Well at the time of writing its 14 minutes to midnight and as you might find strange I am not out on the town as I would usually be for New Years. Well, the reason for that is quite simple in so far as my child, which was due today, is not here yet (sex unknown thanks to inconclusive scan). So I am having a very sober, and somewhat toned down New Year.
As the night has gone on it has allowed me to reflect on the past year and a bit.
For one, I started not only this blog, but also a very in depth journal (which I imagine will someday be used against me). I finally managed to cut all ties with the person I thought was the love of my life and was ready to marry and yet who turned out to be cheating on me (never news you want to hear a week before your thesis is due in). But in the end, its good that I did that. I lost a flatmate who was great to live with, the downside his girlfriend who is unemployed and who moved in (without asking) was not so good. On the uphand, from that stupid mistake I got a flatmate who has been a real pleasure to live with and has been there for me through a lot of crap. Having looked at my spreadsheet for the year, I have somehow managed to read 93 books, which wasnt bad I thought. These have covered the usual sci-fi and to a lesser extent fantasy, but have also covered things such as history, biography, engineering and oddly enough, quantum mechanics.
I met someone who I thought was rather nice but then turned out to not be and as she also got accidentally pregnant, that's made this year somewhat "interesting" but I'm going to be the best father I can and just hope for the best.
I took up climbing this year which has proven to be brilliant as not only did it let me get into a sport that I rather enjoy but I have met some really great people because of it such as Rob, Bryn, Louis, Rachel, Karrie and James and the list goes on.
I finally learned how to ride a bicycle. Yes, I realise way too long.
Well its now turned to midnight from the fireworks I can hear outside. This means I now have to get used to putting 2013 when I sign things over a hundred times a day at work. sigh :-) Happy new year everyone.
I've also gotten into going to the gym big time which has been great as I can now run further and faster than ever before, which has also meant that i've lost over a stone, gone from medium sizes to small and have gone down a trouser size. Score!
Well, im not usually one for new years resolutions as I think that if it takes a day change to make you change then things are not good. However, this year as the baby will no doubt bring many changes, its time to have an overhaul. I will write a review a week on here. I will keep up with the gym. I will try and care more about my job (no guarantees, working for "voldemort" is very boring.)(I am quite good at my job btw). I will endeavour to find a job in a field in which I truly love, so that kind of equates to books, sports or games I guess.
Well, its now seven past midnight so I shall leave this and either write some of my "book", start of Times Arrow by Jonathan Green (one of my favourite authors, only reason I haven't reviewed him this year is because this is his new one this year and I've had a large "to read" list to go through). or of course I could play a game. Choices, choices...
So goodnight, and a very happy new year to you all.
On a side note, please, please visit this site and give it a read and pledge to this great project...
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1412864360/you-are-the-hero?ref=live
And if you want to go and buy this, its very worthy of a read as Dave has put great work into it...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crown-Thief-Tales-Easie-Damasco/dp/085766249X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1356999181&sr=8-1
End of line.
John
Monday, 31 December 2012
Sunday, 2 December 2012
Crown Thief by David Tallerman
This is the second book in the Easie Damasco series by David Tallerman. I went on to the Angry Robot website to see what the publisher had written about the book after I had finished it and this was a line I have taken from their description: "Meet Easie Damasco: Thief, swindler and lately, reluctant hero." I felt that the only thing missing from that is ladies man.
That's a lie as he isn't, but I feel it had a nice ring to it. After all, apart from the somewhat confused look on his face, what lady could resist those looks?
When I started this book the first thing that I realised was that this was the first book in a series that I have read that didnt insult me by making me think that I could read this if I had not read the previous outing. I read a series of three books a couple of weeks back and really enjoyed them, the downside is that it took me maybe two days to read each one so it felt like one massive book. In the case of this and Giant Thief that would be great as the two flow perfectly into each other. Its not like say you've just watched A New Hope and then put on Empire Strikes Back and you are left wondering what happened in between the two films, with Giant Thief and Crown Thief its as if in the last line of Giant Thief it says "and Easie turned the door handle" and then the first line in Crown Thief is "and he stepped through", (That isn't how the book actually ends). The great thing about Crown Thief is that it doesn't outwardly re-explain anything in the world that is established in Giant Thief, so it dosent try to shove down my throat who all the characters are when they first come back onto the page. I like that its as easy as Easie and Alvantes are travelling etc etc, rather than Easie, thief etc and Alvantes, guard captain turned crippled hero who hates Easie etc etc. The book lets you either remember these relationships or explains them by the characters actions. Brilliant and extremely refreshing.
I want to say that Dave's writing skill has gotten even better with this book but I can't feel like that sounds patronising. I think that with the characters established and the world created, Dave has the freedom to concentrate on the the little details. The buildings for example are amazing and I can't help but imagine them as a cross between great cities of the early Roman Empire and the towns in Skyrim. The world is alive with sights and sounds and more often than not smells.
The characters are brilliant, with Easie being the man with the plan and who keeps getting into situations which are wholly believable. He begins to perform kind acts and enjoys the feelings he gets from those and at the same time he seems to be extra generous when he's a little drunk. I can relate to that. Its a pain in the bank balance.When I think of Easie I see him as on par with Jean Valjean and that Alvantes is Inspector Javert, only the two of them have to work together. Whilst Easie may have stolen more than just a loaf of bread, he helps all those he meets. Also, Alvantes might not have been chasing Easie his entire life, at first there is the venom of someone that has.
(Possible Spoiler in This Paragraph) The only downpoint for me in the whole book was certain characters are built up and I felt that they should have played a more important part in the story and then they do not. I will not say who these are as I hate spoilers.
Dave has put a good twist in this book as well that again I shall not go into detail and I have been told that whilst I worked out part of it before I was meant to, there is more than meats the eye which I highly look forward to for the next instalment.
I will end this review here I think, and simply say that this book is a great step up in the story and in world creation. The characters and the situations that they get into are all fully believable and even though it is a fantasy world not once does Dave use a lame plot device to make something more convenient. Everything is explained and it always work. The only time you dont get something explained is part of my above spoiler and its much better the way Dave has written it than if it was explained as a good mystery is a great thing and makes certain characters more intimidating.
Go forth and purchase this book. Its fun, its serious, it will make you laugh once or twice, it'll make you go "how are they going to get out of this one" and it will even make you say "will you just kiss her already!". Crown Thief is a great read and I would even recommend it to people who do not normally read fantasy.
Finally, one hell of a cliff hanger that will make you want to chew the back cover off just in case there is a little hidden there.
There isnt.
I checked.
Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Connections...
Alpha squad sneak through the crashed and severely damaged alien vessel. The only light coming from sparking machinery, fires burning out of control through decks of the doomed vessel and the occasional glimpse of moonlight through large rents in the outer hull.
Colonel Barker stops and raises an arm to bring the rest of his five man team to stop, having been given a command to begin overwatch by his commander, sat safely back at base.
After a few seconds of his team watching and listening for signs of enemy movement, Colonel Matthew 'Scarecrow' Barker picks up the pace and swiftly, but silently, moves his team through what appears to an empty section of the ship. Any alien forces previously in the section, he believed, having been taken out either in the crash from upper orbit, or from the Havok interceptor strike.
Barker and his team are veterans of many missions against this alien threat. These six members of the alpha team are only ever brought out together in force when the mission seems to have an increased level of importance and danger than the usual, and in which no ill experienced team mates can be risked.
After five minutes of scouting the enemy ship, and with no signs of contact the squad begin to get cocky and Scarecrow can tell by the mannerisms of his team that they are beginning to let their guard down. Smash and the way she has stopped brushing her golden hair from her face, Flame in the way he keeps flicking the safety on his plasma sniper rifle, Big Momma in how show tilts her head, a movement accentuated by her large power armour and finally Doomsday, in the way he has stopped trying to hide his large power suited body behind every piece of available cover. Scarecrow tries not to think of the names of his comrades in case the worst happens and he has to look at another name on the memorial wall. He does not dare think of their names until the mission is over. Until that time, he must see them only as their call signs. Names chosen to represent the way in which they run into combat, showing neither fear, nor mercy. Or in his own case, the way he tends to stand amongst the chaos erupting around him and doing his best to heal his comrades back when he was just a simple combat medic.
Flame, being lighter with his skeleton class armour had scouted ahead and called Scarecrows attention to something of interest. A small separate rectangular structure at the back of the ship. Scarecrow wasted no time in calling up the range of ship plans available to him on his heads up display. He could see two shielded doorways from his position and was pretty sure that this was the ships command and control center. If correct, there would be another door on each of the two non visible sides.
Alpha team had been moving around outer hull on the western side of the ship, trying to ensure that if the enemy did appear, then they could not be easily flanked and they would still have the option to full back and regroup to counter attack.
Still using hand signals to maintain radio security, Scarecrow ordered Doomsday to secure the western door, Smash to secure the southern door, Big Momma the northern door and finally he would secure the eastern door, taking the greatest time to get there and so presenting the greatest risk. Several feet in front of the southern door was the central corridor of the ship, which branched off into multiple cargo sections. Scarecrow quickly ordered Flame to position himself at the top of the corridor, in front of the small anti gravity lift, giving him perfect defilade and overwatch of most of the corridor. Tectonic was positioned to guard the western corridor that ran parallel to central access corridor. Scarecrow regretted not being able to lend another of his troops to the western corridor, but he could not spare any more troops from the assault, he knew it had to be fast as the enemy would be alerted to their presence all over the ship once the CIC was taken. It had to be quick and brutal.
Scarecrow heard four clicks on his radio, signalling that his men were in position. Had his newly commissioned Titan armour not had perfect climate control he knew he would be drenched in sweat. He checked his plasma rifle and knew that his men would be doing the same waiting to get the order from their commander. Once he was confident that all of his men would be ready Scarecrow lowered the forcefield and his men did the same.
The entirety of the CIC was visible to the strike team in an instant. Having expected multiple command units, the commander was shocked to find four heavily armed and armoured shock troops in their place. He had no time to think of the possibility that this was a trap as the four enemy units darted for cover and were met with fire from at least two members of alpha team, the superheated and concentrated plasma from their rifles cutting down one of the aliens before he had a chance to reach cover. Before Scarecrow could even look at the mass of metal and alien flesh that was collapsing to the floor he stepped out from the doorway and fired at the exposed flank of an alien. A critical hit at that range and another alien had been downed. Within seconds all four enemy combatants had been eliminated and without any injuries to his team and all alien tech in the command center appeared intact. More or less.
Alarm klaxons started blaring and the strike team quickly moved to reinforce their rearguard before the enemy counter attack begun. Before they could make it, Flame had cut down two heavy assault troops, taking a quick second to run his hand over his mohawk as he felt helmets interfered with his aim. Tectonic was also pouring hot plasma fire down the eastern corridor, a pile of burned alien corpse' clogging the corridor and slowing the other aliens waiting to avenge their brothers.
Just as the team reunited, Scarecrow got a burst transmission from his commander informing him that alien commander units had been detected moving towards his position. Scarecrow told the rest of his team to make the enemy commanders priority targets. Just as Scarecrow applied a nanotech healing spray to the torso of Flame, having taken a small plasma blast to the left shoulder, he glimpsed Tectonic glance his way and nod slightly. A small gesture that after dozens of missions together, having seen friends and family killed, Scarecrow knew it to be Tectonic's way of saying "it'll be alright, you see". His father had the same mannerism when they had served together as corporals. And just like during the fateful Operation Burning Heart, things suddenly took a turn for the worst.
Doomsday had met up with Tectonic and the two heavy assault troops were holding back the main assault force, whilst Big Momma and Smash moved around the eastern corridor, ready to flank and snap the enemy assault. Just as this action was taking place, and mere seconds after the acknowledgement of the two men Tectonic was engulfed by a blue mist. Doomsday to his right, couldn't help but be stunned by what he was seeing happen to his battle brother. All Doomsday could do was fight on and spying the enemy commander responsible for what was happening to his friend took some shots at the enemy unit. His shots missed, slagging a bulkhead just behind the commander and taking a large plasma hit to his own chest in the process. Doomsday fought on, ignoring the pain surging through his chest from the injury, aware that he could hold out for medical attention if he maintained his defensible position until Scarecrow could get to him.
In what seemed like hours but was only seconds, Tectonics body, having slumped to the floor began to rise back up. Too focused on the enemy bearing down on his position and not willing to let his brothers down by falling back, Doomsday was unaware of his, believably deceased battle brother beside him, getting up. Slowly bringing his heavy plasma cannon into position, and not even aiming due to his proximity, Tectonic fired his weapon at point blank range at the defenceless Doomsday. He watched as blood exploded from his comrades chest and face and his plasma cannon fell from his hands. Flame from a new vantage point quickly sighted the enemy commander and put a plasma bolt through his head. The second the plasma bolt passed through the alien brain, the psychic control link was destroyed and Tectonic regained control of his body.
Giving one last glance at the lifeless eyes of his friend staring at him in horror and disbelief, Tectonic raised his own weapon and continued to rain fire down on the last of the enemy attackers.
Scarecrow witnessed the series of events as he was moving in position to reinforce and give medical assistance to his comrades. He could not believe he had just witnessed one of his greatest friends and best soldiers cutting down another of his men.
Nor could his commander believe it.
.
.
.
.
So he paused the game and turned to his flatmate and in a slightly raised tone of voice said "I cannot believe that you, Colonel Stuart "Tectonic" Wetherell Jnr, just cut down Major John-Paul "Doomsday" Uren. Do you not realise that when I go into work tomorrow I will have to tell JP that he got killed by you!"
What you have just read is all true. I was playing the game XCOM Enemy Unknown, and what you read is the accurate account (although fictionalised by me obviously) of the mission I played this evening in which one of my characters got killed.
I have recently found that I really enjoy games such as XCOM and FTL which allow you to name the people in your squads, or crew. In FTL my little starship has been manned by people such as Jean Luc Picard and Dr Crusher with Mr Wolf. Or with Lee Adama, Commander Adama and Kara Thrace. In the past I have played the Sims and entire neighbourhoods have been named after people I know.
The thing is that I get really connected to the characters that I name, and I generally want those people named after people I like to survive over those I'm not bothered about.
In XCOM this has become especially difficult as I have had problems thinking up names for my characters, which is why I fall back on work colleagues, so my entire department is in XCOM. Along with a load of my favourite authors such as Jonathan Green, David Tallermann, Karen Traviss etc.
But then again, comes the problem of how do I feel when some of those characters die.
Here is a pic of my memorial wall in XCOM:
As you can see, my own name is near the top of this list. The only person on the first page of my memorial wall that I did not change the name of was Francois Girard and that's because the computer nicknamed him Solo. I have never changed the nicknames because I like the random nature of them.
Since I took that pic, many, many more have joined their ranks. JP would now in fact be at the top of that list. In that list you can see one Babylon 5 character, two Star Wars characters, one author, one song name, and a character called Dr Medic, because I bet you can guess what character class they were assigned when I got them. You can even see the original character named after my flatmate.
Now, my team when I set off on the fateful mission that saw the death of my friend, and real life colleague of JP looks like this:
In my best squad (now sadly one member short, which I have replaced with a robot that's a cross between Jonny Five and Wall E) you can see my flatmates second incarnation, who I should probably change the nickname to Backstabber or Betrayer. You have Matt Barker and JP Uren who I am in the same team with at work. Major Roy Mustang (now ironically Colonel Mustang after that mission), named after my favourite Fullmetal Alchemist character Colonel Roy Mustang. Colonel Hayley "Smash" Sharpe, named after another colleague at work and Major Sarah "Big Momma" Marshall named after my sister in law. Sadly my brother is far down the memorial wall, Having died with the rang of Corporal and taking down five enemies, rescuing two civilians. I assume that in virtual heaven he is buried next to Dom Santiago and Marcus Fenix who also bought the farm on that mission (rescues are tough).
Here is a shot of the bar that I noticed was in my base in the game. I showed the real Matt Barker this picture and his reaction was to tell me that I am sat at the bar and he is there telling me that the deaths of the squad members is my fault.
The worst thing is that I couldn't help but think that he was right. It made me realise that although they are not real, because I have named them after real (mostly) people, I have begun to invest real emotions into them and I genuinely do not want to see these little virtual avatars die. The worst is that because of the save game I have set up on Iron Man setting, I cannot go back to an old save in order to do the mission again, so like in real life, once they are gone they are gone, and with them all of their experience and individual expertise' and quirks.
I realise that it is probably wrong for me to feel an emotion connection with these little virtual people like I have with the old Starship Troopers RTS, or the Sims or FTL and finally with XCOM, but I do. Even if I only do a mission a night, its like seeing old friends again and I get to go on amazing adventures with them that I just cannot go on in the real world. (If there really is an XCOM organisation out there then I am very scared).
This whole post started because I was thinking how hard it is to think up character names for stories and how impressed I am that authors can do that. For instance Ulysses Quicksilver or Easie Damasco are brilliant and I would never think up names like that in a million years. It quickly got me thinking of how when I read a book I get emotionally attached to the characters like I have with Fall of Giants and Winter of the World by Ken Follett.
I love books, hence this blog. But when I play games, I know that unlike a book where I am being completely presented with a world prebuilt for me to picture, with a game I get the same thing but I get to shape that world to make it what I want, or would like to be. Just like a film, or book though, it might not always end how you want. After all, my first crack at XCOM resulted in my entire team getting wiped out and I could never recover.
You may think that I am a geek for writing this, and I am. But remember, next time that you look up in the sky and see the sun. Remember, its not just the sun, its a star. How amazing is that, that we are so close to a star, one of billions out there in the universe.
So I leave you with this quote:
Colonel Barker stops and raises an arm to bring the rest of his five man team to stop, having been given a command to begin overwatch by his commander, sat safely back at base.
After a few seconds of his team watching and listening for signs of enemy movement, Colonel Matthew 'Scarecrow' Barker picks up the pace and swiftly, but silently, moves his team through what appears to an empty section of the ship. Any alien forces previously in the section, he believed, having been taken out either in the crash from upper orbit, or from the Havok interceptor strike.
Barker and his team are veterans of many missions against this alien threat. These six members of the alpha team are only ever brought out together in force when the mission seems to have an increased level of importance and danger than the usual, and in which no ill experienced team mates can be risked.
After five minutes of scouting the enemy ship, and with no signs of contact the squad begin to get cocky and Scarecrow can tell by the mannerisms of his team that they are beginning to let their guard down. Smash and the way she has stopped brushing her golden hair from her face, Flame in the way he keeps flicking the safety on his plasma sniper rifle, Big Momma in how show tilts her head, a movement accentuated by her large power armour and finally Doomsday, in the way he has stopped trying to hide his large power suited body behind every piece of available cover. Scarecrow tries not to think of the names of his comrades in case the worst happens and he has to look at another name on the memorial wall. He does not dare think of their names until the mission is over. Until that time, he must see them only as their call signs. Names chosen to represent the way in which they run into combat, showing neither fear, nor mercy. Or in his own case, the way he tends to stand amongst the chaos erupting around him and doing his best to heal his comrades back when he was just a simple combat medic.
Flame, being lighter with his skeleton class armour had scouted ahead and called Scarecrows attention to something of interest. A small separate rectangular structure at the back of the ship. Scarecrow wasted no time in calling up the range of ship plans available to him on his heads up display. He could see two shielded doorways from his position and was pretty sure that this was the ships command and control center. If correct, there would be another door on each of the two non visible sides.
Alpha team had been moving around outer hull on the western side of the ship, trying to ensure that if the enemy did appear, then they could not be easily flanked and they would still have the option to full back and regroup to counter attack.
Still using hand signals to maintain radio security, Scarecrow ordered Doomsday to secure the western door, Smash to secure the southern door, Big Momma the northern door and finally he would secure the eastern door, taking the greatest time to get there and so presenting the greatest risk. Several feet in front of the southern door was the central corridor of the ship, which branched off into multiple cargo sections. Scarecrow quickly ordered Flame to position himself at the top of the corridor, in front of the small anti gravity lift, giving him perfect defilade and overwatch of most of the corridor. Tectonic was positioned to guard the western corridor that ran parallel to central access corridor. Scarecrow regretted not being able to lend another of his troops to the western corridor, but he could not spare any more troops from the assault, he knew it had to be fast as the enemy would be alerted to their presence all over the ship once the CIC was taken. It had to be quick and brutal.
Scarecrow heard four clicks on his radio, signalling that his men were in position. Had his newly commissioned Titan armour not had perfect climate control he knew he would be drenched in sweat. He checked his plasma rifle and knew that his men would be doing the same waiting to get the order from their commander. Once he was confident that all of his men would be ready Scarecrow lowered the forcefield and his men did the same.
The entirety of the CIC was visible to the strike team in an instant. Having expected multiple command units, the commander was shocked to find four heavily armed and armoured shock troops in their place. He had no time to think of the possibility that this was a trap as the four enemy units darted for cover and were met with fire from at least two members of alpha team, the superheated and concentrated plasma from their rifles cutting down one of the aliens before he had a chance to reach cover. Before Scarecrow could even look at the mass of metal and alien flesh that was collapsing to the floor he stepped out from the doorway and fired at the exposed flank of an alien. A critical hit at that range and another alien had been downed. Within seconds all four enemy combatants had been eliminated and without any injuries to his team and all alien tech in the command center appeared intact. More or less.
Alarm klaxons started blaring and the strike team quickly moved to reinforce their rearguard before the enemy counter attack begun. Before they could make it, Flame had cut down two heavy assault troops, taking a quick second to run his hand over his mohawk as he felt helmets interfered with his aim. Tectonic was also pouring hot plasma fire down the eastern corridor, a pile of burned alien corpse' clogging the corridor and slowing the other aliens waiting to avenge their brothers.
Just as the team reunited, Scarecrow got a burst transmission from his commander informing him that alien commander units had been detected moving towards his position. Scarecrow told the rest of his team to make the enemy commanders priority targets. Just as Scarecrow applied a nanotech healing spray to the torso of Flame, having taken a small plasma blast to the left shoulder, he glimpsed Tectonic glance his way and nod slightly. A small gesture that after dozens of missions together, having seen friends and family killed, Scarecrow knew it to be Tectonic's way of saying "it'll be alright, you see". His father had the same mannerism when they had served together as corporals. And just like during the fateful Operation Burning Heart, things suddenly took a turn for the worst.
Doomsday had met up with Tectonic and the two heavy assault troops were holding back the main assault force, whilst Big Momma and Smash moved around the eastern corridor, ready to flank and snap the enemy assault. Just as this action was taking place, and mere seconds after the acknowledgement of the two men Tectonic was engulfed by a blue mist. Doomsday to his right, couldn't help but be stunned by what he was seeing happen to his battle brother. All Doomsday could do was fight on and spying the enemy commander responsible for what was happening to his friend took some shots at the enemy unit. His shots missed, slagging a bulkhead just behind the commander and taking a large plasma hit to his own chest in the process. Doomsday fought on, ignoring the pain surging through his chest from the injury, aware that he could hold out for medical attention if he maintained his defensible position until Scarecrow could get to him.
In what seemed like hours but was only seconds, Tectonics body, having slumped to the floor began to rise back up. Too focused on the enemy bearing down on his position and not willing to let his brothers down by falling back, Doomsday was unaware of his, believably deceased battle brother beside him, getting up. Slowly bringing his heavy plasma cannon into position, and not even aiming due to his proximity, Tectonic fired his weapon at point blank range at the defenceless Doomsday. He watched as blood exploded from his comrades chest and face and his plasma cannon fell from his hands. Flame from a new vantage point quickly sighted the enemy commander and put a plasma bolt through his head. The second the plasma bolt passed through the alien brain, the psychic control link was destroyed and Tectonic regained control of his body.
Giving one last glance at the lifeless eyes of his friend staring at him in horror and disbelief, Tectonic raised his own weapon and continued to rain fire down on the last of the enemy attackers.
Scarecrow witnessed the series of events as he was moving in position to reinforce and give medical assistance to his comrades. He could not believe he had just witnessed one of his greatest friends and best soldiers cutting down another of his men.
Nor could his commander believe it.
.
.
.
.
So he paused the game and turned to his flatmate and in a slightly raised tone of voice said "I cannot believe that you, Colonel Stuart "Tectonic" Wetherell Jnr, just cut down Major John-Paul "Doomsday" Uren. Do you not realise that when I go into work tomorrow I will have to tell JP that he got killed by you!"
What you have just read is all true. I was playing the game XCOM Enemy Unknown, and what you read is the accurate account (although fictionalised by me obviously) of the mission I played this evening in which one of my characters got killed.
I have recently found that I really enjoy games such as XCOM and FTL which allow you to name the people in your squads, or crew. In FTL my little starship has been manned by people such as Jean Luc Picard and Dr Crusher with Mr Wolf. Or with Lee Adama, Commander Adama and Kara Thrace. In the past I have played the Sims and entire neighbourhoods have been named after people I know.
The thing is that I get really connected to the characters that I name, and I generally want those people named after people I like to survive over those I'm not bothered about.
In XCOM this has become especially difficult as I have had problems thinking up names for my characters, which is why I fall back on work colleagues, so my entire department is in XCOM. Along with a load of my favourite authors such as Jonathan Green, David Tallermann, Karen Traviss etc.
But then again, comes the problem of how do I feel when some of those characters die.
Here is a pic of my memorial wall in XCOM:
As you can see, my own name is near the top of this list. The only person on the first page of my memorial wall that I did not change the name of was Francois Girard and that's because the computer nicknamed him Solo. I have never changed the nicknames because I like the random nature of them.
Since I took that pic, many, many more have joined their ranks. JP would now in fact be at the top of that list. In that list you can see one Babylon 5 character, two Star Wars characters, one author, one song name, and a character called Dr Medic, because I bet you can guess what character class they were assigned when I got them. You can even see the original character named after my flatmate.
Now, my team when I set off on the fateful mission that saw the death of my friend, and real life colleague of JP looks like this:
In my best squad (now sadly one member short, which I have replaced with a robot that's a cross between Jonny Five and Wall E) you can see my flatmates second incarnation, who I should probably change the nickname to Backstabber or Betrayer. You have Matt Barker and JP Uren who I am in the same team with at work. Major Roy Mustang (now ironically Colonel Mustang after that mission), named after my favourite Fullmetal Alchemist character Colonel Roy Mustang. Colonel Hayley "Smash" Sharpe, named after another colleague at work and Major Sarah "Big Momma" Marshall named after my sister in law. Sadly my brother is far down the memorial wall, Having died with the rang of Corporal and taking down five enemies, rescuing two civilians. I assume that in virtual heaven he is buried next to Dom Santiago and Marcus Fenix who also bought the farm on that mission (rescues are tough).
Here is a shot of the bar that I noticed was in my base in the game. I showed the real Matt Barker this picture and his reaction was to tell me that I am sat at the bar and he is there telling me that the deaths of the squad members is my fault.
The worst thing is that I couldn't help but think that he was right. It made me realise that although they are not real, because I have named them after real (mostly) people, I have begun to invest real emotions into them and I genuinely do not want to see these little virtual avatars die. The worst is that because of the save game I have set up on Iron Man setting, I cannot go back to an old save in order to do the mission again, so like in real life, once they are gone they are gone, and with them all of their experience and individual expertise' and quirks.
I realise that it is probably wrong for me to feel an emotion connection with these little virtual people like I have with the old Starship Troopers RTS, or the Sims or FTL and finally with XCOM, but I do. Even if I only do a mission a night, its like seeing old friends again and I get to go on amazing adventures with them that I just cannot go on in the real world. (If there really is an XCOM organisation out there then I am very scared).
This whole post started because I was thinking how hard it is to think up character names for stories and how impressed I am that authors can do that. For instance Ulysses Quicksilver or Easie Damasco are brilliant and I would never think up names like that in a million years. It quickly got me thinking of how when I read a book I get emotionally attached to the characters like I have with Fall of Giants and Winter of the World by Ken Follett.
I love books, hence this blog. But when I play games, I know that unlike a book where I am being completely presented with a world prebuilt for me to picture, with a game I get the same thing but I get to shape that world to make it what I want, or would like to be. Just like a film, or book though, it might not always end how you want. After all, my first crack at XCOM resulted in my entire team getting wiped out and I could never recover.
You may think that I am a geek for writing this, and I am. But remember, next time that you look up in the sky and see the sun. Remember, its not just the sun, its a star. How amazing is that, that we are so close to a star, one of billions out there in the universe.
So I leave you with this quote:
Two possibilities exist:
Either we are alone in the universe or we are not.
Both are equally as terrifying.
-Arthur C. Clarke
Thanks for reading.
End of line.
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Decisions in an apocalyptic world.
To go left or right, to have chocolate or vanilla? Each day we make hundreds of different decisions, and whilst some are considered less important than others, all of them shape our lives in ways that we cannot always tell.
I have a book called Can You Survive The Zombie Apocalypse? which I like to pick up every couple of weeks and give a quick flick through.
Thanks to one of my favorite books, World War Z, I consider myself one of the three best people that I can think of who would survive a zombie attack. One of the others is my friend Stu, who has survived a zombie attack in Leeds, and the other is my friend Dom, who is in the World War Z movie, and he can run bloody fast (that's how he got the part).
Apart from my diabetes, I think I would be pretty good in a zombie situation. Many people that I know would probably consider that I could be a part of the outbreak so as long as I survived the first 24 hours, I think I could do it.
That is what made me want to get the book.
I have not survived once!
The book is very good and highly enjoyable. The only problem is that in performing the actions in the book, I always tend to do the options that I would do in that situation. For instance, the book gives you the choice to just try and get out of dodge, or go back to my apartment first. I would always go back as you should never rush escaping a city, especially as that is what most others would do.
The big problem with the book is that whatever decision you make, no matter how small the events that occur after that decision remove the importance of whatever decision you have made. I seem to have survived the longest when I have gotten on an underground train.
If zombies are rising up then there would be no way I would get inside a cramped underground metal tube. Thats just crazy. However, the train crashes and you seem to be way better off.
For this reason, this book annoys me a little because there seems to be no way that a logical thinker can survive, it really is just a scenario where you will survive by pure luck. I grant you that in many situations in life, that can be enough, but 9 times out of 10, the person who is prepared will survive.
Oh well, lets see how far I can get this time........
I have a book called Can You Survive The Zombie Apocalypse? which I like to pick up every couple of weeks and give a quick flick through.
Apart from my diabetes, I think I would be pretty good in a zombie situation. Many people that I know would probably consider that I could be a part of the outbreak so as long as I survived the first 24 hours, I think I could do it.
That is what made me want to get the book.
I have not survived once!
The book is very good and highly enjoyable. The only problem is that in performing the actions in the book, I always tend to do the options that I would do in that situation. For instance, the book gives you the choice to just try and get out of dodge, or go back to my apartment first. I would always go back as you should never rush escaping a city, especially as that is what most others would do.
The big problem with the book is that whatever decision you make, no matter how small the events that occur after that decision remove the importance of whatever decision you have made. I seem to have survived the longest when I have gotten on an underground train.
If zombies are rising up then there would be no way I would get inside a cramped underground metal tube. Thats just crazy. However, the train crashes and you seem to be way better off.
For this reason, this book annoys me a little because there seems to be no way that a logical thinker can survive, it really is just a scenario where you will survive by pure luck. I grant you that in many situations in life, that can be enough, but 9 times out of 10, the person who is prepared will survive.
Oh well, lets see how far I can get this time........
Monday, 24 September 2012
Getting a bit chilly....
I've recently been reading alot on several blogs about reading challenges. It seems like a good idea if you need some motivation to get through their massive piles of books. For me, I dont think that I could do it, simply because I have a great deal of trouble keeping track of my books. I have enough trouble updating this because I tend to blast through books so quickly at times that I move on to the next one and its only the really outstanding books that stick in my brain.
I have developed a very bad habit of clearing my memory warehouse of things that I dont think I need to remember anymore in order to fit more in.
Well with the sudden shift to super cold weather it made me think of Ken Folletts new book Winter of the World that came out last week. A very good friend had lent me the first in the trilogy; Fall of Giants a week before. Its a book nearly a thousand pages long and the first chapter seems to be about mining in Wales. I'll be honest that I did not think that I would get through it.
I have never been happier to be wrong.
It was a great book and then I was in luck that only three days later Winter of the World was released and so I rushed out and purchased it.
The book follows the children of the characters from Fall of Giants and the challenges that they face.
The book starts in 1933 and shows how fascism rooted itself in Germany through fear and intimidation. The book quickly jumps through the 30's and introduces the reader to the fight against fascism in Britain and the clash of communism and fascism in the Spanish Civil War, finally leading to WWII, from the Blitz, to Pearl Harbour, D-Day and the Pacific conflict and how all of these things affected the individuals in the books story.
This is not a book about war, it is a book about people. The brilliant thing about Winter of the World is that because the book takes place over so many years, the characters that you are introduced to at the beginning go through so many changes throughout. So people who you might take an instant dislike to, by the end have matured and become characters that you deeply care about. And of course, characters that you may have liked at first have been shaped by their situations into very dark people.
I read a review of this book that says that Winter of the World could be read on its own. I agree to that book to a point as you can read it on its own and it becomes more about the historical events and how they are viewed from the different individuals perspective. However, if you have read Fall of Giants then it becomes more about the people and how you will look at the children of the characters that you loved in the first tale and want their descendants to do well, or badly in some cases.
Sadly it will probably be two years until the last instalment and I am very interested to see at what point within the 20th century it will be set. This book is a brilliant read and whilst the historical events (particularly the spy ring in Spain) may not be perfect, it is a very good portrayal of events and you will get very emotionally invested in the lives of the people in the book, which is what a good book should do.
I have developed a very bad habit of clearing my memory warehouse of things that I dont think I need to remember anymore in order to fit more in.
Well with the sudden shift to super cold weather it made me think of Ken Folletts new book Winter of the World that came out last week. A very good friend had lent me the first in the trilogy; Fall of Giants a week before. Its a book nearly a thousand pages long and the first chapter seems to be about mining in Wales. I'll be honest that I did not think that I would get through it.
I have never been happier to be wrong.
It was a great book and then I was in luck that only three days later Winter of the World was released and so I rushed out and purchased it.
The book follows the children of the characters from Fall of Giants and the challenges that they face.
The book starts in 1933 and shows how fascism rooted itself in Germany through fear and intimidation. The book quickly jumps through the 30's and introduces the reader to the fight against fascism in Britain and the clash of communism and fascism in the Spanish Civil War, finally leading to WWII, from the Blitz, to Pearl Harbour, D-Day and the Pacific conflict and how all of these things affected the individuals in the books story.
This is not a book about war, it is a book about people. The brilliant thing about Winter of the World is that because the book takes place over so many years, the characters that you are introduced to at the beginning go through so many changes throughout. So people who you might take an instant dislike to, by the end have matured and become characters that you deeply care about. And of course, characters that you may have liked at first have been shaped by their situations into very dark people.
I read a review of this book that says that Winter of the World could be read on its own. I agree to that book to a point as you can read it on its own and it becomes more about the historical events and how they are viewed from the different individuals perspective. However, if you have read Fall of Giants then it becomes more about the people and how you will look at the children of the characters that you loved in the first tale and want their descendants to do well, or badly in some cases.
Sadly it will probably be two years until the last instalment and I am very interested to see at what point within the 20th century it will be set. This book is a brilliant read and whilst the historical events (particularly the spy ring in Spain) may not be perfect, it is a very good portrayal of events and you will get very emotionally invested in the lives of the people in the book, which is what a good book should do.
Sunday, 23 September 2012
When we owe so much to so few, which few are they?
I was recently walking through Waterstones to see if there was anything that took my fancy as I wasn't sure what kind of mood I was in. I looked on a stand that was advertising their "book of the month" and it is a book called Double Cross by Ben Macintyre.
I looked at the book and the premise was that the book is about the secret agents that helped to fool the Axis forces in the second world war with a focus on their actions in the lead up to D-Day.
I'm sure that the book is good, but I couldn't help but feel a little shocked that it seems to be near identical to a book that I bought and read a couple of weeks before called Operation Fortitude by Joshua Levine, which is about the exact same topic and even the covers are similar.
Basically at the end of the day, it simply means that you are spoilt for choice when it comes to books concerning the Double Cross system in WWII.
Operation Fortitude by Joshua Levine is a really good read, and one of the best parts about it is that although it is a non fiction work, it reads like a story making it very easy to plough through it.
Winston Churchill suggested that the best truths must be protected by a bodyguard of lies. That is the best way to sum up the Double Cross system that was developed by a man named Dudley Clarke.
Dudley Clarke is the man that masterminded the system for creating double agents in the war. I wish that Ken Follett had read this book before writing his book Winter of the World, which whilst amazing, is so very wrong when it discusses spies during the Spanish Civil War.
Operation Fortitude is a fascinating read that shows you how it was that a few individuals took it on themselves to spin a web of lies that the Germans would believe. In many of these cases, these men were Germans who knew that whilst their actions were traitorous they knew that Germany had to be rid of the horrors that Hitler had brought. In reading this you get to find out how it was the Germans sent so few spies to Britain because the double agents that were working in the country had created so many fake agents that the Weirmacht believed that they did not need more agents in Britain.
There are brilliant little tales such as how one agent took his money from the Weirmacht, put it down at a card table just to scare his handler, a certain Lieutenant Flemming, which would become the inspiration for Casino Royale. Or how Sir David Sterling when creating his SAS force, asked Dudley Clarke what he should call his new special forces unit. Clarke replied that he should call it the SAS as he had created a fake SAS unit to confuse the Germans in Africa and that if there was a real unit fitting the description of his fictional one, it would back up all the fake reports he was feeding the Germans. Lastly how both the camp and the board of people that regulated its activities were called Camp Twenty, as twenty in Roman numerals is XX. Shocking that the Germans never worked that one out. And of course, the rest is history.
One chapter of this book that wound me up is the over whelming evidence that Britain warned the United States that Pearl Harbour would be attacked for months before the attack but due to bungling idiot J Edgar Hoover (head of the FBI, famous for hating homosexuals and Jewish people, although himself a cross dresser and its STRONGLY hinted that he and his male assistant were overly friendly) the attacks went ahead. How no one stepped us to shoot that idiot I do not understand.
It is sad that although the people of Britain owe so much to such a few men, they have never really gained any recognition for their heroic actions. Because many of these eccentric men had to live in worlds of their own creation, they did not transition well back into normal life after the war and they also feared revenge from Germany.
A great read, I would say that it is certainly a holiday book for many.
I looked at the book and the premise was that the book is about the secret agents that helped to fool the Axis forces in the second world war with a focus on their actions in the lead up to D-Day.
I'm sure that the book is good, but I couldn't help but feel a little shocked that it seems to be near identical to a book that I bought and read a couple of weeks before called Operation Fortitude by Joshua Levine, which is about the exact same topic and even the covers are similar.
Basically at the end of the day, it simply means that you are spoilt for choice when it comes to books concerning the Double Cross system in WWII.
Operation Fortitude by Joshua Levine is a really good read, and one of the best parts about it is that although it is a non fiction work, it reads like a story making it very easy to plough through it.
Winston Churchill suggested that the best truths must be protected by a bodyguard of lies. That is the best way to sum up the Double Cross system that was developed by a man named Dudley Clarke.
Dudley Clarke is the man that masterminded the system for creating double agents in the war. I wish that Ken Follett had read this book before writing his book Winter of the World, which whilst amazing, is so very wrong when it discusses spies during the Spanish Civil War.
Operation Fortitude is a fascinating read that shows you how it was that a few individuals took it on themselves to spin a web of lies that the Germans would believe. In many of these cases, these men were Germans who knew that whilst their actions were traitorous they knew that Germany had to be rid of the horrors that Hitler had brought. In reading this you get to find out how it was the Germans sent so few spies to Britain because the double agents that were working in the country had created so many fake agents that the Weirmacht believed that they did not need more agents in Britain.
There are brilliant little tales such as how one agent took his money from the Weirmacht, put it down at a card table just to scare his handler, a certain Lieutenant Flemming, which would become the inspiration for Casino Royale. Or how Sir David Sterling when creating his SAS force, asked Dudley Clarke what he should call his new special forces unit. Clarke replied that he should call it the SAS as he had created a fake SAS unit to confuse the Germans in Africa and that if there was a real unit fitting the description of his fictional one, it would back up all the fake reports he was feeding the Germans. Lastly how both the camp and the board of people that regulated its activities were called Camp Twenty, as twenty in Roman numerals is XX. Shocking that the Germans never worked that one out. And of course, the rest is history.
One chapter of this book that wound me up is the over whelming evidence that Britain warned the United States that Pearl Harbour would be attacked for months before the attack but due to bungling idiot J Edgar Hoover (head of the FBI, famous for hating homosexuals and Jewish people, although himself a cross dresser and its STRONGLY hinted that he and his male assistant were overly friendly) the attacks went ahead. How no one stepped us to shoot that idiot I do not understand.
It is sad that although the people of Britain owe so much to such a few men, they have never really gained any recognition for their heroic actions. Because many of these eccentric men had to live in worlds of their own creation, they did not transition well back into normal life after the war and they also feared revenge from Germany.
A great read, I would say that it is certainly a holiday book for many.
Monday, 13 August 2012
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
As I was heading to the Olympics to watch some sport which is main main hobby besides reading, I needed something to read that I could easily pick up and wouldn't be too heavy such as Game of Thrones.
So I chose The Hunger Games, and all I can think is....
This book certainly deserves a 5/5.
I must admit that I read this on the devil box or Kindle for those of you who don't know my dislike of digital print and there was an interview at the end of the book with Suzanne Collins. I just want to note this point of annoyance on my part before I begin to talk about the actual story. Suzanne Collins in her interview is asked about what influences brought her to think of the Hunger Games and she mentioned seeing things on the news etc which is fair enough, but there is certainly one source of inspiration that is not mentioned and that is the film Battle Royale which is the first thing that came to my mind when I heard the concept of the story so I was rather shocked that this was not mentioned, but maybe she wanted to sound original.
Rant over. Feel free to ignore the previous paragraph.
The main character in the book is the young Katniss Everdeen, a girl who was born in District 12 of the state of Panem which has risen up out of the ruins of the contemporary United States which has been brought down by climate change and other nasty things like that. District 12, provides coal to the Capitol whilst other districts provide their own specific products.
Part of the reason this book appeals to me is that from the get go it is very obvious that there is a very Roman aspect to this tale in the way that the client kingdoms have to provide tribute to the capitol who controls everything.
Because of a previous rebellion by the districts each year the surviving districts must offer up one girl and one boy aged between 12 and 18 to take part in the Hunger Games. In the games the children will fight to the death (and of course be broadcast on national television) until there is only one survivor.
Through circumstances the two that head to the games for District 12 are one Katniss Everdeen and a young boy named Peeta Mellark.
The two characters are pretty brilliantly presented in my opinion. Katniss is a pure survivor who has shut out most emotions since a very early age to make sure that her family survives. Peeta however, whilst being from a very (and I cannot emphasize how very small) better family in terms of their circumstances, he wears his heart on his sleeve and is not afraid to show his emotions. For a man who has often been described as super stoic I wish I could be more like the character of Peeta Mellark.
I cannot really say more about the two of them without spoilling more of the story than I already feel I have. This is also the reason that whilst I have read the following two books within two days of The Hunger Games, I might wait to write them up.
When reading The Hunger Games, I couldn't help but feel that several of the characters represent very important aspects of a persons character. For instance, Primm, Katniss' younger sister represents pure innocence. Peeta I feel represents courage in a number of ways. Haymitch represents despair and having had an alcoholic close to me I can understand how he drinks to cover up the pain. Effie, who represents decadence and the arrogance that comes with it, and finally Cinna who represents kindness. I also have a feeling of what Katniss should represent but I want to keep that one to myself so I don't cloud your views.
The pace of the book is very good and at the end of every chapter I just wanted to read one more chapter and then next thing I knew the book was finished.
If you look at the surface of The Hunger Games you have a book about a girl who is thrown into a bad situation and kids are made to kill each other for mindless entertainment.
What I got was a book about sacrifice. Sacrifice for ideals that are bigger than the individual and that can give hope to not just the masses but those close around us. I must admit that to a lesser extent I really enjoyed the absolute devotion that Peeta shows Katniss throughout the story is very moving and was nice to think that occasionally people can meet "the one" even as hardship is thrust on them.
So I chose The Hunger Games, and all I can think is....
"May the odds be ever in your favour."
I must admit that I read this on the devil box or Kindle for those of you who don't know my dislike of digital print and there was an interview at the end of the book with Suzanne Collins. I just want to note this point of annoyance on my part before I begin to talk about the actual story. Suzanne Collins in her interview is asked about what influences brought her to think of the Hunger Games and she mentioned seeing things on the news etc which is fair enough, but there is certainly one source of inspiration that is not mentioned and that is the film Battle Royale which is the first thing that came to my mind when I heard the concept of the story so I was rather shocked that this was not mentioned, but maybe she wanted to sound original.
Rant over. Feel free to ignore the previous paragraph.
The main character in the book is the young Katniss Everdeen, a girl who was born in District 12 of the state of Panem which has risen up out of the ruins of the contemporary United States which has been brought down by climate change and other nasty things like that. District 12, provides coal to the Capitol whilst other districts provide their own specific products.
Part of the reason this book appeals to me is that from the get go it is very obvious that there is a very Roman aspect to this tale in the way that the client kingdoms have to provide tribute to the capitol who controls everything.
Because of a previous rebellion by the districts each year the surviving districts must offer up one girl and one boy aged between 12 and 18 to take part in the Hunger Games. In the games the children will fight to the death (and of course be broadcast on national television) until there is only one survivor.
Through circumstances the two that head to the games for District 12 are one Katniss Everdeen and a young boy named Peeta Mellark.
The two characters are pretty brilliantly presented in my opinion. Katniss is a pure survivor who has shut out most emotions since a very early age to make sure that her family survives. Peeta however, whilst being from a very (and I cannot emphasize how very small) better family in terms of their circumstances, he wears his heart on his sleeve and is not afraid to show his emotions. For a man who has often been described as super stoic I wish I could be more like the character of Peeta Mellark.
I cannot really say more about the two of them without spoilling more of the story than I already feel I have. This is also the reason that whilst I have read the following two books within two days of The Hunger Games, I might wait to write them up.
When reading The Hunger Games, I couldn't help but feel that several of the characters represent very important aspects of a persons character. For instance, Primm, Katniss' younger sister represents pure innocence. Peeta I feel represents courage in a number of ways. Haymitch represents despair and having had an alcoholic close to me I can understand how he drinks to cover up the pain. Effie, who represents decadence and the arrogance that comes with it, and finally Cinna who represents kindness. I also have a feeling of what Katniss should represent but I want to keep that one to myself so I don't cloud your views.
The pace of the book is very good and at the end of every chapter I just wanted to read one more chapter and then next thing I knew the book was finished.
If you look at the surface of The Hunger Games you have a book about a girl who is thrown into a bad situation and kids are made to kill each other for mindless entertainment.
What I got was a book about sacrifice. Sacrifice for ideals that are bigger than the individual and that can give hope to not just the masses but those close around us. I must admit that to a lesser extent I really enjoyed the absolute devotion that Peeta shows Katniss throughout the story is very moving and was nice to think that occasionally people can meet "the one" even as hardship is thrust on them.
Sunday, 12 August 2012
Battle Earth II, III and IV by Nick S Thomas
Well, its been a busy time of late. I have found myself reading series of books which is why I haven't been reviewing much. My last review was OK Battle Earth I by Nick S Thomas, which was a highly enjoyable read, and because I was reading it on the Kindle, it made it easy to just keep on reading without really noticing that I had started a new book.
Then of course came the games. For those of you that know me, I have a deep passion for sport that I do not express to anyone, except when there is a big tournament on that particular sport. Then came the Olympics, the time in which titans walk amongst us and the hopes of millions across the globe rest on the shoulders of very few. So what does one do when the sports that you love such as fencing, hockey, athletics, rowing and cycling come along what is a man to do....
Get your arse to London is what that man does.
My travel to the games meant that I needed something to read and so in the space of a week I got the chance to read through the Hunger Games books which I will review shortly.
But back to Battle Earth, which because I read them over the course of three days I will review as if they are one book.
Battle Earth II, III and IV by Nick S Thomas.
Just as the first book I will give the three books a 4/5.
The three books are very similar to the first book, with the only variation really being book IV.
Things seem dire at the beginning of book II with the human forces holding their alien foes in the ruins of Paris but losing many for every enemy they take down.
They then get pushed back and France falls beneath the boots of a different type of oppressor and it falls to the united nations of earth to rally in Germany and continue the fight.
You get told that the alien forces are attacking other places on the earth, but refreshingly the action always remains fixed on the characters you know. Even to the point that you also get to follow a resistance movement on the moon.
As you could expect from humans, we quickly learn from our enemies and develop technology that levels the playing field and we are able to take the fight back to them.
The books continue with great pace and the characters never seem indestructible and do remain very human. You also begin to learn more about the aliens, without it becoming bogged down in anything too unbelievable. To be honest with reading this, I got the feeling that the TV series Falling Skies pinched the idea for the aliens from these books.
Books 1-3 are very similar as if they are one story, then book 4 comes along and it shifts a little. It is still a great read but its as if its a new chapter in the story and I would say that if there is not another book in the series then do not read four, but if there is another then wait so that you can go through them as it left me wanting more as its seems like there should be more on the way.
Then of course came the games. For those of you that know me, I have a deep passion for sport that I do not express to anyone, except when there is a big tournament on that particular sport. Then came the Olympics, the time in which titans walk amongst us and the hopes of millions across the globe rest on the shoulders of very few. So what does one do when the sports that you love such as fencing, hockey, athletics, rowing and cycling come along what is a man to do....
Get your arse to London is what that man does.
My travel to the games meant that I needed something to read and so in the space of a week I got the chance to read through the Hunger Games books which I will review shortly.
But back to Battle Earth, which because I read them over the course of three days I will review as if they are one book.
Battle Earth II, III and IV by Nick S Thomas.
The three books are very similar to the first book, with the only variation really being book IV.
Things seem dire at the beginning of book II with the human forces holding their alien foes in the ruins of Paris but losing many for every enemy they take down.
They then get pushed back and France falls beneath the boots of a different type of oppressor and it falls to the united nations of earth to rally in Germany and continue the fight.
You get told that the alien forces are attacking other places on the earth, but refreshingly the action always remains fixed on the characters you know. Even to the point that you also get to follow a resistance movement on the moon.
As you could expect from humans, we quickly learn from our enemies and develop technology that levels the playing field and we are able to take the fight back to them.
The books continue with great pace and the characters never seem indestructible and do remain very human. You also begin to learn more about the aliens, without it becoming bogged down in anything too unbelievable. To be honest with reading this, I got the feeling that the TV series Falling Skies pinched the idea for the aliens from these books.
Books 1-3 are very similar as if they are one story, then book 4 comes along and it shifts a little. It is still a great read but its as if its a new chapter in the story and I would say that if there is not another book in the series then do not read four, but if there is another then wait so that you can go through them as it left me wanting more as its seems like there should be more on the way.
Monday, 23 July 2012
Battle Earth by Nick S Thomas
Well hello again universe. I know that in my last past, sadly well over a year ago, I still havent blogged much. As most of you out there will now know (please dont mention on Facebook), I am to be a father in a few months and I am still finding the prospect terrifying. I am however, now also a health nut and have been going to the gym every day so the somewhat chunky John most of you might know is now dead and is a new three stone slimmer model.
Over the past month I have read alot and heres a quick rundown of what I have read:
The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore (3/5)
I Am Number Four (4/5)
Robotech: The Macross Saga books 1-6 by Jack Mckinney (overall I would say 3.5/5)
Star Trek Destiny: Gods of Night by David Mack (4.5/5)
Star Trek Destiny: Mere Mortals (2.5/5)
Star Trek Destiny: Lost Souls (4/5)
Orphange by Robert Buettner (5/5) yes I should write a full blog about that as i've read it about 5 times in the past year.
Evolution Expects by Jonathan Green (5/5) another regular read so will defo have to write a review. Unlike the series of Buettner books where I only like the first in the quintology, I usually plough through Greens books in a day each, but will wait for the next book before I hit the entire series again.
So as you can see, I've read alot and I have been lazy when it comes writing. Thanks also to encouragement from my flatmate and a friend who seems to be able to make me want to always try harder at anything I do (in a good way) I have been working alot on writing myself. Whilst I dont consider anything that I do any good in my writing, I do enjoy doing it. Plus, said lady with severe powers over me says I should work harder to follow my dream of working some way in publishing. But hey, thats enough about what I am doing and my bad excuses, heres the review of Battle Earth by Nick S Thomas that I read yesterday and today.
I'm giving this a 4/5.
This is oddly enough the first time that I have seen the cover art for this as this is another that I downloaded on to the dreaded Kindle (see past blog post about Kindle to know I eat myself up every time I read from the devil machine).
It was easy for me to think that this book was written by an American as there are moments when it seems like only America can save the day. However, as the story progresses you get introduced to some brilliant Brit characters that from their descriptions sound like they are unstoppable titans.
This premise of this book is simple. Aliens show up and just invade. There is nothing in this from the alien point of view so you have no idea about their motivations and that also leads to many of the mistakes from the human nations in the beginning of this conflict. The main character is called Mitch Taylor a US Marine Major. He is thrown into the thick of it when the aliens, known simply as Mechs attack the moon colony, after already wiping out the Mars colony. The aliens remind me of elementals from the Battletech series of books, but are probably a lot taller and they use tank like vehicles and planes like humanity, only far more advanced.
This book is the first in a large series and I thoroughly enjoyed it and bought part two as soon as I finished this book with the first chapter already seeming to be as enjoyable as the first. My problem with the second book of Robert Buettners Jason Wander series is the first book is epic, and then the following books shift in style and the story just isn't as good. This however seems to keep going so I am rather looking forward to the next part.
There is nothing deep about this book, it is quite simply humans defending their home as best as they can against overwhelming, near invincible foes. The book does not get bogged down by politics and thankfully no religious beliefs, it is a simple war book and it could be because I felt like some really good escapism, but its well worth a read and I implore you to give it a try.
Over the past month I have read alot and heres a quick rundown of what I have read:
The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore (3/5)
I Am Number Four (4/5)
Robotech: The Macross Saga books 1-6 by Jack Mckinney (overall I would say 3.5/5)
Star Trek Destiny: Gods of Night by David Mack (4.5/5)
Star Trek Destiny: Mere Mortals (2.5/5)
Star Trek Destiny: Lost Souls (4/5)
Orphange by Robert Buettner (5/5) yes I should write a full blog about that as i've read it about 5 times in the past year.
Evolution Expects by Jonathan Green (5/5) another regular read so will defo have to write a review. Unlike the series of Buettner books where I only like the first in the quintology, I usually plough through Greens books in a day each, but will wait for the next book before I hit the entire series again.
So as you can see, I've read alot and I have been lazy when it comes writing. Thanks also to encouragement from my flatmate and a friend who seems to be able to make me want to always try harder at anything I do (in a good way) I have been working alot on writing myself. Whilst I dont consider anything that I do any good in my writing, I do enjoy doing it. Plus, said lady with severe powers over me says I should work harder to follow my dream of working some way in publishing. But hey, thats enough about what I am doing and my bad excuses, heres the review of Battle Earth by Nick S Thomas that I read yesterday and today.
I'm giving this a 4/5.
This is oddly enough the first time that I have seen the cover art for this as this is another that I downloaded on to the dreaded Kindle (see past blog post about Kindle to know I eat myself up every time I read from the devil machine).
It was easy for me to think that this book was written by an American as there are moments when it seems like only America can save the day. However, as the story progresses you get introduced to some brilliant Brit characters that from their descriptions sound like they are unstoppable titans.
This premise of this book is simple. Aliens show up and just invade. There is nothing in this from the alien point of view so you have no idea about their motivations and that also leads to many of the mistakes from the human nations in the beginning of this conflict. The main character is called Mitch Taylor a US Marine Major. He is thrown into the thick of it when the aliens, known simply as Mechs attack the moon colony, after already wiping out the Mars colony. The aliens remind me of elementals from the Battletech series of books, but are probably a lot taller and they use tank like vehicles and planes like humanity, only far more advanced.
This book is the first in a large series and I thoroughly enjoyed it and bought part two as soon as I finished this book with the first chapter already seeming to be as enjoyable as the first. My problem with the second book of Robert Buettners Jason Wander series is the first book is epic, and then the following books shift in style and the story just isn't as good. This however seems to keep going so I am rather looking forward to the next part.
There is nothing deep about this book, it is quite simply humans defending their home as best as they can against overwhelming, near invincible foes. The book does not get bogged down by politics and thankfully no religious beliefs, it is a simple war book and it could be because I felt like some really good escapism, but its well worth a read and I implore you to give it a try.
Sunday, 10 June 2012
I'm very sad to say that I have not posted for quite some time. The reason being that I have had some bad news that has made it very difficult for me to do anything let alone think about writing anything. I have no idea at this point in times if things are going to get worse or if they are going to be ok, but until I do I thought that it was time I wrote a review one of the many many books that I have read over the past few months. I'm hoping to get a few thrown up here over the next few days, maybe even tonight.
Well here goes.....
Darth Plagueis by James Luceno
Rating: 4/5
I've always come to expect a great deal from James Luceno's work and I can say that this did not disappoint.
The one reason that I would implore anyone to read this book is quite simply that it makes Star Wars Episode 1 not seem as bad.
This book takes place across a great period of time from the young and impressionable Palpatine, who you find out has forsaken his first name is moulded and shaped into being Plageueis' apprentice and you can see how he then used similar tactics to influence a young Anakin Skywalker.
The book then takes place over many years and gives great details that are easily believed as to how the pair of Sith take great steps to destabilise the Republic to bring about the events that can be seen in the prequel films.
The greatest sections of this book occur during the time frame of Episode 1. One great scene in that film has Darth Maul, acted by Ray Park and voiced by Peter Serafinowicz talking to Palpatine about how they will finally come out of hiding and have their revenge. This sequence takes place in the book but it is from the perspective of Plagueis watching his apprentice from a building opposite and wondering how far Mauls training really is along. It really sets the scene for the way in which the Sith might be doing their best, and succeeding, at bringing down the Jedi and Republic through political means, they are also still perpetually struggling amongst themselves.
A great read and it is a must for Star Wars fans, especially those that do not like Episode 1. Plus, it finally answers the Anakin birth question that has been floating around Star Wars circles since Palpatines speech to Anakin at the opera in Revenge of the Sith.
Well here goes.....
Darth Plagueis by James Luceno
I've always come to expect a great deal from James Luceno's work and I can say that this did not disappoint.
The one reason that I would implore anyone to read this book is quite simply that it makes Star Wars Episode 1 not seem as bad.
This book takes place across a great period of time from the young and impressionable Palpatine, who you find out has forsaken his first name is moulded and shaped into being Plageueis' apprentice and you can see how he then used similar tactics to influence a young Anakin Skywalker.
The book then takes place over many years and gives great details that are easily believed as to how the pair of Sith take great steps to destabilise the Republic to bring about the events that can be seen in the prequel films.
The greatest sections of this book occur during the time frame of Episode 1. One great scene in that film has Darth Maul, acted by Ray Park and voiced by Peter Serafinowicz talking to Palpatine about how they will finally come out of hiding and have their revenge. This sequence takes place in the book but it is from the perspective of Plagueis watching his apprentice from a building opposite and wondering how far Mauls training really is along. It really sets the scene for the way in which the Sith might be doing their best, and succeeding, at bringing down the Jedi and Republic through political means, they are also still perpetually struggling amongst themselves.
A great read and it is a must for Star Wars fans, especially those that do not like Episode 1. Plus, it finally answers the Anakin birth question that has been floating around Star Wars circles since Palpatines speech to Anakin at the opera in Revenge of the Sith.
Sunday, 22 April 2012
I should have written this sooner...
I haven't posted on here in a while. I've been rather annoyed at myself for this, but things have been rather busy in April for me. Firstly it was my birthday on April 4th and so the weekends surrounding that were generally taken up with different activities and partying. Plus, I had an accident whilst climbing on my birthday which made it difficult for me to do anything for a few days as most of the muscles in my upper torso were bruised and very swollen. Then of course there was work, which whilst I cannot say what my job is, I have been putting a lot of overtime in because of certain projects that are very important.
Other than that I have been pouring alot of time into my climbing and my golf at the moment as I have both an important golf comp in May and also a climbing holiday so I need to make sure that I am at my best for both. Plus, I'm also doing alot of other exercise such as weights and cardio exercise etc etc in order to improve my health. I must be doing well as I found a pic on my computer of my outline and compared it to a pic I took today and I have lost a load of weight. Score.
Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
Other than that I have been pouring alot of time into my climbing and my golf at the moment as I have both an important golf comp in May and also a climbing holiday so I need to make sure that I am at my best for both. Plus, I'm also doing alot of other exercise such as weights and cardio exercise etc etc in order to improve my health. I must be doing well as I found a pic on my computer of my outline and compared it to a pic I took today and I have lost a load of weight. Score.
Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
My rating: 4/5
This is the sequel to The Lies of Locke Lamora, which is an incredible book. I was bought that by a friend for Christmas as he (and several others) had said that it was my cup of tea, but I had read the back and I wasn't that interested. However, after I ploughed through three books in as many days on my Kindle that I was bought for xmas I looked at the book and thought that it would be rude for me to not give it a read. I am very happy that I was wrong as I really enjoyed the book. The characters are brilliant and the environment and world that Lynch has created is amazing with both aspects of a first civilisation and a second human "empire" that has also passed into history and left mankind with a series of city states.
Anyway, I'm getting off topic. Red Skies takes place just over two years after the events of Lies and Locke is up to his usual tricks. I don't want to say too much as it is difficult to say anything that without giving away large amounts of the plot. Basically there are a great amount of boats and naval action in this book and its brilliant. Its very much like Pirates of the Caribbean 3 if it had been good.
The best bits of the book for me were the usual flashback chapters in which you get to see Lockes recovery from his ordeal in the first book and how it is not only the physical aspects that he has to deal to with the psychological as well. As always Jean is Lockes rock and the relationship between the two "brothers" is brilliant.
A number of my friends told me that this was not as good as the first book, and I was afraid to start it because I thought it would not live up to my expectations. I don't think that this is better than the first book which set the bar very high. I do however think that this is just as good.
The only downside of this book is that Lynch tends to take his time with writing the follow up (although it took George R. R. Martin six years to write Dances With Dragons after Feast for Crows and in the back of crows he says that he will have a new one out next year!!!!!!!!! sorry rant over.) The cliff hanger at the end of Red Seas Under Red Skies will have you screaming to get your hands on the next one.
Brilliant book and a great continuation of the story.
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
Closure Limited by Max Brooks
It feels bad for me to give Closure Limited a 2/5 rating as I am a massive fan of Max Brooks' work with World War Z being my favourite book until I read Ready Player One a few weeks ago.
The reason I gave this book 2 out of five rather than 1 is because the stories that are in there are quite good but for starters if you pay retail for this book (£5.99) you are paying quite a sum for a book that I read in an hour as it stands at just over 100 pages.
The problem that I had with this book was probably born from my expectation that this was a book based in the World War Z universe. I could have accepted the price vs length if that had been the case as it would have made for a good addon.
The story Closure Limited is one of the best in the book as it was the first time that you get a hint (as small as it is I was as hungry for it as a z to a human) of Brooks' experience of the zombie war. In reading World War Z I had always wondered what Brooks had done throughout the war which had then led him to collect the stories of other survivors. The first story doesn't really answer any of those questions, but it does, for the first time realise that Brooks suffered like the rest of humanity rather than spending the war on a comfortable UN ship of in an American bunker.
The other stories were nothing that I was that bothered about to be honest, they had some merit but they did not feel like they had a place in a book that I feel advertised itself as a World War Z set of stories, even if they are well written.
The last story redeems the book in the way that Closure Limited made me excited for the book. It is set in China, which is certainly mentioned a great deal in World War Z and it was refreshing that the story took on the aspect of an interview of a survivor whose job was to rebuild the Great Wall as part of the Chinese version of the Redeker Plan. As with all of the Chinese sections in Brooks' work, it shows a dedication to survival that is both chilling and a relief that humans can survive anything with a bit of dedication.
All in all, an OK book, but nothing to write home about (but apparently worthy of a blog update lol). If you can pick it up cheaper than the retail cost then its worth a read (check a certain website that has a certain river theme as its £2.99). Its a shame that this book wasn't a few hundred pages longer and it could have been rushed out so that more money can be drummed up in time for the movie, but maybe I'm just too cynical. I will read this book again, if only just because I could read through most of it in my GP's waiting room.
Cover arts good mind.
Sunday, 25 March 2012
Glasslands by Karen Traviss
My Rating: 4/5
TOR Publishing 2011This book was a tough one for me to think about reviewing. For one thing, the book is brilliant and Traviss brings her brilliant style to the Halo universe in a remarkable way. This is the first Halo book to take place after the events of the Halo 3 game and so it is the first book to take place in a time after the end of the Human-Covenant war which saw the deaths of billions of humans over thirty years.
One of the downsides of this book is that it is not a standalone book and anyone who is unfamiliar with previous Halo titles and also the games will find it very difficult to get into. The book takes place immediately after the book Halo: Ghosts of Onyx by Eric Nylund and if you haven't read that then there is no way you will understand who half the characters are in Glasslands and where/why they are there (I cant say more without giving massive spoilers).
One of my favourite things in this book is the introduction of Spartan II's that are not John-117. You get introduced to Naomi who the book shows to be a very competent super soldier and in a way lives in the shadow of the Master Chief, but yet as you would expect from one of the last remaining Spartans, she doesn't seem to mind. You also get introduced to Captain Osman, who washed out of the Spartan II program and who was rebuilt by the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) and has become a productive member of the armed forces. The only other time that a former spartan has been featured in the books was in Eric Nylunds The Fall of Reach.
The story itself in a nutshell is about a group of UNSC personnel that are brought together and given the task of ensuring that the Elites, now freed from the Covenant, fight amongst themselves rather than set their sites on humanity once again. This is the first part in a three part story arc and the book gives some great twists and it brilliantly sets up the next two parts by giving small hints of whats to come.
Lastly, its very important to discuss the great way that one character in particular is portrayed. The great Dr Catherine Halsey. Halsey has always been one of the central characters to the Halo universe, even if to those that have only played the games, she has only made an appearance in Halo Reach, although many realised that Cortana is also Halsey as she was made from a clone of her. Halsey has always been portrayed as doing what was best for humanity and I have always really respected her character and the decisions she has made and the sacrifices she has made along with it. However, Traviss has gone and changed everything. The good that Halsey has done is still there but Traviss manages to explain events in a way that by the end of the book I felt that Halsey was not a good person and was a war criminal. The way that it is written is incredible and I think that it makes this book an essential read if you are a Halo fan.
One thing that is mentioned a lot throughout Glasslands is the famous "Halseys diary". This is the first that the this sacred document is mentioned in Halo literature, but it does exist in physical form and can be found within the Halo black box as can be seen below:
All in all, I really enjoyed this book and I cannot wait for the next in the series, I'm rather annoyed at myself that I waited so long to read Glasslands.
My Favourite Quotes:
1 - "This is a spy ship". Osman said it with slow deliberation as if she was getting impatient with hit naivete. She stepped back across the coaming, hand on the edge of the door. "Everything on this vessel is classified. Just breathing here is in breach of the Official Secrets Act. I can drop you back on New Llanelli, if you like."
"You really are all bastards, arent you? You know how many people died on Llanelli? One million, four hundred thousand. Dont you get it? No, Earth was never hit was it?"
"Oh, we loast a few billion on Earth," Osman said. "I think we get it just fine."
2 - "Oh wow..." It was Phillips. His voice trailed off and he walked right up to Naomi, grinning like a schoolboy as he craned his neck to look up at her. "You look amazing. Real killer robot stuff."
Vaz didnt know Naomi well enough to pick up any body language, and he couldnt see her expression, but she leaned forward so that her gold-mirrored visor was right in Phillips's face. For a moment the compartment was so quiet that Vaz could hear the faint sigh of the armour's servos as she moved.
"Be honest," she said. "Does my ass look big in this?"
3 - "And should we know who Halsey is?"
"Chief scientist at ONI," Osman said. Vas decided she had some serious issues with this Halsey, judging by the set of her jaw. "Creator of the Spartan program. Its only fair to warn you that there'll be some unpleasant revelations emerging about her. Brilliant, yes, and the Spartans changed the course of the war, but her methods left a lot to be desired. History might not judge her kindly."
4 - "Can you see this Naomi?"
Her voice drifted over the intercom. "I still say you need me down there."
"You're a two-meter blonde, and then some," Mal said. "It'll take more than a scruffy pair of pants to disguise that in town."
Spartans were great assets, but they werent made for plain clothes work. But Mal had never worked undercover before and neither had Vaz, so there was a certain amount of anxiety about how out of place they'd look.
"They used to say that a good SAS man could speak twenty languages while disguised as a pint of Guiness," Vaz said. "And don't ask me what Guiness was, Deveraux. I think it was beer."
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
My Rating: 5/5
Century Publishing 2011 Favourite Quote:
"I sat in my stronghold, staring at the Jade Key and reciting the words etched into its spine, over and over, like a maddening mantra:
Continue your quest by taking the test.
Continue your quest by taking the test.
Continue your quest by taking the test.
Yes, but what test? What test was I supposed to take? The Koybayashi Maru? The Pepsi Challenge? Could the clue have been any more vague?"
There are a million other quotes throughout this book that are just amazing, but the thing is that whilst I could put them here for you, to really appreciate them you would have to be a big fan of 80's movie and game culture and if you are then I tell you to simply read the book and be swept up in the magnificence of it and its pure geek brilliance. If you are not all that familiar with 80's pop culture but have maybe caught films such as Wargames, Tron, Ferris Bueller, Weird Science etc when they have been on the telly then this book will make you appreciate the 80's and the good things that came from it like never before.
The story takes place in the not so distant future in which the world is circling the drain as fossil fuels have gone and the environment has suffered drastically. In steps our unlikely hero Wade, who is just a short few months away from finishing high school.
Wade is a Gunter.
That is to say that Wade or Parzival (his avatar name) spends most of his time in the massive online simulation universe called OASIS. In a sort of lamens Charlie and the Chocolate Factory way, the creator of the OASIS passes away and reveals that he has hidden an easter egg inside his "game". The person to find the egg will win his substantial fortune (richest person on the planet) and also a controlling stake in his company. He leaves a clue and the world tries desperatly to find the egg. In five years no none has made any progress on the first clue and the scoreboard remains empty. There is also an evil corporation that is trying to find the egg so that they can own the OASIS and charge people for its use.The people who are trying to find the sacred easter egg are called Gunters.
Most of the population of the planet "lives" in the OASIS and Wade himself even attends school there as they are of a far higher standard than real schools and they are free. Basically the OASIS has gotten World of Warcraft (or Star Wars the Old Republic, which is way better than WOW by the way) and Facebook and Amazon and rolled them all together.
I was hooked primarily by the attractiveness of the idea of the OASIS was and then it kept throwing in so many truly brilliant 80's references from things such as Macross, Wargames, Ghost Busters, Back to the Future and the list goes on and on. And then there are the games which are truly beautiful to hear them described that made me instantly remember the excitement that I used to feel playing games such as Joust and Pac-Man. Ah, the good old days.
I consider myself to be a geek and when I was reading this book and I was reading about Wades encyclopedic knowledge of 80's culture and gaming and his idol Halliday, I could easily put myself into his shoes and I was excited like it was Christmas morning with every turn of the page.
Even with a busy week filled with trips to see friends down south, climbing, golf and a host of other things I still read this in a couple of days and I still felt that wasn't fast enough considering how much I was enjoying it. The only bad thing I could say about this book was that it ends. When I turned the last page all I could think of was how I would love to go back in time and read it fresh again so I could feel the wonder that I had felt just a few days ago once again.
This has become my favourite book and has knocked a favourite off the top spot that has proudly sat there for nearly seven years. Go out and give it a read and if you like games, films and music, there is no way you will not enjoy this book.
Please see the link for a game based on the book but made in 80's style called Stacks
Also, Ernest Cline has also created a brilliant playlist on his blog to accompany the book, but it could contain spoilers.
Lastly, a game that plays a prominant part in the story is Adventure that was released by Atari in 1979 and was created by the great Warren Robinett whose name should have great meaning to any passionate gamer. If you want to play Adventure then Atari have released it on their website and I highly recommend giving it a go by clicking HERE.
Sunday, 18 March 2012
The 80's.
I was born in 1987 so I don't really consider myself a child of the 80's as I grew up in the 90's. However a very good friend of mine Stu has recently lent me a book called Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, which is making me reevaluate how I view the 80's and my place in that decade.
The book is brilliant, and I feel like it was written for me being filled with so many references to 80's films, games, music etc that I instantly recognise. It got me thinking about how I view the 80's.
I came to the realisation that whilst I was not born in the 80's, I am an 80's kid. I also realised that I can blame my brother for this one. The thing with my brother Rob is that he is 10 years older than me and so was born in 1977 which meant that he got to see all the cool things that came out of the 80's and appreciate them at the time. This did however mean that I got some great physical and psychcological hand me downs.
I quickly listed off my favourite films and I tried to think of when they all came out. Here they are:
All of these films are from the 80's, and theres more great ones like Time bandits and Labyrinth to be enjoyed. It then got me thinking that my favourite computer game of all time is also from the 80's: Missile Command.
I realise that of course the 80's was a very difficult decade for alot of people, much in the same way that in 30 years people will say the same about this decade, but some of the things that have come out of the 80s are brilliant. Just think that Tetris, which many of us have invested great time into over our lives first appeared in 1984. Pac-Man came out in 1980. Centipede in 1981, the list goes on and on with companies such as Atari leading the way to the games and consoles that we have today. It must also be noted that you got great toys introduced such the mighty Etch-A-Sketch.
Lastly you have to think of the brilliant kids TV that existed that is way better than the utter rubbish young kids have to watch today (caveat Star Wars Clone Wars). Look at Centurions, Battle of the Planets (although I've always known it as G-Force), Dungeons and Dragons (don't forget the great game that is still very alive today that the series is based on). Theres also great shows like Inspector Gadget, Teenage Mutant Ninja (yes Ninja, none of this hero malarkey), Thundercats, Starfleet, MASK, Ulysses 31 (which probably influenced me on my path to become a classicist) and the great Transformers.
I realise that this post is not really about books, but this train of thought has come about because of a book and its made me realise that the 80's has had a massive impact on my life. Yes, the 80's was not an ideal time and alot of bad things came out/happened in the 80's but at the same time, as shown above, some brilliant things came out of the 80's that have certainly shaped my life so far and I cannot wait to review Ready Player One once I finish reading it.
John
Friday, 16 March 2012
Giant Thief by David Tallerman
Review: 4/5
Angry Robot PublishersThis is another one that I picked up largely because I thought that the author was a very friendly bloke. I'm not the biggest fantasy reader, but I am very happy I picked this up and I would give this to anyone who, like myself, had not delved much into the realm of fantasy as I would be hard pressed to find someone who would not enjoy this book. I could easily say, if you get fed up of this book, you have got fed up of life. This book is one where I felt super happy to go and find a nice sunny spot in the sun, get a pot of tea and read though half of it in one sitting. This is the view I had when reading it, and I barely noticed it because the book was that fun:
I had gone to meet Ian Whates to talk about his series of books that I will get around to reading at some point and David was there signing copies of his book. There wasn't many people about so I asked him what the book was about (I had only looked at the front cover by this point and had obviously decided that the name didn't give enough away). David basically explained to me that the premise was along the lines of its a man with a WMD. That short description, mixed with both the friendliness of Dave and the odd resemblance to Christian Slater that the hero has on the cover was enough for me to buy a copy.
I asked David to please sign it which he was more than willing to and he asked me something I did not expect. "What do you want me to write, I'm new to this". I found this rather funny as its not everyday that a published author asks me what he should write.
"Meet Easie Damasco: rogue, thieving swine and total charmer".
If you read that and look at the front cover, these two things had basically told me that what I am about to read is a book about Han Solo if he looked like Christian Slater and didn't have Chewie. But wait I shout! The giant behind him could be a sort of Chewie stand in. Well that's me sold then, and I ploughed into the book.
It is a very enjoyable read. The giant thief aspect is brought in within a couple of chapters and then you are led into the much bigger adventure than the book I had imagined would introduce. If you enjoyed the Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (brilliant book), then you will enjoy this. Unlike Lamora, this book takes place over a great distance rather than in a single city and so it creates a large world that can be easily expanded on in future books (book 2, Crown Thief will be out at some point and I cannot wait). Unlike Lamora in which it takes place in one city so it is described in such detail I felt I could draw a map of it by the end, as Thief takes place in quite a few locales I really enjoyed filling in the blanks of the world that the book gives you.
There is nothing bad about the book at all, it is highly enjoyable and characters are brilliant. I cannot wait to hopefully run into them all in future books. Read this book and be prepared to be thrilled with adventure, shocked with great twists and also entertained by the brilliant humour that Tallerman puts in at perfect moments to diffuse tension when its needed. Go out and buy this book and recommend it to friends so that hopefully Dave can stop being an IT man and write full time so that he can give everyone many more enjoyable hours of entertainment.
Note: Daves comment after I told him to write whatever came to mind was "To John, hope you enjoy the book". Well I did.
John
Saturday, 10 March 2012
Maps in books, and the art of world building.
I recently read a post by William Gibson called "the great clomping foot of nerdism" that can be found here: http://williamgibsonblog.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html
I cannot more highly recommend giving this a read through as it really opened my eyes to a problem in writing and that is in the realm of world building.
I love a good map and I can look at them for great lengths of time and feel like I can put myself into any part of them. Above is a very recognisable map of Middle Earth and it helps the reader understand the scale of Froddo's journey to destroy the ring in the fires of Mount Doom.
I just wonder does the map take away from the readers enjoyment of the adventure? The way I look at it is that if you are about to read the Fellowship of the Ring then one of the first things that you will see is this map. As you will no doubt know before reading, the Hobbits have to travel to Mordor. This means that from the very beginning the map can give you an idea of where the Hobbits have to go and perhaps some of the hardships they will face before you have even got far into the story.
China Mieville once said (sorry for paraphrasing but it was a crowded room when I heard him say this) that as a writer he is saying to his readers that he is placing them in a world that is nothing like they know, it is vast, full of wonder and anything can happen. But by putting a map into the book its OK as there are rules and place a links to place b so its not too dangerous and you are in fact safe. When he put it like that I agreed that maybe maps in books do take away from the readers experience of imaging the world and how it all fits together themselves.
Also, if I had written a book and put a map in it which featured a prominent river in the middle, would I not encounter a problem if I were to write a sequel that featured sections on the river. I would have to stay true to the map rather than the story that I wished to write.
As much as I enjoy having maps and other pictures in books, perhaps it is better that some things are left for the readers imagination and that in this day and age the author could put a map of how they see their world on their website so if people want a map they can get one.
I cannot more highly recommend giving this a read through as it really opened my eyes to a problem in writing and that is in the realm of world building.
I love a good map and I can look at them for great lengths of time and feel like I can put myself into any part of them. Above is a very recognisable map of Middle Earth and it helps the reader understand the scale of Froddo's journey to destroy the ring in the fires of Mount Doom.
I just wonder does the map take away from the readers enjoyment of the adventure? The way I look at it is that if you are about to read the Fellowship of the Ring then one of the first things that you will see is this map. As you will no doubt know before reading, the Hobbits have to travel to Mordor. This means that from the very beginning the map can give you an idea of where the Hobbits have to go and perhaps some of the hardships they will face before you have even got far into the story.
China Mieville once said (sorry for paraphrasing but it was a crowded room when I heard him say this) that as a writer he is saying to his readers that he is placing them in a world that is nothing like they know, it is vast, full of wonder and anything can happen. But by putting a map into the book its OK as there are rules and place a links to place b so its not too dangerous and you are in fact safe. When he put it like that I agreed that maybe maps in books do take away from the readers experience of imaging the world and how it all fits together themselves.
Also, if I had written a book and put a map in it which featured a prominent river in the middle, would I not encounter a problem if I were to write a sequel that featured sections on the river. I would have to stay true to the map rather than the story that I wished to write.
As much as I enjoy having maps and other pictures in books, perhaps it is better that some things are left for the readers imagination and that in this day and age the author could put a map of how they see their world on their website so if people want a map they can get one.
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