusiveness" means freezing out large segments of the population. I'm talking about inclusiveness where you actually bring new people into a hobby without finding it necessary to remove others that you happen to not like. That's the right way to expand interest in something you love. You do it without spreading hate.
Anyway, what I came across in my journeys across the Magical Book of Faces was a product that promotes TRUE inclusion. It's something that I had never thought about but that makes a ton of sense once you have your face rubbed in it. (And yes my friends, sometimes face rubbing is what it takes.) Apparently, blind people have trouble reading dice. Yeah, I guess I should have realized that off rip, but since I had never gamed with a blind person before, the obviousness of this never dawned on me.
What the DOTS RPG Project has done is to make braille dice. Now blind people have a way to read their own dice at the table. Now they can join in on the fun. Now they can have the whole group in suspense about what a die roll comes out to instead of the group having them in suspense. I love this idea. I also know that with my sick sense of humor, I'd sit there laughing at important points in the adventure/campaign and INTENTIONALLY keep people in suspense because that's just me.
There is some stuff on their page about how to read these. Something about orientations and corresponding letters and probably something else that someone who actually knows how to read braille would probably understand. I don't read braille though, so it may as well have been Chinese as far as I'm concerned. I'd probably do better with Chinese. I don't read that either but at least I know a hanzi when I see it. If you put something in braille in front of me, I'm just as likely to think it's Morse Code or something.
The post I read also said that DOTS was planning on doing braille rulebook(s) at some point. I totally love that idea but if they exist at this point in time I was not able to find a link and so I couldn't include one. If someone who has a link to the rulebook(s) in question please drop a link in the comments. Also, please understand that I'm not leaving them out intentionally, but through ignorance.
Somewhere out there someone is reading this and thinking "Hey Jimbo, why are you putting this here? This blog does Science Fiction and Fiction. These dice aren't specfic. They actually exist." If that's you, then you have a point, sort of. I mean, these dice are real but they're intended (at least in part) for SF/F purposes. Seriously. Other than being pen and paper RPGs, what do all of the following having in common?
Rifts
Heroes Unlimited
Dungeons and Dragons
Pathfinder
Warhammer
GURPS (most settings anyway) and
Shadowrun
They're all set in SF/F universes. They are SF/F. Pen and paper role players are us and we are them. It's time to bring more people into the club. Let's help them learn about Science Fiction and Fantasy. Dice (and I know this from experience) are a gateway drug. This way folks. A good GM/DM might as well be a good author when it comes to generating interest into things.
While I'm on the subject, I'm going to ask a couple of questions here that I honestly don't know the answers to. If you do, please leave the answers below because I'm interested, but I work sixty-five hours a week and I don't really have the time to research answers.
1.) Are popular SF/F books available in braille? Seriously? I mean, I know it's got to be more expensive to produce a braille brook than a printed one. I don't have the figures available at my fingertips but I can't see how it wouldn't. I would imagine that most independent authors (and I love indy authors, you're the lifeblood of my blog) can't really afford to offer braille printouts. But what about companies like Tor or Baen? They both sell lots of books and it should be possible I would think. If they don't I think they should. If they do, then good on them. I'm not insinuating that they don't. I'm flat out stating my ignorance in the matter. That's a totally different thing.
2.) Do SF/F authors/publishers (or any other author/publisher for that matter) donate free downloads of their audio books to charities for the blind? You know, like the Lions clubs or something. If not, they should. Again, if they do, then good on them. I'm not really sure how this would work with an Audible contract either. Speaking of which, does Audible do donations? There has to be a tax deduction here somewhere if it's a charity. Again, I'm not trying to make it look like they don't. I just don't know if they do.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not advocating for legislation to force anyone to do anything. I happen to believe that we have too many laws in this country already. I just think it would be something nice and something that could possibly bring economic benefits long term. No, I don't have statistics available. I haven't done the research and I don't have the chops to generate that kind of a study myself if I had. It just occurs to me that a person who gets a free book (like, oh say the first book in a series) might want to read/hear more from the same author.
Getting back on topic, the dice are now available for sale. There is also another site where you can download the directions to make your own. Er, actually it's a 3D printer program but close enough. I put the purchase link at the beginning of the post and I'm going to put it at the bottom as well. I decided not to include a link to the download page for the simple fact that I want to see the proprietors of the DOTS program rewarded with money. Not only do they deserve it, but their continued existence as a company is going to depend on an income stream. If you want to see more products added in the future and support what their doing, support them from your pocket book. If you want the programs you can Google them I guess, but I would urge anyone who has a need for braille dice or a spot in their collection for something they can't get anywhere else to drop a few bucks on some of these dice.
Braille Dice
DOTS RPG Project, 2018
DOTS dice are available at the following link:
https://www.shapeways.com/shops/dots-rpg-project-dice-shop
Edit: Per the requst of the DOTS staff, I am also including the link to download the 3D printing instructions for the dice.
https://t.co/UQ1y5qQATw?amp=1
Heads up folks. Here at Jimbo's Science Fiction and Fantasy Reviews we don't generally do commercials as such. I am more than happy to review something I've read or watched but this is a bit different. Today I'm doing an advert for a product that I flat out wouldn't know how to use if I had it. So needless to say, I don't have any personal experience with this. I just wanted to throw my weight behind it because I thought it was a really good idea.
Yes, you read that right. No, it's not a typo. See, here at Jimbo's we (all one of us) like to promote true inclusiveness into our hobbies. No, I don't mean fake inclusiveness that comes from excluding certain people in the style of K. Tempest Teacup or the last couple years or the Nebula Awards where "inclusiveness" means freezing out large segments of the population. I'm talking about inclusiveness where you actually bring new people into a hobby without finding it necessary to remove others that you happen to not like. That's the right way to expand interest in something you love. You do it without spreading hate.
Anyway, what I came across in my journeys across the Magical Book of Faces was a product that promotes TRUE inclusion. It's something that I had never thought about but that makes a ton of sense once you have your face rubbed in it. (And yes my friends, sometimes face rubbing is what it takes.) Apparently, blind people have trouble reading dice. Yeah, I guess I should have realized that off rip, but since I had never gamed with a blind person before, the obviousness of this never dawned on me.
What the DOTS RPG Project has done is to make braille dice. Now blind people have a way to read their own dice at the table. Now they can join in on the fun. Now they can have the whole group in suspense about what a die roll comes out to instead of the group having them in suspense. I love this idea. I also know that with my sick sense of humor, I'd sit there laughing at important points in the adventure/campaign and INTENTIONALLY keep people in suspense because that's just me.
There is some stuff on their page about how to read these. Something about orientations and corresponding letters and probably something else that someone who actually knows how to read braille would probably understand. I don't read braille though, so it may as well have been Chinese as far as I'm concerned. I'd probably do better with Chinese. I don't read that either but at least I know a hanzi when I see it. If you put something in braille in front of me, I'm just as likely to think it's Morse Code or something.
The post I read also said that DOTS was planning on doing braille rulebook(s) at some point. I totally love that idea but if they exist at this point in time I was not able to find a link and so I couldn't include one. If someone who has a link to the rulebook(s) in question please drop a link in the comments. Also, please understand that I'm not leaving them out intentionally, but through ignorance.
Somewhere out there someone is reading this and thinking "Hey Jimbo, why are you putting this here? This blog does Science Fiction and Fiction. These dice aren't specfic. They actually exist." If that's you, then you have a point, sort of. I mean, these dice are real but they're intended (at least in part) for SF/F purposes. Seriously. Other than being pen and paper RPGs, what do all of the following having in common?
Rifts
Heroes Unlimited
Dungeons and Dragons
Pathfinder
Warhammer
GURPS (most settings anyway) and
Shadowrun
They're all set in SF/F universes. They are SF/F. Pen and paper role players are us and we are them. It's time to bring more people into the club. Let's help them learn about Science Fiction and Fantasy. Dice (and I know this from experience) are a gateway drug. This way folks. A good GM/DM might as well be a good author when it comes to generating interest into things.
While I'm on the subject, I'm going to ask a couple of questions here that I honestly don't know the answers to. If you do, please leave the answers below because I'm interested, but I work sixty-five hours a week and I don't really have the time to research answers.
1.) Are popular SF/F books available in braille? Seriously? I mean, I know it's got to be more expensive to produce a braille brook than a printed one. I don't have the figures available at my fingertips but I can't see how it wouldn't. I would imagine that most independent authors (and I love indy authors, you're the lifeblood of my blog) can't really afford to offer braille printouts. But what about companies like Tor or Baen? They both sell lots of books and it should be possible I would think. If they don't I think they should. If they do, then good on them. I'm not insinuating that they don't. I'm flat out stating my ignorance in the matter. That's a totally different thing.
2.) Do SF/F authors/publishers (or any other author/publisher for that matter) donate free downloads of their audio books to charities for the blind? You know, like the Lions clubs or something. If not, they should. Again, if they do, then good on them. I'm not really sure how this would work with an Audible contract either. Speaking of which, does Audible do donations? There has to be a tax deduction here somewhere if it's a charity. Again, I'm not trying to make it look like they don't. I just don't know if they do.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not advocating for legislation to force anyone to do anything. I happen to believe that we have too many laws in this country already. I just think it would be something nice and something that could possibly bring economic benefits long term. No, I don't have statistics available. I haven't done the research and I don't have the chops to generate that kind of a study myself if I had. It just occurs to me that a person who gets a free book (like, oh say the first book in a series) might want to read/hear more from the same author.
Getting back on topic, the dice are now available for sale. There is also another site where you can download the directions to make your own. Er, actually it's a 3D printer program but close enough. I put the purchase link at the beginning of the post and I'm going to put it at the bottom as well. I decided not to include a link to the download page for the simple fact that I want to see the proprietors of the DOTS program rewarded with money. Not only do they deserve it, but their continued existence as a company is going to depend on an income stream. If you want to see more products added in the future and support what their doing, support them from your pocket book. If you want the programs you can Google them I guess, but I would urge anyone who has a need for braille dice or a spot in their collection for something they can't get anywhere else to drop a few bucks on some of these dice.
Braille Dice
DOTS RPG Project, 2018
DOTS dice are available at the following link:
https://www.shapeways.com/shops/dots-rpg-project-dice-shop
Edit: Per the requst of the DOTS staff, I am also including the link to download the 3D printing instructions for the dice.
https://t.co/UQ1y5qQATw?amp=1
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Ernest Cline's Ready Player One
(Author's note: I am honor bound to pre-acknowledge the fact that none of what I'm about to reference in the following paragraph has any historical value whatsoever. Ok, with the possible exceptions of two WW II Flicks, those being Tora, Tora, Tora and Midway.)
I never thought we'd reach this point. I grew up watching movies and TV shows set in the past. You may think you know a fan of westerns but until you've met my grandpa and my dad, you really haven't met one. You may think you know someone who likes World War II flicks but until you've sat down on a weekend with myself, my father and some popcorn popped in a pan on the stove, you really don't. I'm still wondering why guys like my Uncle Bob who served in Korea never got their movies, but different blog/different day. Later came the Vietnam flicks. For some reason though, I never though my generation would get their chance. I thought that 80s nostalgia would never happen. Well, I guess I need to apologize. Ernest Cline's Ready Player One had me soaking in my childhood. It felt great.
Something I've noticed a lot of lately is the inclusion of the internet in stories. I'm a big fan of this. I don't mean just for googling or checking Facebook. I mean epic battles online, like in Nick Coles CTRL, ALT, Revolt! reviewed here,(and I really need to review Soda Pop Soldier too.) or in Cline's Ready Player One. Not only is it entertaining as all get out, but it makes business sense too. There are legions of gamers out there and this is something that's perfect for them. Seriously. I'm neither a fan nor a supporter of identity politics but I can't deny that it's cool to read a story about someone like me. I'm a gamer. When I read about other gamers, it makes me happy. It entertains me. That's the whole point of escapism right?
The kids in the book are after a prize; the world's most immense forturn. The greatest game designer in history (James Halliday) has designed an alternative environment online, the Oasis. He charges only a quarter to buy into the environment and does not charge a subscription fee. He does, however charge for certain things online (online goods and space for people who want to create separate environments within his environment for example). When he passes due to old age, he leaves his fortune including control of his shares in the company that controls the Oasis to the person who can solve his puzzle and complete the accompanying requirements. It's not easy but many people become enthralled with the search.
The Oasis eventually takes more and more of the time of the world to the point that many people only participate in society through the Oasis. Some (but not all) schools are conducted there. There are stores and a currency, which is listed as being the most stable currency in use. It goes so far that our hero, Wade Watts votes in the elections in the Oasis, but skips voting on real world politicians because the real world politics don't effect his life as much as the representatives that are in charge of the Oasis. In the context of the story that actually makes sense.
The part about this book that really makes it fun is the nostalgia though. Ready Player One is a celebration of all of the stuff I remember from when I was a kid. The early video games are here. (Ok, maybe just maybe it would have been more fun with more Intellivision because that's what I owned but I didn't write it so it makes sense that it wasn't going to be perfect for me personally) Eighties music is here. Eighties movies are here. I don't want to reveal too much because a lot of the nostalgia is essential to the plot but dude.. it's everywhere. The kids in the book (and this is a Young Adult novel) are experts in Eighties culture because they have to be. The clues left to solving the mystery are based on Halliday's 80s pop culture obsession. A lot of the time in the book is kids discussing the same stuff I grew up loving. They're honestly better than me at most of the games I grew up playing, but then again nobody ever gave me a fortune for my performance either.
Ultra sensitive right wing readers may not enjoy this book. The Big Bad is a corporation bent on taking over the Oasis and increasing their profits. There is a surprise gender/race bend at one point in the book. It makes sense in a way, but if you're a right winger that is as easy to offend as the average social justice bully, you're going to get all butthurt over this one. I personally won't feel any sympathy for you, especially since the socjus entry in the book makes sense in context, adds to the story and isn't overly preachy. Your mileage may vary but don't come whining to me if it does. This is a good story with a lot of action and entertaining characters. What little bit of leftism is included in the book does nothing to diminish it to anyone other than the whiner type.
Ready Player One is a celebration. It is a celebration of the Eighties. It is a celebration of gaming. It is a celebration of the courage of a small group of people set against a huge opponent. It is a celebration of the indomitable human spirit. It is a celebration of people who are willing to come together to fight the establishment. It is a celebration of asskickery. That is fitting because Ready Player One kicks ass.
Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Stars
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline
Dark All Day, Inc, 2011
Ready Player One is available for purchase at the following link:
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