Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a fun book. It is certainly a book for a younger audience, but the author tells a good tale and doesn’t let the audience restrict the work. I am also very, very glad that my daughter read this. The lead character is a fun and strong example for girls. If you’ve got a middle grade reader this is a great book for them to pick up. I might even read on in the series with my daughter. It could be a lot of fun.
Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words by Randall Munroe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Thing Explainer is such an appropriate title for this book. It is not a sit down and read it cover to cover kind of book. You could do that, but it’s not linear. I like it much better as a pick it up and learn about something book. Pick a point and see how (insert thing here) is explained in words everyone can understand. Fair warning – you may have to think about the words and the way they’re used to describe things. Do you know what a shape checker is? Fun, interesting and filled with detail. Fantastic book.
It has taken me a day or two to regain my footing and put together a few thoughts on the convention that was Regeneration Who 2. Now that the glitter has settled (and has failed to go away) I will attempt to put into writing the things that have been running around in my head looking for a way out.
I titled this piece the way I did because while the was the second Regeneration Who con it was the first to have a dedicated children’s program. It was also the first time I’d been in charge of a chunk of con program. Yes, I’ve been part of the Intervention team for years but this was different. It was my direction – and I’m the kind of person that criticizes myself easily twice as much as anyone around me, probably more than that really. I had a grand vision in my head.
No plan survives contact with the enemy… Wait. Perhaps that isn’t the right way to phrase that. My full vision failed to account for certain realities. My free time for planning crashed directly into aspects of my day job. Another volunteer organization I work with put unexpected demands on my time. I didn’t have enough knowledge of materials and cosplay materials specifically to pull off one of the things I thought would be a centerpiece of our program. I failed at a couple of points that I wanted to be epic wins and that’s exactly the sort of thing that frustrates me. The plan generally survived, but I’ve been going over it and over it in my head since then figuring a way to make it better.
I take the time to read Oni’s “real talks” and I suppose this falls into the same category despite my inability to master her specific… eloquence. I know there has been a lot of praise for what we did, and I am truly thankful for that. It makes the struggle worth it. I know there weren’t as many problems to the eyes of convention attendees as there were to my eyes, but I saw the things I could do better. I saw the opportunities to really let my small portion of the team excel and really push it all over the top. Eta and Channon deserve a huge chunk of the credit for all that we did. I wouldn’t have survived the weekend without them. My unofficial helper (my lovely wife) was indispensable as well. They were the glue that held my macaroni to the page. I will always strive to hit that grand vision and really nail it – always. I know my team will be there with me.
In the end it was not the grand vision, nor was it a centerpiece activity. It was a small, simple gesture that made it all come together. Share a hug with a teddy bear and make the whole world better.
It’s vital to have these moments and keep all of our kids interested in the joy that is sharing our passions. I can only hope to equal that in the years to come. I will be there – and maybe I’ll bring my teddy bear too.
Check out some of the other things we had going on and make plans to be there next year:
Dark Currents by Jacqueline Carey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
If not for the urban fantasy book group I find it unlikely I would ever have picked this book up. They were the catalyst on this one – and it turned out pretty well.
I know it’s only 3 stars, but that comes up as “liked it” on my little hint window and I think that’s a fair description. I might even go to 3 and a half. I liked it. It was a light and fast read. One aspect that made the story easier for me to move through was that the characters seemed their age. I often struggle with supernatural folk that seem to land in a young adult human age category with their attitudes, speech and mannerisms – and this book really nails it. Creatures that are older and stronger act that way. They seem alien and act differently than we would expect from a human at that age. Well done.
I thought the world building was interesting. I suspect since this was the first in a trilogy that there was a lot of set up in this book. There were a lot of times I wanted something more or something deeper and didn’t get it.
All in all, if you like urban fantasy you’ll probably really enjoy this book.
I’ve been meaning to track down the relatively recent Shannara television program. I struggled when I realized I don’t have MTV as a channel in my television line up and had totally failed to notice that. Then it came to me… I can always catch up with that later but right now I still have the book. The real, actual paperback novel.
I picked this book up when I was a kid and devoured it. I think I was 10 at the time and I recall doing a diorama of one of the scenes for a book report at school using Star Wars action figures and a shoe box. As an adult I seem to recall that it was very much like the Lord of the Rings series I was so enamored with, but all the details were fuzzy. I decided I’d go and pull it from the depths of the library and read it again.
I tried that with the very first Dragonlance book a while ago and met with… minimal success. As it turns out my ten year old self and my self now have spectacularly different taste in writing styles. I’m wondering what I’ll see and how I’ll react to reading this book again after more than 30 years have gone by since I first read it.
What’s your experience been like with re-reading your favorite works?
I’ve posted on here about podcasts before, but I’m going to put this one up here for more than just the podcasting aspect.
There has been more than one discussion at a Watch The Skies meeting (you should stop by if you’re in the area) about finding top quality fiction from places beyond that published by / for / in America. Getting a different point of view or a style that is something other than your ‘normal’ is important. It’s also refreshing and interesting. Hearing a voice that isn’t a homogenized version of every other voice tell you a story is no small part of the entertainment of the story.
That international flavor and alternate point of view is on display over at Escape Pod. The story is certainly worth the half hour to listen to, and particularly entertaining if you’re a fan of steampunk. Head over HERE and check it out.
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I’ve posted before about podcasts. I think they’re a wonderful part of this golden age of fiction we’re living in right now. I found another podcast story the other day that is absolutely worth your time.
The Semaphore Society is a story from the point of view of a character that is disabled. The story handles this differently than I have ever seen it handled before.
Escape Pod is part of the Escape Artist family of podcasts. There are ones I’ve mentioned before PodCastle for fantasy and PseudoPod for horror. They are worthy of your time and if you’ve got the money they could definitely use your support. Check them out!
There’s an awful lot out there talking about Star Wars. I’m adding to it and you can’t stop me! There will be HUGE spoilers, so if you don’t want to be spoiled, I’ll give you a warning before I start on that bit.
I am one of the many that watched the original films in the theater. I was 7 when the first film came out and I was totally into the space ships and laser sword fights. I’m still into them.
There’s nothing I can say about the “fixes” made to the original series or about the other three films that hasn’t been said many other places, many other times so I’m skipping past that.
My first reaction as I walked out of the theater was “That was magnificent”. It’s true. I was in there for more than two hours and I was superbly entertained. Maybe it was that I had relatively low expectations and they were surpassed across the board. Maybe it was nostalgia and this movie hit at just the right time for me to really enjoy it. Maybe I missed a bunch of things that when I think about them later will make me less happy with the movie.
It’s probably something of all those things combined. In the end I was happy with my experience seeing this on the big screen. Happy enough that I’m likely to go back and see it again before it leaves theaters. Yes (secretly of course) I am hoping this film knocks Titanic off the top of the all time movie money list – that’s a fluke. I’m certain a number of people were duped by the fact that it was a James Cameron film…
Anyway – Happy. Happy with Star Wars in a way that I haven’t been for a very long time. Author John Scalzi has a very well phrased (non-spoilery) review posted over at Whatever where he says a lot of what I’m thinking.
MAJOR SPOILERS LIVE BELOW THIS POINT
I’m not going to get too deep into why bringing Jar Jar back as the Dark Side’s Yoda equivalent was a terrible idea…
Seriously, that’s just for those folks that don’t really want to be spoiled but can’t help but look.
There’s one thing that I’m mulling over that just doesn’t feel completely right. I know it’s going to be endlessly debated by fans for a long time to come, but it doesn’t seem right that Han Solo ends the way he does. The thing that bothers me most is that it’s a classic film maneuver – the obscure character death. There’s no Darth funeral pyre, there’s no Jedi robe stomping, just a fall into foggy darkness. I suspect the actor wanted out, so the writers gave it to him but it was ignominious. It’s not at all what you expect despite being the one part of the story that was clearly telegraphed to the audience. It’s kind of like General Patton surviving all the crazy war stuff he did in his life and then dying in a freaking fender bender car accident. It just doesn’t feel right. It’s that one bit that is just stuck in my head and I can’t put the right words to it. I’m looking forward to discussing this with other folks that have seen the movie already – am I the only one?
I’m clearly not the only one who loves the original movies (and all the nostalgia that goes with them). I have hope for this franchise again. That’s the biggest thing the new movie could have given us and it certainly did give me that.
A few folks have seen one of my newest t-shirts and in a very unscientific way I’d have to say about 75% of them don’t get it. I think it’s too subtle. Now, the people that DO get it think it’s hilarious. For everyone else, here’s the break down:
This is the character the t-shirt refers to: Porkins
And this is my shirt:
I got it from the folks at Off World Designs – you should check them out.
But really – is it too subtle?
This is a really busy time of year. It makes me wonder why movie studios feel the need to drop a bunch of trailers on us right in the middle of everything. I’m not particularly opposed – I’ve always thought Hollywood could make a fantastic two minute film – but wouldn’t they be better served to run these later in the winter? I’ve seen Star Trek, Independence Day 2, X-men Apocalypse and a couple of other BIG movies advertised and none of them even come out for 5 or 6 months. I would much prefer waiting on these trailers until I can get really excited for better weather and super action films.
Of all the movies with big hype out there I found the best tease of the group to be the Magical Beasts trailer. I didn’t think I’d want to see Ms. Rowling beat her wizarding world to death but this looks like it has a lot of potential. You should check it out:
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
