Author Archives: Eric

Reviewing the reviewer

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It has come to my attention that I am a terrible book reviewer.

This was not a mean or critical thing, it was just something that came up. I’m not sure the person that pointed this out to me even understands that was what happened.

I have more than 300 books read / reviewed on my Goodreads account. I only put books I’ve read since starting Goodreads on there with reviews. I am always honest about what my feelings are toward the book that I’m reading at the time. I give my opinion just as it is.

That brings out the two biggest problems with my reviews.

The first part isn’t really a problem as much as it is something that is common to anything posted on the internet. It’s out there and it’s not going away. I’ve given my opinion, but it’s exactly that – an opinion. My opinion on certain things has changed over time. It’s entirely possible that my opinion will change on the books over time. It’s fair for an opinion to change, but my reviews are static. What is out there, is out there. I’ve written before about the importance of reading books at the right time. This applies to me too – and there might be some reviews that were just the wrong time. I am a writer (hopeful author?) so I know the struggle of trying to get a story published. I always keep that in mind when I’m putting together a book review. Hopefully people will appreciate that about what I put out there.

The second part is the heart of the issue. I have never learned, studied or applied anything that resembles a structured critical book review.

I shouldn’t say never.

I recall writing book reports back in elementary school that had a structure. I haven’t looked at anything like that as an adult though. I should. When my friend asked me about a book that I’d read some years ago it turned out that I had posted a review to Goodreads. I went back to that review to ‘check my notes’ and see if I could answer the questions put to me. My review was something close to “meh, it was OK” and that was it. I couldn’t help. To be fair to myself, if it were a truly memorable book I suspect I could have been more help. What that did was point out a need. I need to get a better method for reviewing books and making notes to help me remember important details some years down the road.

I’ve got at least a half dozen books that I’ve finished reading and not posted anything about yet. I will have to see what I can come up with for the ‘new review format’ over the next couple of weeks.

How do you review what you’ve read?

This Site

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I am not a fan of change simply for the sake of change. Many (most?) things can simply be ‘steady on’ and I’m good with that. I frequently see solutions looking for problems in the day job and people pick these things up simply because they are new and flashy.

I really like solutions… IF there’s actually a problem to address. If things are running smoothly, why change them? I really like a certain level of consistency. I remember when everyone’s web site absolutely needed frames. Then everyone’s web site needed flash. Java. There are lots of things that have come and gone. That’s not me.

However.

I get it for certain marketing functions. I do. Sometimes things need to be freshened up and given a new coat of paint (or digital wallpaper at least).

I’m not a web designer. I know there are parts of this site that are broken and have been for some time. I know there are parts of it that need desperately to be updated. I have actually gone out and started a conversation with somebody that might be able to help me with this. Let me rephrase that – I know she can help me, the question is if I can afford her (she’s a pro). Coming from the creator community I will NOT ask somebody to work “for the exposure”. Just like winter time – you can die from exposure.

So – some small hope that things will brighten up in the near future. We’ll see how it works out together!

The Dragon Prince

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The Dragon Prince main characters

I am a long time fan of the fantasy genre. Yes, I was first hooked by The Hobbit a long time ago, but since then the heroic sword and sorcery story has always had a place in my heart. I love it.

I admit, for a while I wandered away. I’d seen plots that looked, felt and moved the same way for a long time. Before I began writing and learning what a trope was I began to see and understand the commonality among my favorite stories. I still like them.

Since then I have always hunted for fantasy stories that could give me the heroic journey without making me bored while doing it. Subtlety, nuance, shifts in the way things are presented or the way worlds are constructed are all things that catch my attention. I am a particular fan of changes to world building.

IF you’re of a similar mindset, I humbly suggest you find a way onto Netflix and watch The Dragon Prince. It is excellent fantasy – the best I’ve seen in a long time. You might look at it and think it is a show aimed at children. That is and is not true. This show takes on a number of very deep themes and issues. These affect people no matter how old they are and we all still need to deal with those things.

This article: How The Dragon Prince Became the Best Fantasy Show on Television, Animated or Not has a number of very good things to say.

This article:
The Dragon Prince Ended Season 3 With a Battle That Could Rival Any Lord of the Rings Movie is full of spoilers but also covers a lot of excellent points about the show.

My quick hits from the show?

The characters are strong and complex. There are good examples of behavior and bad examples of behavior. Both examples show the consequences of those actions, and it’s not always black and white. Clear cut answers are few and far between in this show.

The story is stronger because it can’t take short cuts. There’s something to be said for avoiding the cheap method of getting a point across. The romance isn’t punctuated with explicit sex – that’s not an option. There is no violence simply because an ‘action scene was needed’. The story needs to carry the day.

Things that are considered divergent to many people are shown in this show without needing to sledge hammer the point home. Nobody bats an eye at the fact that one of the best generals for the humans is deaf. I don’t know ASL, but I’m betting those lines are actually animated with real words. There is a creature missing a leg (trying not to be spoilery) that has been made to look ‘normal’ because of preconceived viewpoints. It’s there, but it’s not the point and that’s what I really like about it. You can’t use your standard assumptions because they might not be the case. I think that’s a very strong argument for world building and quality story telling.

IF you’re not worried about spoilers, check out those articles. Either way, do yourself a favor and go check this show out. Totally worth your time.

Vegas Baby!

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The thing about going to Las Vegas is the show. It’s very flashy. It’s very showy. It’s a massive glittering facade. Once you’ve passed the point of being overwhelmed by the shear magnitude of it all… how you perceive the place largely depends on your interests and cash flow.

Right after Philcon I headed to Las Vegas for a week for a convention. The convention was all work related – and significantly larger that most science fiction conventions I attend. There were somewhere in the range of eleven thousand people at this convention. Much like any other convention, there are good aspects and bad aspects. There are great panels and there are clunkers. There was a massive party along the way too.

Lonely looking the other way

I attended this convention alone. Nobody from my office was there. I knew less than a handful of people at the con and failed to connect with an old friend that lives in the area. Thing is, under those circumstances Vegas can be quite a different place.

I didn’t have any time to book shows or do most of the “tourist” stuff. I was also lucky enough to have traveled to Vegas with my wife earlier this year. We did a couple of shows and a lot more of the “tourist” stuff when we were there together. Being there alone, without those things going on, gave me some time to just sit and watch. There is certainly a lot to see while you’re there. Most of what I saw was people being overwhelmed by the scale of the place. They were all in for the show.

I’m not saying that there aren’t still things for me to see or do in Las Vegas, but sitting and just watching gave me the chance to be more objective about it. It’s huge and showy but it’s a vast facade. It’s a massive, glittering object in the middle of nowhere. It was definitely a more depressing view. When you sit and watch you notice things. I saw more than one person there that was busy purging alcohol from their system. This happens when you drink too much – but this was a Tuesday afternoon. I saw a lot more of the people working and keeping the facade running. I saw at least 2 ankle monitors for folks working at various places. It had the surreal aspects of the old movie version of the Time Machine. The happy people didn’t notice who was getting eaten.

Looking the other way from the high roller

I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to get back to Vegas again, but I do know that I’ll be looking at things a lot differently the next time I go.

Philcon 2019

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This was originally published in Watch The Skies November 2019 issue.

Philcon

I am always happy to be asked to be a participant at the convention put on by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society. I was given a couple of different panels to be part of and I stepped out and took on my own panel for the first time ever. It’s very easy after years of participation to become jaded and treat an event like this as work, so it was nice to shake things up a little.

Attendance this year felt light. I had the opportunity to chat with a few vendors I know and they seemed to get the same feeling. Even the book launch party wasn’t as crowded as an event like that normally is. That being said, the majority of people I spoke to had an excellent weekend. There were some that had a less than stellar experience. Putting the conventions rules and posted policies to the test is never the way you want to spend a con weekend. I was sad to see this happen, but it was something that only effected me in a tangentially.

Programs had a couple of little hiccups. IF I hadn’t loaded up the schedule app on my phone I wouldn’t have found out about the change in my schedule. Given the number of panelists, requests, rules and topics I’m a bit surprised this sort of thing doesn’t happen more often. Speaks well of the program staff I think. I was able to get it sorted out easily – no real fuss. I got to talk about introducing people to board games, introducing people to urban fantasy, methods for finding new authors along with a solo panel. That’s right, me and only me! My first ever solo panel Rosie or the Roomba was well attended – despite being scheduled at ten in the morning on Sunday. I had the room to myself as nothing was scheduled ahead of me and I was thankful for the extra set up time. Bringing my own multi-media presentation was a bit of a challenge, but the technology end worked out very cleanly and neatly. I got a number of insightful questions and some very sharp consideration from the folks that attended the panel. I consider it a success and will likely attempt to do the panel again for another convention.

One of my favorite parts of this year was a young artist displaying in the art show. This young person wanted interaction and posted a hand made sign up with his art to say so. I’m not an Instagram person, but if you are you should head over and check out the work of @eanr’sart over there. I know at least one of this artist’s pictures was snapped up and taken home. I suspect a taste of success will continue to bring this artist back.


As always it was wonderful to see various members of my ‘convention’ family that I don’t get to spend enough time with. It was a fast weekend. I was on the way home again almost before I realized it. As always I hope to be invited back again next year. You should consider signing up and heading to the con too. That, after all, is how we’re going to keep science fiction conventions rolling far into the future.

More of what everyone is talking about…

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I was excited. I’m still a little excited… but it’s dulled now.

Spent some time with Disney+ last night. Guess what you can’t binge? That’s right – they’re not dropping the Mandelorian all at once, they’re spacing it out and dropping one episode at a time.

I watched the first one. It’s good. It’s the Star Wars Universe. SPOILER ALERT – there are storm troopers in there too. As I was watching the show I caught a couple of very disturbing things. Things that make me question certain aspects of the show – and exactly how appropriate it is for kids.

IF you don’t want spoilers, turn away now.

There’s a scene in one of the bars where a fight breaks out ~ like it would in any movie frontier situation. Then one of the individuals involved in the fight gets cut in half. Yes, they allowed that to happen mostly off screen, but it was pretty clear what went down. Episode 1, right off the bat. Dude was cut in half by one of those iris doors. I suppose all the safety measures had been removed because frontier or something. I guess if it’s mostly off screen that’s fine.

The part that really bothered me was a passing little piece in the market. You remember this guy from Jabba’s place?

Salacious B. Crumb

They’ve got one of them in a cage in the market… watching another one of their race being cooked on a spit. A sentient creature – able to express emotion – being cooked on a spit in front of another of it’s race. I’m not sure I’m OK with that. I need to give it some real consideration.

Other people are far less circumspect. There has been a ripple of backlash against Disney and how… dominating? overpowering? destructive? they’ve been in the entertainment industry for a very long time. IF you get a chance you should check out this article in Variety about the warnings that are popping up on some of the cartoons / movies they’re playing on their channel.

I have to agree that the folks at the WB seem to have handled that a lot better. I wonder what their thoughts are on sentient being rotisserie as torture…

Disney +

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It started yesterday. I went out and pulled the new Roku streaming channel and signed in. It was actually really simple. My house now has Disney+, the new streaming service.

Let’s be honest, this was the biggest draw for me:

Binge!

Then I started scrolling through all the choices available on the channel. Two things became apparent right away… first – Disney owns a HUGE amount of entertainment. Second, we’ve seen a HUGE amount of what they have to offer.

We immediately fell down the rabbit hole so to speak (there are 2 versions of Alice In Wonderland on there). We looked at a number of the Pixar short films right away. Some we remembered, some we didn’t, some we couldn’t say we’d ever seen. IF we had started the channel on a weekend I think we’d still be sitting there.

There were two disappointing things. First – the short film that I presume accompanies Toy Story 4 is on there, but the film is not. I don’t know how the powers that be determine when stuff goes to streaming – but having one and not the other seemed odd. Second – I thought that ESPN+ and HULU were part of the package when I signed up. That is not the case. If I want those things, they cost extra.

I have a feeling that we’ll be spending a disproportionate amount of time on this channel in the very near future… and I can’t wait to binge the Mandalorian!

Political

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I know this makes some of my friend ’employable’

I don’t post about politics. I don’t feel like anyone wants my opinion, and I generally don’t like asking for a wave of stupid to come crashing down on me when a troll decides that my opinion needs to be trashed. I avoid it.

This political post is just to say that I’m happy to be past another election cycle. I know the presidential race is underway for next year and that there will be a lot to pay attention to, but I’m hoping for a small reprieve from all the political nonsense out there.

I will absolutely recommend going over to check out Girl Genius if you don’t happen to know about it. It’s absolutely wonderful art and story telling. The author and artists don’t really need me to tout their work, but I have been a fan since the days of “What’s New with Phil & Dixie“. Great stuff. Go check it out!

Digging into things

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Since I wrote up my post about the gap in my blog I’ve been going back and digging stuff up that I’ve been meaning to talk about. I often grab and save links to articles that spark something in me. I want to be timely in my discussions, but never at the expense of decent writing and forethought.

Back in July I saw this article over at Tor.

https://www.tor.com/2019/07/01/was-1999-the-year-nerd-culture-began-to-take-over-the-world/

You should read it. The two things that caught my eye were the claim of a ‘coming out’ year for fandom and an acceptance of the label(s) geek / nerd.

The first part about the coming out year caught my eye. I’ve written before about the influence of films on my own fandom. Movies that are still resonating today came out when I was a young teen (Terminator anyone?). I somehow thought this was a thing that might not have been repeatable, but then there was 2015. The movies that hit during that year were big and amazing. I’ve written a couple of times about how I think / hope my daughter will have positive memories and just as much influence from these films as I had with the crop from back in 1984. What I failed to understand was that this type of influence could be just about any year. The author of that article could have been on to something. I don’t agree with all the movie choices, but I wasn’t a teen in 1999. I absolutely agree with the assertion of the Matrix being a massively influential film. Things since then really have heated up.

The second part of that is more problematic for me. For a very long time my “nerdom” was something I made every attempt to hide. It was never popular to be called that when I was growing up. D&D wasn’t accepted as an influential part of culture, it was a derided thing that cost me friendships because some parents bought into the panic about the game. I learned to avoid talking about my favorite hobby. I was not immune to the social pressure to fit in and get along. That formative experience hasn’t left me.

No matter how popular “nerdy” things become I don’t think I’ll ever shake that. I hold my fandom close and tend not to share it.

I actively question the hot new trend to claim to be a nerd or a geek or a comic fan because you’ve seen all the Marvel movies. I’ve seen some of the so called celebrations of geekdom and I don’t think they’re as celebratory as people want to believe they are. The amount of things out there relating to science fiction and fantasy is stunning. It’s an unprecedented level of availability. All of those things feel temproary to me. It’s a bunch of people that don’t really care about fandom, but they DO care that they can make a buck from it. Media and movie folks are looking for any way possible to come up with, package, and sell the next ‘hot’ nerd thing. They don’t care about what’s in the package, just that they can sell it.

Suddenly everyone is claiming to be a geek or a nerd of some variety. The glut of marketing material for these ‘geeky’ things brings to mind a quote. “It’s the burning of the library of Alexandria by way of the Hot Topic t-shirt printing press”.

In short, I don’t buy it.

Another topic belongs right here – and that is toxic fandom. I won’t go into it right now (perhaps another post) but it’s a real thing. I suspect it’s a backlash to the popular thing. The ever present push back of being ‘cool’ by not buying into the trend.

I’m very glad there are folks out there who enjoy so many of the same things I do. I love the level of availability of all the cool things that tie in to my favorite books or games or movies. I’m thrilled to see an influx of diversity. I will continue to be wary. I’m in fandom for the long haul. I hope you are too.

The Realm Beyond!

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I have a new story coming out in the final issue of The Realm Beyond. My story “No Visitors Beyond This Point” will be published in early November. In fact, I hope to have copies in my hands the weekend of Philcon.

I have been very lucky with a number of my stories and I consider myself lucky with this one as well. The first story I ever had published was in the first issue of Trail of Indiscretion also from Fortress Publishing. Now my latest story will be in the final issue of The Realm Beyond. I look forward to sitting down and checking out all the other stories in there. I hope you will pick up a copy too!

How cool is that cover art?