Hi, neurotics. Just letting you know, I’m not dead, nor have I forgotten about you. I’ve been a little under the weather lately, but hopefully will be back on track soon. Nothing life-threatening, nothing to worry about.
Critters Beware
Some people are born with a certain degree of self-confidence. Others, not so much. It may come as a surprise that I’m one of the latter. As such, my greatest challenge as someone who hopes one day to be a published author is having the courage to show people my writing.
I’ve been working on that lately. To start with, I’ve been venturing into the world of critiquing. For the uninitiated, that’s where you get people with no familial obligation to at least pretend to like your work to have a look at something you’ve written and point out its flaws. With short stories not being a particular strength of mine, it was an unnerving proposition.
I survived though, and feel better for it. Not only that, the story is better for it. By no means perfect of course, but greatly improved.
One thing which has become obvious to me is that attitude is everything. I want to improve my writing (and desensitise myself) so I got a great deal out of it. So much so, I’m planning to branch out and look at joining one of the local writer’s groups. But one step at a time.
For now, I have some more editing to do.
Book Reviews: The Digital Plague
By Jeff Somers. 30 second review.
Revenge of the Monks. Read it. Loved it. And I had a shocking revelation about halfway through. I like Avery. Mistake me not, he’s a cockroach. If the next installment sees him survive nuclear fallout I won’t blink. Okay, I’ll blink, but only because reading a whole book without blinking is kind of a big ask, not because I’d have difficulty accepting he could survive nuclear fallout. And I still wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley. Especially in light of the plague situation. But from a distance, I like him.
That says a lot about me, I suspect.
Everything I liked about The Electric Church is still there, but better.
Particle Physics: Not Just For Nerds
No, I’m kidding. It’s just for nerds. In all seriousness though, shouldn’t the good people at CERN be spending their time more constructively? I mean a music career is all well and good, but I’d really be more comfortable if they concentrated more on trying not to create a black hole and destroy the earth and perhaps even the galaxy, and less on side projects like this:
While the rest of the world was stocking up on their doomsday supplies (because when the world gets sucked into a black hole you’d better make sure you’ve got plenty of batteries and bottled water), the folks responsible for our inevitable demise were busy making their very own rap video. It’s a whole new breed of genius.
In all fairness, I’ve seen worse on Australian Idol. And bonus points for being educational. Extra bonus points for not being educational in a so-that’s-what-would-have-happened-if-I-auditioned sort of way. If you offer your unconditional surrender, it actually becomes quite catchy.
Still, isn’t it a little tacky to release a YouTube rap video about your doomsday device?
Lazy Sunday
For a brief glimpse into my life, I bring you Sunday at My Place.
Today I am spending the day in my dressing gown (or bathrobe, if you prefer) reading my latest acquisition, The Digital Plague. It’s Jeff Somers as he was meant to be read. With no pants.
Book Reviews: Royal Exile
Valisar by Fiona McIntosh. Book 1.
Normally I like to start these reviews by acknowledging any misgivings I may have had coming in to reading a book but in this case I can’t do that. I’ve read other books by this author and I haven’t regretted a one. So I knew going in to Royal Exile I was in for a good read.
Royal Exile begins just as the main antagonist, Loethar, is about to enjoy victory in his campaign to conquer the Denova Set, an alliance of several kingdoms. He moves into the last kingdom standing and takes it with very little resistance.
Of course it would have been a very short book if it had been about his war. The king of Penraven was able to ensure the safety of his son and Royal Exile follows Leonel’s story as he watches the fate of his parents from the secret passages within the palace. He and his guardian, Gavriel, need to find a way out and to safety.
As I mentioned, I went into this book expecting to enjoy myself. I just didn’t anticipate how much. Loethar is a delightfully ambiguous character who, while clearly not a nice person, shows glimpses of hidden depths. He’s surrounded by people who want different things from him instead of simply because they enjoy his company and he knows it. His vendetta against the Valisars (the ruling family in Penraven) seems somehow personal and not just a grab for power.
Of course the protagonist deserves a mention too. Twelve-year-old Leonel was mature, though not so much as to make his stated age ring false but the character I most enjoyed, after Loethar of course, was Kilt Faris, the charming bandit. I’m a sucker for a lovable rogue.
The trademark graphic brutality is there of course, so I wouldn’t recommend it for children or the weak-stomached. Give it a try if you’re not easily deterred by a little gruesomeness.
Spoof Wars
I learned something today. You see, something had been bothering me about Star Wars. Not the original trilogy, although they had their cheesy moments. I mean the recent ones. The unholy trilogy, if you like.
There was just something about them, something not quite right. At first I thought it was the dialogue, especially what went on between Padmé and Anakin. A plausible theory, but it didn’t feel like the whole picture. Then I considered it was perhaps the transformation of Darth Vader from Big Scary MF to wangsting teenager. Let’s face it, that was a horrible thing to do.
Then the Ninja shared the answer with his loyal, long-suffering minions.
Sped up just a little and put to Yakety Sax (the Benny Hill theme song), the battle for Naboo goes from a little awkward and embarrassing to comic genius. Hot on the heels of that little revelation came another. There was nothing wrong with the dialogue or the characters, the fault lies with the directing.
They were meant to be comedies.
Book Reviews: Lamplighter
Monster-Blood Tattoo by D. M. Cornish. Book 2.
I know I only just set up my 30-second-reviews-for-book-2 rule but I’m making an exception for Lamplighter because, well, I make the rules in my little corner of the internet. And I have an excellent reason for breaking my own rule. Lamplighter warrants its own full review.
As Rossamünd has changed, so has the tone of the book. He (Rossamünd) has lost that occasionally frustrating inability to believe anyone might be less than honest with him which got him in such hot water when dealing with Poundinch in Foundling but has held on to enough of his naivety to still be charming. He is an increasingly good judge of character — much better at picking the good nuts from the bad. In other words, he’s growing up.
The intensity of the book has increased as well, with theroscades (monster attacks) happening ever more frequently. During Foundling there was very little death, leaving me wondering a little how dangerous these monsters could really be. Well, in Lamplighter I found out. Yet at the same time the monsters were still not all evil. In fact, the most vicious, deliberate cruelties were perpetrated by humans again. We also got a far closer look at gudgeons, the man-made monsters cobbled together from bits of the dead, and met a man who had been saved from death by gudgeon by a kindly monster.
We also got to spend a little more time with Europe, by far my favourite character. She’s part heroine, part villainess, an indiscriminate killer of good monsters and bad. In spite of that, she’s always there to help Rossamund out of scrapes when she’s truly needed without coming across as a handy deus ex machina.
The sense of whimsy and the quaint use of language which so engaged me in Foundling were still present, as were the delightful names. (Tremendus Twörp springs to mind.) Lamplighter, though darker than Foundling was a fun read all round. I highly recommend it.