Eoghann Irving's Blog, page 20

Movie Review: Big Hero 6

Disney does superheroes, sort of. That's basically what Big Hero 6 is, but it's worth taking a moment to clarify what it isn't. It is not a Marvel animated movie, nor is it a Pixar movie. Approaching it expecting either of those things will likely end in disappointment.

Generally Big Hero 6 follows a traditional Disney story arc. It executes it well and uses the trappings of superhero stories effectively but you can see its origins in The Lion King and other Disney classics.

What's It All About?

Hiro Hamada is a super smart kid with a talent for electronics who lacks direction. Inspired by his big brother he invents a new form of robot in an effort to get into an elite college. Things go badly wrong though when there is a fire and his brother dies.  Afterwards he discovers that someone has stolen his invention and he goes looking for them.

Not Your Geeky Big Brother's Big Hero 6

I've seen a lot made online of the fact that Big Hero 6 is based on a short lived Marvel comic book. But at best that was a starting point for inspiration. These are not the same characters, they don't exist in any version of the Marvel Universe and they don't even inhabit the same city that was used in the comics.

In fact from what I understand Marvel Studios really had nothing to do with this production and Walt Disney Animation simply used available IP. I can see how that might be a source of disappointment for some and I'd certainly like to see some Marvel Studios animation in the future, but I don't think it should be counted as a negative mark against this movie.

Pixar vs. Disney

When Disney bought Pixar their own animation department was in a massive slump and barely existed, but things have changed, and not just because of Frozen. While the Disney Princess movies seem to have found new life, Disney has also finally been able to expand to into the male demographic with movies like Wreck It Ralph.

I mention this because there is a certain style to a Pixar movie and a rather different style to a Disney movie. This is quite distinctly a Disney movie complete with the child hero whose parents are dead. While it is using the superhero trappings, at its core you're going to find the familiar Disney life lessons. And I don't have a problem with that.

Loss, Grief and Moving On

While there are action sequences in this movie, and rather well directed ones at that, the core of the movie is about how you handle loss. Both the hero and the villain of the piece have lost someone. But ultimately the way they choose to handle that loss defines who they become and what they achieve in life.

Perhaps one of the reasons that Hiro is able to transcend his loss is the fact that he is surrounded and supported by friends. They are there to pick him up when he falls and call him out when he does the wrong thing.

Of course the most important of those friends in the robot Baymax, a naively childlike creation who is the source of both much of the comedy in the movie and a large portion of the pathos. Baymax innocence and his desire to help people no matter what the cost is clearly an inspiration to Hiro, who had previously seemed quite selfish in his behavior.

The other characters who eventually form the Big Hero 6 team don't get nearly as much development and exist primarily as one note cyphers. Which is not ideal, but understandable given the target audience of the movie and the running time. It also certainly leaves room for a sequel exploring those characters further.

This Looks Vaguely Familiar

Err, Disney… Are you perhaps paying homage to a certain science fiction movie and series that featured a, um… gateway to the stars?

There are actually quite a lot of other geeky references in this movie too and while set in the fictional San Fran Tokyo it clearly takes some inspiration from Japanese pop culture in its designs.

Who Is It For?

Are you a kid or kid at heart?
Do you like superheroes?
Did you enjoy Wreck It Ralph?
Do you have a fondness for obscure geeky references?

If most of the above are true this one is probably for you.

Did You Enjoy It?

Yes I did and equally important my 10 year olds enjoyed it as well. Baymax proved particularly popular with them. I personally appreciated the balance of humor with more serious emotional topics.

Buy, Rent Or Skip?

Personally I would buy this one, at the very least rent it and give it a shot.

Big Hero 6 (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD)

by Chris Williams Don Hall [Walt Disney Studios]

Price:
$18.90
-
CDN$ 24.96
-
-

Related articles

When Disney Makes A 'Big Hero 6′ Sequel, They'll Almost Certainly Bring Back Tadashi. (jonnegroni.com)
Big Hero 6 review: Disney strikes superhero gold with classic but modern tale (ibtimes.co.uk)
Big Hero 6 Armor-Up Baymax Action Figure Review (realmomma.com)
Big Hero 6 review — visually striking Asian-fusion animation (theguardian.com)


Related Posts April 16, 2014Firefly Fan Art: Disney’s Firefly June 13, 2013Star Wars Land and Cars Land Coming TO Disney Hollywood Studios? May 23, 2013Avengers / Star Wars Mashup Artwork January 21, 2015Comic Book Review: Star Wars #1 by Jason Aaron and John Cassaday

Book Review: Excession by Iain M. Banks

Iain M. Banks highly advanced human (and AI) civilization, The Culture is rather unusual amongst modern science fiction in that it is presented as something close to a post scarcity utopia. Excession deviates from that presentation by showing that maybe the almost godlike (by human standards) Minds aren't quite as morally perfect as they might at first seem. Perhaps they simply haven't been presented with something they wanted badly enough before.

Excession is definitely rather different to the previous Culture novels but that change is quite refreshing.

An Out of Context Problem

The motivating event in this novel is the Excession itself, described as an Out of Context Problem, which is defined as something that is so far outside of a society's norm that it can't be predicted or anticipated.

In this case, given the vast technological sophistication of the Culture itself that means the Excession is a completely alien object of unknowable power levels. Which makes it in a sense a Deus ex Machina only it creates the problems rather than solving them.

When this mysterious sphere is discovered the Culture takes immediate action, which is to say various groups of Minds take action. But they are not the only people interested in the Excession, the Affront, a highly hostile species also sees opportunity.

What follows then is a lot of manipulation and plotting as the various factions try to maneuver themselves to be in a place where they can gain the benefit of whatever technology has created the Excession.

A Tour Of The Culture

Because this is very much a galaxy spanning problem that affects the entire Culture the novel covers a lot of characters and locations. Where previous books have generally focussed their attention on just a few, here we jump around frequently.

We also get to find out what the Minds are up to and that's another thing we haven't seen that much of in the past. As I mentioned the general presentation has been that the Minds are benevolent controllers of the Culture although from time to time we've been given hints it's not quite that simple.

Here we see just how not simple  things really are. For a start there's no single controlling entity in the Culture, rather there are little cliques and groups all trying to sway things in the direction they think is best. And while humans aren't disregarded, they also don't get to make any of these decisions.

In previous stories the human characters have generally been working for Special Circumstances and while certainly manipulated to greater or lesser degrees have also been difference makers. Here though most of the humans we meet are living rather directionless lives. Even the ones recruited by Special Circumstances don't really seem to have much purpose and are little more than pawns in a much larger game.

The Affront

The major alien civilisation in Excession is The Affront a technologically advanced civilisation that seems to have come to a cultural dead end. While very alien in their physiology, Banks portrays them as extremely humanoid in psychology.

These aliens are simultaneously jovial and good natured while incredibly cruel. They take excessive pleasure not only in hunting but in the bullying of their juniors and subjugation of members of their own species.

In fact they are so obviously evil that at first the society seems like a simple caricature, but that's not accidental. The Affront mainly exist to further explore how the Culture works. On the surface The Affront shouldn't be allowed to exist, but the Culture is so enlightened that they find themselves unwilling to interfere even when faced with blatant evil.

Well, most of them do. There is a group of Minds who sees things differently.

Petty Personal Problems

While we do dot around a lot in this book there is one major sub-plot that centers around the human characters of Dajeil Gelian and Genar-Hofoen. These two had previously had a relationship which ended badly (Dajeil tried to kill Genar) and consequently Dajeil goes on a 40 year sulk.

You might be able to tell that I wasn't very impressed by this subplot. While the two characters are quite well explored they both prove to be rather shallow and uninteresting. One of the fundamental issues I have with The Culture is that its inhabitants are so free from limits (lifespan, physical materials, wealth) and yet as a result seem almost entirely directionless. Dajeil and Genar-Hofoen illustrate this nicely.

Mostly while reading these sections of the book I just wanted to get back to the Minds and their political intrigue.

Who Should Read It?

Do you like Iain M. Banks?
Do you like thought provoking space opera?
Do you like your action to be accompanied with some moral dilemmas and complex characters?

I'd say this one is for you.

Did You Like It?

Yes, it may actually be my favorite of all the Culture novels I've read to date. While I've seen criticism that some of the in jokes are impenetrable to new readers I think the heavy action quotient will make it a little more familiar to most SF readers and thus easier to warm to.

Buy, Borrow or Skip?

This book is a buy.

Excession (Bantam Spectra Book)

by Iain M. Banks [Spectra]

Price:
$7.99
£0.05
CDN$ 2.98
EUR 7,52
EUR 10,46

Related PostsAugust 25, 2013Book Review: Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks October 14, 2014Book Review: Great North Road by Peter F. HamiltonOctober 8, 2013Book Review: The Player of Games by Iain M. BanksApril 18, 2013Book Review: Empty Space by M. John Harrison

Greed is Good Part 2: Doug the Werewolf (1st Draft)

This is post #2 of 2 in the series “Greed is Good”

Doug the werewolf is a snappy dresser. I mean, he doesn't use being a werewolf as an excuse to wander round in torn jeans with a beard down to his ankles. No, Doug wears suits and ties, he looks presentable anywhere.

"What do you do anyway?" I asked him by way of greeting. He stared at me. He has an excellent range of glowers. I considered shutting the door on him, but I remembered what had happened to my last door and decided against it.

Unfortunately unless a wizard has taken the time and expended the energy to build a mystical barrier around your entire house, he's just as vulnerable to home invasion as anyone else. Guess what this wizard hadn't done? It's hard work!

"Look I've got to go to work soon, so can we schedule scowling practice for another time and get to the point." I said, losing patience with his silent act.

"At the Blue Ridge Casino." Doug nodded. It occurred to me to wonder why he knew where I worked, but I didn't ask. He still hadn't told me why he was here. I waited.

The silence got really long and awkward, but I refused to back down. Finally he gave in.

"So… one of the boys, he got a job… at Blue Ridge." Doug said and now it all made sense. Sure they had kicked me out of their territory but now they were intruding on mine.

"I don't recall anyone asking for permission." I said. Doug had the decency to look a little embarrassed.

It's not that the various magical purveyors, creatures and creators have an actual physical territory you understand, well not most of them anyway, but there are rules and agreements and just generally accepted social practices. They've evolved over the centuries to avoid unnecessary mass homicides. What Doug and his pack had done didn't break an treaties, and it certainly wasn't a declaration of war, but it was kind of rude.

"Look, he needs the work okay?" Doug's voice took on that tone of someone who knows they are in the wrong and is angry about it. Generally it's not smart to test a werewolf's temper.

"What's his name?" I asked, letting Doug off off the hook. Besides, I could understand needing a job. That was pretty much the situation I found myself in when Supermart 13 burnt down, and Blue Ridge Casino was one of the few growing employers in the area.

"Rick." Doug said. "He's a good kid. He'll mind his own business."

"Well then we should get along splendidly."  I put on my most annoying smile. Doug brings that out in me.

Doug just stood there glowering at me. I alternated between putting my hand in my pocket and taking it out again. I wasn't quite brave enough to shut the door in his face. With a last glare, he grunted and turned to go.

"Have you seen it again." I cursed my curiosity.

"No. The pack is keeping an eye on things though." Doug knew what I was referring to. "We'll handle it."

I considered pointing out how badly they had handled the creature the first time round, but decided against it. "And… nothing else… weird?"

Doug paused and looked at me again. "I heard what you did to the store." He said. "You're trouble." And with that he walked back down the path towards his truck.

I stood at the door watching until he drove off.  Unless he was a damn good liar the werewolves weren't connected with the zombie attack on Supermart 13. Which was good since I lived next door to them, metaphorically speaking, but also bad because I still didn't know who was behind it.

I didn't have time for further ruminations though, it was time to get ready for work. Casinos do a large chunk of their business at night and so once again I had to get ready for a night shift. It wasn't a glamorous job, there's very little glamorous about casino's, but it was a few steps up from shelf stacking!

I closed the door and looked back at the circle I had laid out on my floor and the medallion lying in the middle. Belatedly I realized that it would have been in clear view for Doug when I had the door open. I wondered if he would realize the significance, and what he might do if he did.

Dispersing the circle with some care, I picked up the medallion and placed it back in the fire safe in my closet, which was about the safest place I had short of putting it in the bank.

After that it took a few minutes work to shave and make myself presentable enough to pass muster at Blue Ridge Casino. I had just finished and congratulating myself on being ready early when my phone rang.

It took me a moment to realize what it was because my phone never rings. I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at the number on the screen in disbelief. I didn't recognize the number, but I knew exactly where the call came from, and because of that, exactly who must be calling. Not answering isn't an option with these sorts of people, they have too many other ways to get in touch with you if they want to.

"Yes." I said, not even trying to disguise my weariness.

There was a short pause and then an accent so refined it could only come from a specific part of Edinburgh spoke.

"The Ceannard will be speaking with you now." She said in tones that brooked no argument.

Next: Part 3

Zombiemart is weekly serial sequel to The Wolves of West Virginia, which is available on Kindle.

The Wolves of West Virginia: A Contemporary Fantasy Novella (The Case Files of Douglas Brodie Book 1)

by Eoghann Irving [-]

Price:
-
-
-
-
-

Related Posts February 14, 2015Greed is Good Part 1: Mostly Very Dull (1st Draft) February 7, 2015ZombieMart – Part 5) The Source of The Smell (1st Draft) January 31, 2015ZombieMart – Part 4) Cleanup In Aisle 11 (1st Draft) January 24, 2015ZombieMart – Part 3) Zombies! (1st Draft)

Greed is Good Part 1: Mostly Very Dull (1st Draft)

This is post #1 of 1 in the series “Greed is Good”

Greed is Good is, or will be, the third story in the Case Files of Douglas Brodie contemporary fantasy series and takes place a short time after the events in ZombieMart, the first draft of which you can read right here.

 Greed is Good Part 1: Mostly Very Dull (1st Draft)

Being a wizard is mostly very dull, at least when I'm not being chased by werewolves or attacked by zombies, and consists of lots of reading accompanied by cautious use of magic. Why so cautious? The more you learn about magic, the more you learn what can go wrong which, it turns out,  is almost everything.

Look, even casting the simplest of spells you're messing with the bindings of the universe,  to say it is potentially disastrous would be understatement. Fortunately that sort of business is normally self-limiting because it takes a lot of time to learn how to channel the power to cause real damage. By the time you do you're so terrified you don't want to do anything.

Which is why Saturday night saw me in my living room once again scouring the internet. Because, while I can just about get by in a couple or three languages, my knowledge of Elamite is non-existent. Strangely Google doesn't auto translate languages that have been dead for over two thousand years, I guess there has to be some sort of cut off point.

Magic has a very, very long history. In fact, it is inherent in the fabric of the universe and has existed longer than humans themselves. So it's not surprising that there are some very old magical items floating around. What no one has ever been able to explain to my satisfaction though is why older artifacts seem to accumulate magical energy.

But they do, which makes them very dangerous. Like, for example, the medallion I was studying at that moment. I'm no metallurgist so I don't know if the medallion was two thousand and some years old as the use of the Elamite language for the inscriptions implied, but it was definitely old. And I'd see how powerful it was. The biggest question on my mind though was what it was doing in Charles Town, West Virginia.

Figuring out what it said was the first step to unraveling that particular mystery. Honestly, at this point I was being stubborn. I should contact  Mercedes and have an expert do the research.  It would be quicker, easier, and be an admission that I couldn't do this myself.

I needed to stop messing around though because something was going on. I had moved here for a quiet life, but the last few months had been far from that. Werewolves, zombies, what was next vampires? Okay now I'm just being silly.

It would be arrogant, or is that egotistical, to assume that all this was happening because of me, but it's also true that, courtesy of a certain geas, I am something of a magic magnet. And if I didn't figure out what was going on, I was liable to end up dead.

I studied the ornate silver medallion for a moment as though merely peering at it would somehow unlock all its secrets. It was a big, chunky thing, not something you could wear discreetly, but the Elamite cuneiform had been delicately inscribed around its circumference.

A little magical examination might be able to find out more. Or it might just blow up my house. Remember what I said about how wizards use magic cautiously? I had already seen what this thing was capable of in the hands of an untrained person, imagine the damage a trained but stupid wizard might do.

And because I am just that damned stupid, I figured I'd give it a shot. Now, I'm not completely crazy so I took a few precautions first, starting with a circle. Well, more of an ellipse really because I don't have a steady hand for drawing. But the truth is that the exact shape isn't the point of a circle, it's the lines themselves that matter they conduct or contain power. Circles just look better.

Anyway, circle drawn, shields prepared, I examined the medallion again. This time I reached out with my mind and looked at the lines of energy radiating from it. It was like staring into the sun. The amount of power contained in this thing pretty much convinced me it was as old as it appeared.

There were… layers… of magic wrapped around this thing. Different spells, different energy sources, all somehow intermingling.  Years of magic use and spell-crafting had left their mark on this item. Part of me really wanted to just spend the next decade unraveling the medallion's history and all the events it had been involved in.

But I needed to focus. I was looking for evidence of recent owners not historical ones, and by owners I didn't mean teenage suckers conned into using the medallion. No, the last owner of this medallion had been a skilled wizard, and with some care I ought to be able to detect the signature of their magic at work here.

Assuming I didn't blow myself up first, because the magical power in the medallion had an unstable feel. But to find out what, I needed to burrow deeper into the layers, which was asking for trouble.

I was just about to do it when the doorbell rang,  which may have saved my life. Or not because when I opened the door I found myself face to chest with Doug the werewolf.

Yes, I know our names are similar, but I don't like being called Doug. My name is Douglas. Also I'm not a werewolf. Also Doug doesn't like me very much. Which made his presence outside my house not only surprising but more than a little alarming. Because the last time I'd seen him, he'd run me out of Shepherdstown.

Next: Part 2

Zombiemart is weekly serial sequel to The Wolves of West Virginia, which is available on Kindle.

The Wolves of West Virginia: A Contemporary Fantasy Novella (The Case Files of Douglas Brodie Book 1)

by Eoghann Irving [-]

Price:
-
-
-
-
-

Related Posts January 24, 2015ZombieMart – Part 3) Zombies! (1st Draft) January 17, 2015Zombiemart – Part 2) Assault On Supermart 13 (1st Draft) February 7, 2015ZombieMart – Part 5) The Source of The Smell (1st Draft) January 31, 2015ZombieMart – Part 4) Cleanup In Aisle 11 (1st Draft)

The post Greed is Good Part 1: Mostly Very Dull (1st Draft) appeared first on eoghann.com.

Book Review: About Last Night by T. Paulin

I admit it, I was attracted to About Last Night initially because of the cover. Not only does it not have the yawnsomely traditional Urban Fantasy look to it but the subtitle claims it's a "twisted" urban fantasy series (sadly other editions have much more blah covers). So, something new then!

Somewhat at least. At first glance the setup of the book is very familiar. We've got a relatively young guy in a dead end job who accidentally discovers that the paranormal is real. But, there's a bit more going on, because this city  has a publicly acknowledged zombie infestation, which is separate from the paranormal stuff.

In Which I Whine About The Whining

The first problem I ran into while reading this story was just how negative the viewpoint character Eli is. I realize that the idea is to show him as directionless and a bit feeble, but I wanted to kick the man.

Eli spends so much time telling himself and by extension us how lonely, useless and generally what a waste of space he is that you're pretty much left agreeing with him. Sure he's going on a mini hero's journey which will hopefully somewhat transform him, but if I was going with him he might not make it to the end alive.

Generally speaking the characterization in this book is very, very broad, which somewhat fits with its light and humorous tone. But a little more shading in the case of both Eli and his harridan girlfriend might have been a good thing. While the author just about sells me most of the time on someone like Eli staying with this woman, there are a couple of points where she is so outright vindictive that I was expecting her to climb on a broomstick and fly away cackling.

Twisted = Quirky?

I'm not sure that the claim of twisted is entirely lived up to here, but the book certainly has some wonderfully quirky elements to it and those elements are almost enough to redeem it on their own.

For example Eli claims (although we're left with the possibility that it isn't true) to have a chip in his head that forces him to always tell the truth.  As a result the hapless man frequently blurts out entirely inappropriate things. This, amongst other things, is part of why he is in such a dead end job. Nice touch.

And then we have the zombies. Or zombie like things. They don't seem to be brain eaters and are more like dogs attracted to shiny things. But they also have minimal brain function.  They inhabit an area of the city that used to be the financial district before whatever bad thing it was that happened, happened. The details of some of this are left purposefully vague for future episodes. Fair enough.

These sorts of elements definitely propel the story out of the be there done that of Urban Fantasy however and more focus on them and away from the less successful character comedy would be a good thing.

A Strong Ending

It's worth noting that while the characterization at the beginning of the story is extremely broad, and the girlfriend never recovers from it, the exploration of Eli and why he is the way he is does get considerably deeper.

The focus on an event in his childhood and how it continues to resonate with him in the present days was a welcome element of the story as were his feelings of triumph near the end when he finally achieves something he thinks is valuable.

This is good stuff and if it had been this strong from the beginning I think my review would have been very different.

Leftover Elements

About Last Night is a short book, essentially a novella in length. It's also the first part of a longer series.  For the most part it does concentrate on telling a single story i.e. Eli's joining the Ghost Hackers crew.

There are, however, some story elements left hanging. Stuff like who Eli exactly is (he has no memory of his earliest childhood) or what the true nature of these zombies are, is to be expected in this sort of series.

A little less forgivable is the ghost cat (apparently) that is now haunting Eli's apartment. This was a plot driving element in the first half of the book but just gets put aside later on and not resolved. It definitely feels like a loose end rather than a plot point to be further explored in the future.

Who Should Read It?

Do you like Urban Fantasy?
Do you prefer non-conventional setups?

You might be the target audience.

Did You Like It?

Sort of. I appreciated the quirkier elements of the set up and the concept. I also prefer it when my Urban Fantasy isn't too grim and serious. But the broad and rather shallow characterization was problematic and some of the humor just didn't work for me.

Buy, Borrow, Sample or Pass?

I'd say try the Amazon sample. Your taste in humor may be different to mine and that would certainly make a difference. You'll know pretty quickly from the sample.

About Last Night (Urban Fantasy Series) (Ghost Hackers Book 1)

by T Paulin [-]

Price:
-
-
-
-
-

Related Posts February 7, 2015ZombieMart – Part 5) The Source of The Smell (1st Draft) January 25, 2015The Origins Of A StoryAugust 27, 2013Book Review: Happy Hour In Hell By Tad WilliamsJune 30, 2013Book Review: Noah’s Boy by Sarah A. Hoyt

The post Book Review: About Last Night by T. Paulin appeared first on eoghann.com.

Book Review: Without Bloodshed by Matthew Graybosch

The latest book in my #GreatIndieReviewProject series is Without Bloodshed by Matthew Graybosch, a science fantasy story which mixes libertarian idealism with heavy metal, violence and a healthy dose of sex.

One of the things that independent published allows authors isa  freedom to step outside traditional genre limits or push them in different directions. That's certainly something that the author of Without Bloodshed Matthew Graybosch has taken advantage of.

Don't worry, you'll find most of the staple ingredients here too but this book has an agenda of sorts that sets it apart from the herd.

Science Fantasy For An Adult Audience

This is not a book intended for children. And I don't say that simply because of the amount of sexual content. It is present certainly at times somewhat explicit, but not unreasonably so given the story being told.

It's more that the subject matter, while carefully bookended by action sequences, rests heavily on politics and social constructs. There's a lot of intrigue going on here. At times, so much that I rather lost track of who was triple-crossing who. There's also a fair amount of people standing around discussing principles and worrying about morals. These are fairly adult concepts and interests.

It's also in the presentation. The book requires concentration to read, particularly in the early chapters. There is so much information to be processed that it's easy to get lost in it. And then there is the large cast.

Characters, Characters Everywhere

I think it's safe to say that Morgan Stormrider (the author does actually take a moment to justify that rather extravagant name) and Naomi Bradleigh broadly represent the authors values (as displayed in an idealized action environment) and they are both quite appealing protagonists.

At times I did think that Morgan in particular comes across as just a bit too perfect. He has made mistakes, but they are in the past and in this story he always seems to know what the right way to behave is. I sort of want him to do something selfish occasionally.

Once we move away from the primary characters though things got a little more confused for me. For a start, the story has a large cast due to its level of politics and intrigue. But to make matters worse, quite a few of these characters go by two or more names. At several points during the story I had to stop and try and figure out who exactly was talking about who. Obviously anything that pulls me back out of the story is a bad thing, so I think it's an area where the story could have benefited with a bit more work to better differentiate the players.

Fortunately once I had got myself past the half way mark most of the characters had sufficiently imprinted themselves on my brain that the confusion lessened. I think my perseverance was rewarded, but you can't assume all readers will be as patient as I was. Which would be a shame because by the end there are plenty of hooks in place for the larger plot and it's obvious the scale of the story is intended to grow even further.

The characters themselves are for the most part quite distinct, it's more the volume and names that create the confusion, although there is one glaring exception in a character who is so forcefully one-dimensional in her bitchiness I sort of wonder what is going on with her.

Displaying Your Influences

Every author has their influences and it's usually not to hard to pick out what they are. While the book itself is unquestionably of the science fantasy, the style of the book shows several other influences.

I am not a huge fan of either rock or heavy metal music so most likely I am missing a good number of references in Without Bloodshed, but even I can pick up on the fact that it is a significant influence on the book. I also strongly suspect a significant anime influence based on both the culture presented and some of the descriptions used.

The third major influence in the book is a Libertarian one. Society and many of the characters espouse libertarian values and it's not hard to see that we are expected to see those as the "good" values. As a writer you have to be very careful not to step over that line from character expression to authorial expression. There are a few places where maybe the soapbox got pulled out but for the most part it is kept in check.

World Building

While the politicking and intrigues are undoubtedly a strong element in the book, the world building is more of a mixed bag.

On the one hand the Graybosch clearly spent time thinking out his world, how it functions and what it's technical level would be, but on the other we really aren't exposed to this world very much.

So we get a lot of very specific information about sidewalk heating or the use of Tesla points to power things but we don't ever get the viewpoint of a regular person in this new world.

Clearly Nationfall radically altered the political structure of the world. The story doesn't go into detail on this, which is fine, but the implication is that all the geo-political governments collapsed and we are now dealing with some sort of semi-anarchical city-state structure. But I never got a good feeling for what that meant. I would think there would have been some pretty nasty fall out along the way.

Morgan and Naomi are so insulated from the real world due to their twin jobs as music stars and Adversaries that they never really interact with regular people. They are too rich and too important.

Admittedly this is also often the case in fantasy stories where our protagonist is a king or prince, but in that case we sort of know what the average peasant's life is like. Here I genuinely have no idea.

We get some brief infodumps about biker gangs and some sort of proto-libertarian anarchical free-state made up from Anonymous and the Pirate Party (not a completely absurd notion) but again, what does it actually mean to live like that? I think in this case having at least one viewpoint character from the lower echelons of society would have provided a more rounded view of this society.

Who Should Read This?

Do you like rock and or heavy metal music?
Do you appreciated some fantasy in your science fiction?
Are stories better with a healthy dose of political intrigue?
Are you okay with some sexuality in your reading material?

If some or most of these apply to you then you should give this one a shot.

Did You Like It?

Yes, overall I enjoyed reading Without Bloodshed. There are areas where I think the storytelling could be tightened up and early on confusion is definitely an issue, but the book is trying to do more than just tell an action story. The politics and the social views the characters present are intended to illustrate and exemplify as well as entertain. Plus the anime and heavy metal infused setting is quite distinctive.

I don't think there's anything else quite like this on the market.

Without Bloodshed

by Matthew Graybosch [Curiosity Quills Press]

Price:
$14.28
£13.99
CDN$ 18.05
EUR 13,52
EUR 14,05

Related Posts January 19, 2015Book Review: Archer: Book One of The Long Game by Richard Rohlin January 16, 2015Book Review: The Evolutionary Void by Peter F. Hamilton January 14, 2015Book Review: Beastheads by Mike Reeves-McMillan January 12, 2015The Great Indie Review Project 2015

The post Book Review: Without Bloodshed by Matthew Graybosch appeared first on eoghann.com.

ZombieMart — Part 5) The Source of The Smell (1st Draft)

This is post #5 of 5 in the series “ZombieMart”

I stared at the doors for a moment, wondering if they were locked or jammed. I have a way with locked doors, but unjamming them is trickier. And I might not have much time, sooner or later the zombies would head this way.

After all, there were still an unspecified number of zombies wandering round the  store, not to mention that mist stuff. Forcing the doors open created another problem too. Whatever was attacking Supermart 13 was currently contained inside the store, what would happen if it got out?

My best bet was to locate the source of the mist and that god awful smell and then put a stop to it. Somehow.

"Who'd go and do a thing like that?" Lucas rattled the doors ineffectually, obviously at a loss for what to do next.

I considered sending him to hide somewhere, but quickly rejected that notion. He'd be as safe beside me as anywhere else in the store. Of course that did mean I'd have to listen to his muttering and questions.

I closed my eyes for a moment eliminating the background noise and distractions and sharpening my focus.  This place stank of magic, and not just that noxious mist, so with a little work I ought to be able to find the source.

It didn't take long. Whoever, or whatever was creating Supermart 13's very own zompocalypse was throwing around a lot of power. Far more power than any even half-trained wizard would dare to use. There are consequences after all.

Whoever this was either didn't have to care or didn't know any better. I couldn't decide which of those options was the more terrifying. Either way it was time to face him, her… it. I headed for the freezer section with Lucas trailing behind.

It was a frantic dash, narrowly slipping by  two zombies, the second of which almost got me. I didn't see it until it step out in front of me and I ran smack into its chest.  Not an employee this time I noted distantly, just a random shopper. Not that it would help once he bit me.

At which point Lucas whacked it in the head with a bag of frozen peas. Not a killing blow, if the zombie was alive, but enough to send it reeling and give me a chance to get running again.

Okay I realize that all this running probably doesn't seem terribly heroic to you, but I want you to consider two very important things. One, I'm not a hero I'm a shelf stacker at a supermarket and two, I'm still alive! Running is good for your health.

I turned the corner into the second aisle of the freezer section and there he was. Or at least I assumed it was him because, even in West Virginia teenagers don't usually sit in the middle of a supermarket and chant.

I paused, studying the boy, no more than 18  I guessed, maybe younger. He was wearing some sort of medallion which he clutched in his hand as he chanted. From this distance I couldn't make out the words clearly, but the power emanating from the medallion was strong enough to make the hair on my neck stand on end.

That explained a lot, but it also left me with a huge problem. I needed to separate the boy from the medallion. But what would happen if I just interrupted the spell in progress?

I should explain for those of you who haven't spent a decade studying magical theory and practice. All magic requires energy from somewhere. Wizards, that's me, learn to use the smallest amounts of energy in ways that create larger effects. But there are other options, like borrowing power from another magical being. Or being handed a power source and then repeating an incantation that you don't understand.  The end result of that last option is almost always bad.

In an ideal situation I would study the incantation, figure out what exactly it was doing and then subtly adjust it to a more harmless flow before removing the medallion from the greasy oik's hands. This was far from the ideal situation but I had to at least figure out what I was up against.

I had taken three steps forward when the teenager opened his eyes and stared at me. Have you ever looked a lizard in the eyes and realized that you're facing something fundamentally alien and different to you?  Something that doesn't think the way you do or want the same things you want. The boy's eyes didn't look lizard like but there was nothing human at all in the look he gave me.

The boy stood in a strangely jerky motion, his lips still moving, shaping the words of the chant. I didn't have time for anything clever or subtle. Whatever had taken control of him sensed danger and would move to deal with me. I reached out into the flows of magic that were now all around me and tugged destroying the carefully built magical structure surrounding the boy.

He screamed. It was a sound that shouldn't have been possible from a human voice box, but the chanting stopped. Which was unfortunate because the medallion was still pouring power out into this world and suddenly it had nowhere to go.

I backed up, pulling Lucas behind me, as I frantically wove a shield spell out of thin air and wild magic. I couldn't compete with the raw force that was building up in front of me, turning the air itself into energy, but I just might be able to deflect it.

The boy/thing screamed again as the medallion burned through its hand and then everything exploded.

I don't mean there was an explosion. No single point from which everything pushed out. More like all of reality in my immediate vicinity, twisted, warped and then finally snapped back into shape. My shield worked, at least well enough that I didn't die, but I did black out.

Returning to consciousness from a reality warping magical explosion is painful. I'm not sure exactly how long I was out, but it was long enough for the fire to have caught hold and the emergency services called.

I was laying on a stretcher when I woke and my whole body ached.  It didn't feel like I'd lost any essential organs, more like I'd been dragged naked along a gravel path at speed. My first thought, well second, was about Lucas. But I needn't have worried, he was nearby telling some unfortunate all about his experiences. Although, he didn't seem to remember any specifics at all.

Apparently there had been a gas leak, followed by an explosion or so they explained to me. I'd been really lucky they'd gotten to me when they did because the whole building was burnt to a crisp.

Strangely no one mentioned zombies. As far as I can tell my monkey wrench worked about as well as I could have hoped, short circuiting the spell and returning all the affected people to their normal state with very little memory of what happened.

Unfortunately the same could not be said for the victims of those zombies. Several dead bodies had been removed from the store, conveniently too burnt for the bite marks to show.

Which is about as good as result as I suppose I could ask for, but it did leave me frustratingly lacking in answers. Who had given that teenager the medallion and why?

Later that night after being discharged from the hospital I went to visit the charred remains of Supermart 13. It's amazing how little of the building had survived, but that's magical fires for you I suppose.

The medallion wasn't hard to locate, though it took me a while poking around in the dark to actually unearth it. I didn't recognize the design, but I planned to do some research. Magical coincidences were starting to pile up round here.

Next: Douglas Brodie Will Return in — Greed is Good

ZombieMart is a weekly serial sequel to The Wolves of West Virginia, which is available on Kindle.

The Wolves of West Virginia (The Case Files of Douglas Brodie Book 1)

by Eoghann Irving [-]

Price:
-
-
-
-
-

Related Posts January 31, 2015ZombieMart – Part 4) Cleanup In Aisle 11 (1st Draft) January 25, 2015The Origins Of A Story January 24, 2015ZombieMart – Part 3) Zombies! (1st Draft) January 17, 2015Zombiemart – Part 2) Assault On Supermart 13 (1st Draft)

The post ZombieMart — Part 5) The Source of The Smell (1st Draft) appeared first on eoghann.com.

TV Review: The Man In The High Castle

Amazon's streaming video service was long regarded as an also-ran behind Netflix and even Hulu.  Their efforts to broaden appeal by producing original pilots (and taking some to series) was met mostly with apathy until last year. The success of Transparent changed things. It showed that Amazon could produce the same sort of quality material that Netflix and HBO do.

So when I heard they were going to do a series based on Philip K. Dick's The Man In The High Castle, I had to check it out, even though I dislike their interface and don't have a device that will Stream Amazon Instant to tv.

And having watched it, I'm telling you that you should too.

Alternate History

Back in 1962 when Philip K. Dick released The Man in The High Castle alternate histories were already a sub-genre of science fiction, and the question "What if the Nazi's won the war?" had been asked plenty of times. So the basis of the story is not in and of itself original but Dick did set up a pretty distinctive world and Amazon's show is sticking closely to that setting, so far.

The show is set in 1962 some 15 years after the Nazi's dropped the bomb effectively ending the war. They partitioned up the United States between  Germany in the east and the Japanese in the west with a neutral zone in the middle.

There's a fascinating contrast at work between the two world superpowers. Japan continues to cling to its feudal past while Germany roars ahead unchallenged in technology and science. Meanwhile, in the background, everyone knows the current Führer is ill and his potential replacements are jockeying for position. The world anticipates war.

The show establishes this background remarkably smoothly without any heavy handed voiceovers or montages. As the plot develops and the characters are introduced we are presented with iconography that clearly shows us the current state of America.

One particularly chilling moment comes when a local sheriff who has proven to be friendly and even helped change a tire for one of our protagonists casually explains that the ashes floating down from the sky come from the local hospital which burns the terminally ill weekly since they are a drain on society.

Adapting The Unadaptable

A lot of Dick's writing has been adapted to the screen over the years, with mixed success. Part of the problem is that the subjects that interested Dick the most (identity, reality etc.) are not easily presented in a visual fashion. His plots also tend to have considerable depth and complexity which is challenging for a 100 minute movie. So while some of the adaptations have been highly enjoyable in their own right, they have been less than faithful as adaptations.

Since The Man in The High Castle is a series, it has a lot more room for plot complexities and character building than a movie would and certainly based on the pilot it looks as though they intend to explore multiple characters and that there will be a variety of plot threads.

As far as faithfulness goes though, this is certainly not a straight adaptation of the book's plot. We have many, but not all, of the same characters and at least some of the plot elements are in place, but there are already changes. It would probably be more accurate to describe this as inspired by the book.

Gorgeously Dark And Moody

The cinematography on this is impressive. This may in part have something to do with Ridley Scott's appearance in the credits. He's only the executive producer so wouldn't be directly involved but things that come from his production company tend to have a certain visual oomph.

In places the show is almost too dark and it can be hard to make out some details, but it certainly fits the mood of the story which is pregnant with despair and feelings of impending doom. It's also extremely effective world building. The details of this alternate 1962 and the impact that would have on buildings, furniture and names has all been thought out.

A Slow Boil

The plot itself is developed very slowly. Most of the pilot is really given over to introducing the characters and as a result the setting. While people are put in motion and the first elements of a larger plot are revealed there's no rush to action here. This show is not going to be a series of fight scenes.

There's no shortage of tension though, the pilot plays of well established tropes from War movies etc. taking advantage of the different environment that it can now play them out in. And it doesn't shy away from showing violence where the story needs it.

While the Nazi's are more blatantly vicious, these are clearly both brutal regimes when they need to be. So there is no doubt our protagonists are in real peril if discovered. There's also quite the twist at the end of the episode which, definitely left me hanging and wishing that a series had already been approved for this.

One of the elements they just ever so slightly tease in this episode is the nature of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy. In the book this was an alternate history book written to image what the world would be like if the US and UK had one the war. It wasn't simply our real history though, but yet another alternate history where the UK remains a superpower.

For the series this book has been come newsreel footage, which is a logical transposing given the movement to a visual medium. But it does raise some very interesting questions. The book was a fiction, written by a man who wanted to inspire people. The newsreel footage looks real (because they used actual footage). PKD frequently liked to raise questions about what is reality in his fiction, it's possible this show may do the same.

Origami Unicorn

I don't think this will be a recurring thing, but they did sneak in a Blade Runner reference:

Who Is It For?

Do you like thoughtful character based tv?
Do you like alternate histories and what-ifs?
Are you a fan of Philip K. Dick?

If any one of those is true this may be for you.

Did You Like It?

Yes, very much so. Though it is possible that it will turn into one of those series that become so depressing I can't bring myself to watch it, the quality really shines through in this.

As far as I'm concerned this one is a must watch. The pilot is available for free on Amazon so go check it out.

Related Posts July 24, 2013Chromecast – Bought OneJuly 16, 2013No DVRs For The First Time In 10 Years June 8, 2013Intel Will Overpay For Streaming Content January 20, 2015The History of Science Fiction Part 12: 1960 –1969 – Books

The post TV Review: The Man In The High Castle appeared first on eoghann.com.

Book Review: Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch

Writing reviews for long running series of books becomes progressively more difficult. I think we've reached that stage with Foxglove Summer which is the fifth in Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant urban fantasy books.

The problem is not that it's a bad book (it's actually a highly enjoyable one) it's that I've both said much of what I want to say about the series before and I have to be careful what I say about events from previous books in the series. This is a bit limiting.

Never the less there are a few things that set this latest installment apart from previous entries in the series.

That's Not London!

The single biggest change here is that the story is not set in London, in fact London doesn't feature at all. For a series whose origin centered around the goddesses of the London rivers, that's a substantial departure.

Putting Peter Grant in a new location does allow Aaronovitch to freshen up things a bit though, because most of the usual cast are missing (although a certain river goddess does show up). So we've got some new people to interact with and a new geographical location, but the style of the story doesn't change too much.

Grant remains a self-deprecating narrator and the emphasis on nature as a source of magic is still front and center.  Another thing that is still present is the strong emphasis on smells as a descriptive source. It's a narrative element that sets the series aside from most others in the genre.

Creeping Serialization

One of the things that happens with this sort of open ended series is that the ongoing subplots gradually take up more and more of the books. That is definitely the case with Foxglove Summer. The previous book ended with a pretty major twist/cliffhanger and it's one that is explored in some depth here, though still not resolved.

The clear implication is that this issue is going to flare up even bigger in future books, which is fine. What is perhaps less satisfying is that, given this is a fairly short book, the amount of time dedicated to the subplot leaves the central mystery relatively thin.

In all honesty calling it a mystery is giving it more credit than it really deserves. You'll probably have a pretty good idea about what is going on early on in the book. What kept me drawn in was the characters and dialogue not a desperate need to see how things would work out.

It's not just future sub-plots that are explored here either, but also the past. We finally get the details on the battle that essentially wiped out human wizards in the UK and at least some indication of what the impact of that might have been.

Magic and Science

One of the strengths of the entire series has been it's efforts to marry magic and science without simply explaining magic away as science.  Grant continues to grasp only semi-successfully for explanations as to how his magic can work, but is able to apply modern policing techniques to some of the situations he finds himself in.

While the trope in these sorts of books (as with a lot of detective stories) is for the lone maverick, Grant is a lowly police officer and bound to follow the policies and protocols of the Metropolitan Police Force.

The fact that Grant is on a "special" squad of sorts gives Aaronovitch some leeway, but he spends a good deal of time explaining and using actual policing methods. Surprisingly few of which involve breaking down doors and threatening suspects.

Wait, What? It's Over?

What I found least satisfying about this particular book in the series was what seemed like a very abrupt ending. There is a pattern of Grant getting in over his head and having to be bailed out by other people, but in this case it really didn't seem like anything was resolved.

Peter was rescued certainly, but there didn't seem to be anything to stop future incursions for them Faery realm. Plus there are characters that were introduced and implied to be significant that are simply forgotten about and left undeveloped.

The whole thing has the feel of needing to get from A to B rather than being a full story in its own right. Which is definitely a negative mark, but  Aaronovitch sort of gets away with it because the characters are so fun to spend time with.

Is This For Me?

Do you like Urban Fantasy?
Do you appreciate a light hearted view of a darkish subject?
Are you comfortable with British slang and references?

This might be for you, so start with the first book Rivers of London/Midnight Riot (depending on which side of the pond you buy it)

Did You Like It?

Yes, I really enjoy this Urban Fantasy series. The sense of humor sits well with me and Grant is a very likeable protagonist. There's nothing exceptionally challenging being presented here, but it's well executed and fun to read. I am hoping the next book steps things back up again though.

Foxglove Summer: A Rivers of London Novel

by Ben Aaronovitch [DAW]

Price:
$6.47
£2.99
CDN$ 9.49
EUR 7,41
EUR 6,70

The post Book Review: Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch appeared first on eoghann.com.

Kidney Stones — Welcome to a Whole New Level of Pain

So on Thursday evening I was in the ER because of a kidney stone. So far I've been describing the pain as "excruciating" or incredibly painful. But in truth that's a rather inadequate method of conveying what it actually felt like. Let's see if I can do better.

A Little Bit of Gas

That's how it started.  I was working from home when I started to feel a little uncomfortable, so I took a couple of gas pills and thought no more about it. I'd just come back from a trip where my eating patterns had been disrupted so a little bloating is to be expected.

An hour later, after I wrapped up work, the discomfort was still there so I started walking around a bit  in the hopes of breaking up any bubbles.

Shortly after that my wife returned home with my sons. I tried to sit down and help them with homework but rapidly found that too uncomfortable and started walking around again. My wife suggested more gas pills and I figured why not and took some more.

The next half hour consisted of alternately walking around and laying on the bed hoping the pain would pass soon. Instead, it got progressively worse. Let's talk about that pain for a moment.

The pain centered on the right hand side of my lower back. There was a certain amount of constant pain, but on top of that it came in stabbing waves that spread out and down. It's the sort of pain you can't just ignore or put aside. It demands your attention.

I am 42 years old and up until this point in my life I had never experienced a pain that had me actually crying out and begging for it to stop. And it doesn't stop. The wave of pain goes on and on. It was pain so strong that it actually made me throw up.

I Can't Take It Any More

This was the point at which I told my wife I couldn't take any more  and we started figuring out how to get me to the ER. Which is more complicated than it sounds when you have two young kids and one of us is clearly too incapacitated to drive.

But back to the pain, because it was still getting worse. And now I was having trouble with my breathing. I was hyperventilating. The rational part of my mind knew that's what must be happening but that didn't help to control it. My breathing was too fast and too shallow to get me the oxygen I needed. My fingers started tingling and going numb.  I was still trying to walk around because that seemed to ease the pain a little, but now I was getting light headed. Walking was becoming dangerous. I threw up a second time.

Fortunately the cavalry arrived in the form of my mother in law who took charge of the boys and let us get on our way to hospital.

The pain subsided somewhat in the car, I'm not sure why exactly but it was a blessed relief and I was able to get my breathing under control again. Until the next wave came hard enough that I had to hit my hand against the door of the car in an effort to distract myself.

And then we got to walk, ever so carefully because it had just been snowing, into the ER and stand while my wife did her best to answer the questions to get me checked in. Fortunately they take reports of this sort of pain pretty seriously and I got called back to see someone in a matter of minutes.

They jumped to the kidney stone diagnosis almost instantly. Which is good because the pain wasn't letting up and I was having trouble answering questions.

My breathing was out of control again and the tingling wasn't just in my hands now but my lips as well. I felt like I was about to pass out.

The nurse said I wouldn't, and I didn't, so I guess she knows more than me. I've got to say all of the staff at the hospital were all very reassuring and nice to deal with. They got me in a bed, did all the usual stuff (blood tests, blood pressure, hooked up to an IV etc.) very quickly. Then came the interminable wait for the promised pain medication.

Almost Over

Now I don't know if this is common or not, but even when in huge amounts of pain and hyperventilating a large portion of my mind remained quite calm and functional. I was able to answer any of the questions asked and to ask my wife to send a message to my boss that I probably wasn't going to be able to log in the next morning.

I suspect this is the main reason that it wasn't until I told her I couldn't take any more that my wife took me to the hospital. Having previously told her it was gas and still being coherent and mobile, I probably underplayed the level of pain I was in. Certainly, when I described it as being "rather uncomfortable" to the two nurses they told me it was clearly more than that.

This thing even looks painful

There's a lesson there somewhere about clear communications. What can I say, I'm British, we understate.

The pain medication kicked in quickly and oh my god what a relief. I was able to get my breathing back under control and rest while they did the CAT scan and the rest of the tests, confirming that it was indeed kidney stone. A small one at only 3mm. I don't even want to think what a 1cm stone would be like.

The whole experience until I returned home lasted about 6 hours and for 3 of that I was in substantial pain.

Fortunately the body doesn't really remember pain, only echoes of it. Because I can honestly say that I have never experienced pain of that magnitude or that overwhelming before.

So the fact that I now have a 50% chance of another kidney stone within the next 5 years is a bit disturbing. I'll be looking into how to reduce that…

Related articles

Some With Kidney Stones Might Have Calcium Buildup in Blood Vessels: Study (webmd.com)
Pediatric kidney stones are on the rise (post-gazette.com)

The post Kidney Stones — Welcome to a Whole New Level of Pain appeared first on eoghann.com.