Author Archives: Eric

Book Reviews – Catching Up

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As I said in my last post, I’ve got a back log. I’m going to go through these pretty quickly here with a few exceptions. If you’re connected to me on Goodreads, you’ve gotten most of this already.

First – Blood in the Water (Destroyermen #11) – this is going to get the review it should have months ago. I hope to link to that review here when it gets posted over at MilSciFi.

Since then I have read a bunch of other things, in no particular order:

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle – This was a reading choice from Watch the Skies and I’m really glad to have read it. I had seen the animation but never read the book itself. It was a fun book that I could share with my daughter, then re-watch the animation. Enjoyable all around if you haven’t read it.

Wool – by Hugh Howey – This was an interesting idea and a good read. I’m glad I read it. I don’t know if I’m going to continue the series, but I’m happy to have read the story. IF you enjoyed this story I think you’d really like Maria V. Snyder’s book *Inside* – really good stuff.

Time Traders by Andre Norton – I like to go back and check out classic stuff when I can. I think this came from the Baen free library (GO and check that out if you haven’t yet). A lot of the descriptions and the world political situation is dated, but it’s still worth checking out. Really, really well written.

Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos – I know a lot of folks have a lot of good things to say about this book. It seemed very OK to me. I wasn’t as excited as others seem to be. Solid military science fiction.

Master Sergeant by Mel Odom – IF the book above was “OK” this one landed in the same category, but not for the same reasons. It had a lot of world building and a lot of characters… and a lot of holes and questionable things in the world building. I think there was a lot of potential here that just missed the target.

Armada by Ernest Cline – I know that Ready Player One was aimed directly at me and I loved it. How could I resist reading this one? I couldn’t. You know what? It was predictable and not as flashy and new as some might have wanted it to be – and I still ate it up. I even think you could get away with calling this one military science fiction. IF you liked his first book, check this one out too.

Shadowed Souls (anthology) Edited by Jim Butcher – This is the newest of this list. It’s got a Jim Butcher story in it from his Dresden universe (Molly Story). It was really dark. Dark. Then I read the rest of the stories. Wow. There is some really good stuff in there. Only one story caused me trouble – I’m not going to call it out here. There are some who know and have met me in person. I’ve expressed my feelings for the particular author before and won’t do it again here. This is a worthy collection, go and check it out.

The Lost Heir by Andi O’connor – Watch the Skies had the author in for a visit and it was a great discussion. This is another I could share with my daughter.

The Rook by Daniel O’Malley – This was a neat story idea and had a lot of really interesting world building in it. I enjoyed it.

Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge by John Ringo and Larry Correia – I like what Mr. Correia has built in his monster hunter series. I am not a fan of what Mr. Ringo did in the sand box. I was really disappointed and I don’t suspect I’m going for the next one. We’ll see.

Enter the Janitor by Josh Vogt – This was fun. Your secret monster stopping agency is… janitors. I’m not going to attempt to describe it or compare it. If you want some light fare, this is just what you’re looking for.

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman – I’m glad I went back and checked out this classic. If you’re into military science fiction this is certainly one you should look up. I will admit parts were difficult for me to get through with very small parts feeling a little dated – but the ideas were certainly flowing in there. Definitely a good read.

The Chaplain’s War by Brad R. Torgersen – I had a lot of struggles with this one, but I read it a while ago now. The specifics are fuzzy. As I got toward the end of the book there were a few things that felt like they got hammered in there because the end was coming and they needed to be in. It was OK. If you’re into military science fiction it’s worth checking out because it does have some interesting points of comparison.

Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge by Paul Krueger – I liked it. It had a lot of potential and I don’t think it lived up to that potential. The cast of characters felt forced. Mixing alcohol as magic could have gone a lot of ways and it didn’t seem to go any of them. I haven’t tried any of the recipes in the book – and I’m not sure if I’ll get the magic if I do.

Halloween Magic, Mystery and the Macabre ed. by Paula Guran – I totally missed the boat on this one. I should have gotten the review out there before the holiday. Good mood pieces and I particularly recommend ‘The Halloween Men’ by Maria V. Snyder. Really neat idea – what if Halloween was the only day you were allowed to go without a mask?

Trampling in the Land of Woe by William Galaini – This one gets a separate and special review all by itself (I knew you’d read this far looking for it William).

I’ve got a couple more that are more recent, so I’ll go back to my regular format for those. More reviews coming soon!

Book Reviews – the backlog

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I like to hear what others think of books they’ve read or would recommend to me. This is the best way for me to find new things to read. I also try to share my thoughts so others can check out the things I read and enjoy. I actually also post reviews of military science fiction over at MilSciFi.com. It’s exciting that I can do that for folks.

book

I have a personal philosophy about my reviews. It’s important to start by stating the fact that I am a fan first. Yes, I help to publish a monthly fanzine. It’s also true that I’m an author and artist when I can squeeze that in along with my day job. It’s important to state these things because I make every effort to be honest and fair with my reviews. If I like something, I’ll tell you. If I don’t like something, I’ll try to figure out what it is exactly that bothers me, but I’m going to say I don’t like it. I don’t intend criticism to be personal about any author. I know how hard it is to make it work when you’re writing a novel.

I intend to stick with the five star rating system. I’ve always considered stars to be very limited, but I can’t really come up with a better system on my own. I’ll make them work. I am a terrible grader, in that I don’t consider average to be a horrible thing. I don’t just give five star ratings away. I consider five stars to be something rarely achievable. I also believe a book has to have gone really wrong to end up in the one star category. I can only recall two I’ve read that have landed at a single star. Getting it really right is tough, but it’s just as challenging to get it really wrong.

An example is probably best here. I would give The Hobbit five stars. The writing style struck a chord with me. The story is one that stands up to a reread despite the fact that I read it the first time when I was nine or ten. I’ve gone back and read the book more than once. The depth of world building shows through the writing without becoming a bludgeon. I feel that is a standard for the full five star rating. It moved me. It changed something in my outlook and really made me think. I haven’t put any others up to that level yet. I say “yet” not because I haven’t read other excellent and moving books, but because I’m not going to rate backwards in time. I will only rate/review a book should I read it *again*. While I consider The Good Earth another five star book, I’m not going to put something like that out for consideration until I read it again.

Having said all that about stars, I will also be upfront about any book (or books) where my own work shows up. Pretty easy to say that a book of my own, or an anthology containing a story of mine would get a five star rating from me. You should know that up front if I expect you to care about my reviews. I’ve seen others that give everything they read a four or five star rating. I don’t give those reviews much weight. I don’t expect you would either.

That’s my non legal disclaimer. I’m a fan. I try to be fair about what I read. I can’t wait to see the next cool story headed my way.

I was supposed to review a book for MilSciFi called Destroyer Men. I got a free copy of the book and dug in. That was April. It’s now December and the phrase “what are you waiting for, Christmas?” springs to mind. I totally stalled while reading that book. It didn’t seem right to review other books when I was supposed to be doing that for a web site that was not mine and they’d given me a copy of the book and how could I bump these others…

I hit something of a mental road block. I normally post my personal reviews here and on Goodreads as I read, but I put a couple off. The couple became a few. The few became everything I’ve read since May. I should have been posting them one at a time, but now they’ve become this giant task all piled up and waiting. I’m going to cheat. I’m going to make one post here in the near future and just list them all at once. It’s the only way I’m going to catch up.

If you happen to be on Goodreads, look me up. I might post longer stuff there – maybe not – but it’s worth making the connection anyway.

Have you read anything good lately?

All Quiet – Philcon 2016

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It has once again been a week since I returned from Philcon and I could almost just re-post last year’s review. I went back and read the post convention review I did last year before I started in on this one. This review and that will be remarkably similar.

There were differences and they were notable, but the portion that continues to worry me is the attendance. It was dead there. I mean to the point where I wondered if the convention was actually still open a couple of times. I can only believe this desperately low attendance drove some of the other factors. I know the sales numbers were crushingly low for a couple of the folks in the vendor’s area. There looked like a lot of no-shows in there. The art show was slim pickings, including a couple of no-shows. The artist guest of honor had 4 or 5 sections and beyond that there were only a handful of artists on display. I won’t disparage the quality – they were and are fine artists, it just seemed to be very small. The freebie and flyers area in front of the vendor room wasn’t full – and there’s ALWAYS somebody looking to get word of mouth out there that way. I continue to worry for this con, but they seem to survive.

My schedule was decent for the weekend. None of the panels had huge attendance. Lots of empty seats. My favorite panel was the first one on the list – the best of military science fiction. I was really looking forward to being on that panel with Barry Longyear, but alas he was unable to attend… no-shows are starting to feel like a theme here too. Anyway – if you haven’t ever checked out his work, see if you can dig up a copy of “It Came From Schenectady”. The forward of the book makes me laugh every time I read it. It’s from the early 1980s and still works. That’s just the forward. The stories are wonderful. There’s some really good stuff in there.

camefromschenectady

The programming was good. It was in fact better and more timely than the past 2 conventions I’ve been invited too. There was a dud of a panel in there that I consider a tremendous missed opportunity, but that had everything to do with the moderator and nothing to do with the topic itself. All in all I think I held my own. I have made panel suggestions for next year and I think the panels will continue to be strong.

I didn’t stay in the con hotel this year. It’s the first time I’ve stayed off site for a con. It worked and was a really good thing to save the expense of the hotel. What else it did was pretty much eliminate any shenanigans or chances for weird encounters late at night in the hotel. No pizza, no elevator roulette. Just quiet really.

I actually feel like that’s as much review as I need. There just wasn’t much. I hope to go back again next year – and I hope a lot of folks join me.

Philcon!

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It’s difficult to believe that my next convention is less than a week away. I’m very happy to have been invited to be one of the guests at the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society’s annual gathering.

It has taken me some time to sort of get into the groove with this convention as opposed to others, but I’m now at a point where I really look forward to seeing folks and having interesting discussions. I don’t know that any experience at Philcon will ever top Defend the Pizza. That’s a tough act to follow, but who knows right?

I hope you get out to the convention. IF you’re looking for me, here is my con schedule:

Fri 7:00PM in Plaza II (Two) – The Best of Military SF
Fri 8:00PM in Plaza V (Five) – Learning to be an Effective Panel Moderator

Sat 12:00PM in Plaza IV (Four) – The Changing Nature of Fandom
Sat 7:00PM in Executive Suite 823 – The eSpec Books Launch Party, Hour 1
Sat 8:00PM in Executive Suite 823 – The eSpec Books Launch Party, Hour 2

Philcon

Birthday Time

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There are times when I think that I should be posting more here than I do. I probably should. Thing is, when given the option I’m all in for family stuff. My kiddo is only going to be this age once and I’m not going to miss it.

Yesterday it was party time! She’s going to be 12 years old this week so we took a group of friends out for a day of party fun. Off to see the new movie Trolls first. Wasn’t my first choice for the weekend – but all the girls really wanted to go. Having been in the packed theater I suspect a certain Marvel movie will have serious competition for top spot of the weekend. I also have to say the cloud character has a part in the film that totally cracked me up.

After the movie it was off to the local game cafe for an entire afternoon of friendly competition and super fun table top games!

partytime2016

IF you’re in our area the Game Table Cafe is a worthy place to hang out. The girls all but destroyed their supply of chocolate chip cookies and took all the cold soda from the counter fridge. We played “MEOW” as a starter (right up their alley) and then ran through a bunch of other fun games. I think there may have been a “Connect 4” tournament that came out of the whole thing, but I’m not sure. I was beaten soundly in round one by one of the girls and couldn’t get back into a game!

After hours of games and fun invaded the pizza shop at the end of plaza for pizza and fries. Don’t think that growing boys have a monopoly on eating big. Those girls left the pizza trays spinning!

After the pizza there were a couple of gifts, but that wasn’t the focus of the day. We all went and had fun together. It was a great time. Totally worth every missed deadline and every missed post here.

Saturday Night

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You would think, given free time and a lack of other responsibilities that I’d dive in and get a lot of things done. You would be wrong.

Saturday my wife and daughter were out camping with the scout troop. I had no other things planned. I had every intention of getting a lot done…

Yeah, about that. You see, what happened was the movie theater. I like to go and see movies on the big screen from time to time. I make every effort to go at odd times so that I avoid crowds and (potentially) obnoxious people. So at 3 in the afternoon I went to see The Accountant.

the-accountant

I went into the movie with no real expectations. I didn’t really know what it was about, and completely enjoyed the film. I don’t want to spoil any part of it because it’s new, but I will tell you that it was intense and violent. I saw what I’m sure would be considered a plot twist coming from the very start of the film, but that didn’t stop my enjoyment. I have an unanswered question remaining at the end – and it’s not a bad thing. I don’t expect there to be another one, so I’ll have to wait for somebody else to see it so we can talk about what that nagging little thing is.

After that I headed to the house for something to eat. I thought, “Hey, I should watch something while I eat. No need to worry about what it is since the kiddo’s not sitting here with me. Maybe I’ll try out Luke Cage…”

luke-cage-cropped

I hadn’t watched or read any of the build up to this show. I didn’t watch any of the trailers. I realize it probably makes me a heretic to any number of folks out there – particularly the comic book crowd – but I only watched about 4 or 5 episodes of Daredevil and dropped Jessica Jones after the first one. Just not into them. So I figured I’d check out the first episode of Cage, be done and move on with things.

Once again, about that… Luke Cage is a really good series so far. It’s Sunday morning and I’m more than half way through the entire series. I admit I am hooked. I am working on what the difference is between this and Daredevil. I can’t yet quantify what it is. Luke Cage is really good. Not that Daredevil isn’t, and that’s what’s confusing me. Acting, production value, special effects are all on a similar level. Much like The Accountant, Cage is violent. So is Daredevil. There are shootings, broken bones and wrecked buildings. It also has interesting characters who seem to grow as you learn about them. I am still wondering why one works for me and the other doesn’t. IF you’ve got access to Netflix you should get on there and check it out. Just try the first one.

So my Saturday was, in a word, violent. Punching, shooting, breaking and all manner of mayhem. How was yours?

The Dwarvenaut

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Things lately have been super busy and more than a little crazy. One of the things I’ve found that brings me back to myself again and again is gaming. I have loved playing Dungeons and Dragons for a long time. I’ve also loved to see what people do with their miniatures. I’ve personally got a bunch of the old Grenadier miniatures box sets along with a big stack of others. Carrying lead is always fun when you move… it’s even heavier than the books!

I’ve painted my minis, used them for games, created maps and maps and adventures… but I’ve always had these massive, grand visions of what the game could be with a little extra visualization. How wide is the corridor really when you compare it to the mini?

Dwarven Forge has been that answer for somewhere around 20 years now. I just watched a film about Stefan Pokorny, the founder of that company, called The Dwarvenaut. I’m glad I watched the film. IF you’re a fan of miniatures and the passion that goes along with this wonderful game you should hop onto Netflix and check it out. It’s a good look behind the scenes of the company and their third Kickstarter campaign. I’m glad I got to see the passion behind this company. It certainly gives me a lot more perspective on what they offer and what’s behind the cost of the sets. I plan to dig into these and see if I can add them to my game.

Check out the trailer here:

Suicide Squad

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As sometimes happens, I had today off. In an excellent coincidence this was also opening weekend for Suicide Squad. Once I was done in the real world (taking the kiddo to the dentist) I scooted on over to the theater. The hype caught me with this one – I was at the 10 am show – and there were far more folks there on a weekday morning at 10 than I thought there would be. I was excited. This was going to be good. (Minor spoilers ahead)

About twenty minutes of trailers dulled my excitement. Some I’d seen, some I hadn’t and a few I totally didn’t care about. There was a weird mix of films on that list too. There was one that was about a 17 year old girl that doesn’t fit in, then Doctor Strange (obvious choice for comic fans), then a Chinese film staring Matt Damon of all people. It was weird. When the logo came up at the start of the film I was afraid it was another trailer.

The folks in Hollywood make amazing two minute films. The problem is, and likely has been for some time, that the movie couldn’t match the hype. People love the characters. People love the music that was used in the trailer. OH, the trailer. Splashy, neon amazing looking trailer. As usual, the folks cutting that two minute movie were spot on. How cool. Look at it in all its glory. Awesome. It’s the longer version that needed the work.

IF you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen a fair chunk of the good stuff already. I hate to say it, but the rest of the film was mildly interesting, but if you’ve seen all the trailers you’ve seen the good stuff. You’ve even seen some stuff that didn’t make the cut for the final film I think. It’s difficult to remember. The whole thing was a bit disjointed.

The flow of the story wasn’t there. This was a link movie or a set up movie or something that wasn’t as good on its own as it would have been with other films surrounding it. Like Avengers going first, then having Thor and Captain America and Iron man get individual films later (or not at all). The first half hour of the movie at least was all back story and set up. Literally flash backs as you go over character profiles from a top secret folder. Each bit was good, but they were just lined up and trotted out one at a time. Then all those people are dumped into a war picture that turns into a comic book hero film… sort of. There’s a primary mission but a second primary mission that allows the first one to happen – or something. I’m not sure. There was cool music that matched each scene but seemed like a patchwork when hung together.

I think that’s it. This movie is a quilt. There are little square patches that are really cool. Somebody took all those square patches and sewed them together to make a big quilt. Once they did that they took Batman and trimmed the whole thing around the edges.

She owned every scene she was in-

She owned every scene she was in-

I’m not saying this movie was bad because it wasn’t. I actually really loved Harley (Margot Robbie) in this film. Every scene she was in was totally hers. I thought Diablo had real potential too, but there wasn’t much screen time for him. The rest of them were there and were good. Will Smith is himself at this point. He’s a good actor but all I ever see is him in whatever role he’s in. He gets the most screen time. He’s good. I disliked the people I was supposed to dislike. I liked and rooted for the people I was supposed to root for. It worked out in the end – I guess?

Yes, stay for one more scene in the end credits but you only get one. Yes, this is DC attempting to match what Mavel has done with building a series of connected films. Yes, it’s a bit of a mess, but it was still fun. IF you don’t want to jumble in with the crowds this weekend, the next week or two should be just fine.

Death and Perspective

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I’m trying to put the second family death in as many months into perspective. My father in law passed away in May and now my Grandmother has passed away. It’s easy to get caught up in negative feelings. I struggle with trying to see good things when people die.

As I gave it more thought, at the age of 97 my grandmother had been around for a whole lot of stuff. Born at the end of World War 1, her formative years were right through the heart of prohibition and the great depression. She was a bride around World War II and her husband a soldier. Her children became the famous baby boomer generation. She saw the Korean war, Elvis, the civil rights movement, Beatlemania, and the rise of television. Her children were the age of the soldiers of Vietnam. Watergate, the “just say no” campaign aimed at her grandchildren, and the death of her husband. The cold war – from the start all the way to the fall of the Berlin wall and more. Going to the moon, shuttle disasters – all of them – and the start of the privatization of the space race.

In all that time, through all those things and so much more is a pretty amazing journey. In the end, she was still my grandmother. I remember sitting in the squeaky kitchen chairs but being fine with that because they had swiveling seats. The grandfather clock in the dining room and the drawer full of toys in the breezeway. Good memories.

One of my favorites came later in life when I was an adult. We were having a chat around the kitchen table and the old fashioned kettle had reached temperature. I jumped up to grab it right away and she said, “Oh just let it go. It’s the only one that whistles at me any more.” She had a few of my most favorite jokes.

I love her and I will miss her.

My favorite picture with my grandmother.

My favorite picture with my grandmother.

Last Full Day

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During any normal week at home Friday is a day of celebration. Ready for the weekend and fun. Friday for us was our last full day in London so we weren’t nearly as excited about it as we normally would be. Saturday meant we’d be back on the plane and headed home. What to do on our last full day?

Tower

The Tower of London of course.

We got there early but decided not to race to see the crown jewels. We instead turned up Mint Street and got away from the early crowd. There were lots of educational displays that we had all to ourselves. Really interesting stuff. Once we’d been there for a bit we turned and headed back into the moat area to join up with a Yeoman Tour. If you’re there – take the Yeoman Tour. These guys are fascinating. While we were on the tour our guide told us that one of the former prisoners at the tower was a certain William Penn. I raised a little cheer (Pennsylvania and all that). The guide noticed me and called me out on it. “Just remember, that famous Pennsylvania man was English… and a criminal!” Everyone had a good laugh. Then he continued, “Where are my Australians?” A few folks raised there hands. He pointed one out and yelled to him, “You sir! Go and give that poor American some counseling on what it means to have a criminal background!” It was a really funny bit in the middle of a tour packed with crazy amounts of information.

The crown jewels had a massive line. We worked our way in and got to shuffle past the display. It was impressive. When we got out the line was massive. It was really good to go right from the tour to the jewels. Then it was off to see the famous ravens. The ravens have gotten quite used to being close to people.

Ravens

We got some great pictures here. It was a really good tour. Totally necessary to see if you’re in London. That took about half of our day. We grabbed some lunch at a Pret and then headed for a lot more photos. It was time to ride the London Eye.

Eye

What a massive wheel. The supports were crazy big.

EyeSupport

It was a long wait in line… to get tickets so we could go wait in line. That was the most difficult part of the whole thing – it was very crowded. It took a long time to get on. It was also a bit odd that they didn’t stop the wheel when it was time for you to get on. It just keeps slowly turning and you have to hop on as it goes past. That’s one of those little details I somehow doubt would ever work here in the states. It was a great view as expected. The whole ride was smooth and stable.

And somehow, suddenly it was Friday night. We’d had an entire week.

We cleaned up and packed up our room Friday night. We were up and out the door at 5 am on Saturday and headed back home. It was a grueling travel day, but nothing went wrong and I was thankful for that.

Going on this trip was just fantastic. We built memories that will last a lifetime. We saw things and did things together. We took a ton of pictures – despite only being able to post a handful of them here. I can only hope we can scrape together our pennies and save up for another grand adventure.