Jim C. Hines's Blog, page 150

Loss, by Jackie Morse Kessler

Another week, another review. This time it's Jackie Morse Kessler's YA book Loss [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy]. This is the third book in her Riders of the Apocalypse series, but I picked it up without having read the others, and had no problem jumping into the story.

This is a book about Billy Ballard, a fifteen-year-old who is tricked into taking up the bow of Pestilence, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. But first he must confront the old Pestilence, also known as the Conqueror, who … well, let's just say that centuries on the job have done bad things to his sanity…

It's also a book about bullying. Because Billy is that kid. The one everybody picks on. The one who gets teased, tormented, and beat up on a regular basis. The one the teachers ignore. The one the other kids avoid so as not to become targets themselves. The one who's learned perfectly well that platitudes like, "Just ignore it" don't do a damned thing.

Billy's home life isn't much better. He lives with his mother and grandfather, where most of the energy attention goes into managing his grandfather's Alzheimer's, keeping him from wandering into the street, cleaning up after him, and dealing with verbal and physical outbursts.

The Four Horsemen aren't a new idea for fantasy. Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality was probably the first horsemen series I read. But Kessler's take is more grounded, treating both the real world and the fantastic more seriously. These are real people with real conflicts and struggles and pain.

Except for Death. He's not a real person. He's just a badass.

I only had two complaints. By the end of the book, I wanted to know more about the horsemen, about their magic and origins and purpose in the world. But this might be something that's covered in the first two books, so that could be my own problem.

Secondly … well, with a book like this, you know there's got to be some sort of resolution between the bully and the hero. Without going into detail, that resolution didn't really work for me.

Overall though, I think Kessler has done an admirable job with Loss. Billy's struggle with bullies, his dread of walking into certain classes, the way he plans out his schedule every day to give him the best chance of avoiding certain tormenters, it feels real and at times all too familiar. And I loved Pestilence's horse.

The short version: I read the book in a day and a half, and I hope to go back and read the first two.

You can read about all three books on Kessler's website.

Friday Stuff

This has been a busy week on the old blog. I've done my best to keep up, but there have been plenty of comments I wanted to respond to that I just didn't have the time. I wanted to say thank you to everyone who offered thoughts and suggestions to my werewolf brainstorming post: it's helped a lot, and is very much appreciated. Thanks also for all of the kind and thoughtful responses to The Wolves, the Pig, and the Retarded Bunny. And thank you for generally being a pretty awesome bunch of people.

I'll note that I've tweaked yesterday's tale, swapping out the word "douchebag" and fixing a repetitive word at the very end. Normally I'm reluctant to go back and change something I've already posted — some of this comes down to accountability, and taking responsibility for my writing, even when I mess up — but in this case, I think both changes made the story better, and that took priority.

A few other quick notes…

Hugo nominations end March 11. The nomination site is here. Jig the goblin discussed my eligibility here. I'm pretty sure a Worldcon-fairy has been reading my blog, because I commented about forgetting a work I had meant to include, and a few hours later, got an e-mail which said:

If you need to correct any of these nominations, please go back to https://chicon.org/hugo/nominate.php and submit a new ballot. You will only need to fill in categories that you wish to change, all other categories will be left untouched. Be sure to review your ballot and confirm so that we record the updated ballot.

So, if any of you have potato-brain like I did, you can go back and modify your nominations as needed through Sunday night.

Ask a Goblin has been going for close to a month now at http://askjig.tumblr.com/ and is up to 44 posts. I have mixed feelings about this experiment. I've had fun, but there hasn't been as much of a response as I'd hoped. Part of this is my fault, as I haven't done things like update my webpage with a sidebar link to the site or the Twitter feed. Part of it may just be my inexperience with Tumblr.

I've broadened the guidelines to say that Jig et al. will now answer questions about absolutely anything, not just advice-type queries. But as of yesterday, I've answered every question I've received. So if you want it to continue, I need more questions! (I thought about making some up, but decided that would be cheating.)

Finally, to end the week on a fun note, here's something I posted over there in between giving out bad advice, because it amuses me:

The Wolves, the Pig, and the Retarded Bunny

Once upon a time, a pig and a bunny were walking together through the woods, when up ahead they spotted a wolf in the middle of the path. The wolf was shaking his phone and growling.

"Hold my hand," said the pig. The bunny reached up and took the pig's hand.

"The company guarantees coverage everywhere," complained the wolf. "But as soon as you walk into the woods, you drop to just one bar. That's so retarded!"

The pig sighed and stopped walking. She looked down at the bunny. From the way his ears sagged, she knew he had heard.

"Would you mind not using that word?" asked the pig politely.

"What word?" the wolf demanded, holding his phone high in the air.

"'Retarded.' You see, my stepson is learning disabled, and it's hurtful when–"

"Sounds like your stepson needs to grow a thicker skin," said the wolf.

The pig clutched the bunny's hand tighter. "He came home a year ago, crying, and asked me, 'What does retarded mean, mama?' The kids tease him every day on the bus. He won't say anything in class anymore, because he's afraid of being laughed at even more."

"Tell him to stop being so sensitive," said the wolf. "You're not doing him any favors by coddling him."

"Why can't other people just stop saying hurtful things?" asked the pig.

The wolf simply growled.

The pig's shoulders sank slightly, and she walked on, leaving the wolf to his phone. It wasn't long before they encountered a second wolf. She was reading a yellow flyer posted to a tree. When she saw the pig and the bunny, she grinned and pointed.

"Look at this," she said. "These people are offering a reward for their lost dog, but they can't even spell. They're so retarded!"

The pig sighed. She looked ahead, then looked down at her stepson. The bunny was staring at the ground, but she could tell by the set of his ears that he had heard.

"Would you mind not using that word?" asked the pig.

"What word?" the wolf demanded, ripping the flyer off the tree.

"'Retarded.' You see, my stepson is learning disabled, and it's hurtful when people use that word in such a derogatory way."

"I see," said the wolf. "Please educate me so that I can decide whether or not to stop using this word that hurts you and your stepson."

The pig's shoulders slumped a little more, but she looked up at the wolf and did her best. For the next hour, while the bunny played in the dirt, she talked about the challenges her stepson had faced. She talked about how hard it was to get people to treat her stepson with respect, how society treated the mentally challenged as a joke, as stupid or defective.

"I see," said the wolf. "But don't we all have challenges? Don't we all have someone who refuses to respect us? Don't we all get laughed at sometimes? You might be surprised to know that I have a very good friend who's a bunny, and she uses the word 'retarded' all the time."

"What does it cost you to use a different word?" asked the pig.

"Nothing," said the wolf. "But you have failed to adequately educate me, so I will continue to use the word that hurts you and your stepson."

The pig took the bunny's hand, and they walked on, leaving the wolf to laugh at the flyer.

They were almost home when they spotted a third wolf. This wolf was reading a book and laughing. "Oh my goodness," he said, glancing up. "The grown-ups in this book are so retarded!"

The pig sighed and stopped walking. She looked down at the bunny. His ears were now completely flat on his back.

"I'd appreciate it if you'd stop using that word," said the pig.

"What word?" the wolf demanded, slipping a leaf into the pages to mark his place.

"'Retarded.' You see–"

"You can't tell me what to say. I have freedom of speech!"

"I understand that," said the pig. "But I'm trying to tell you that you're hurting people by using that word."

"It doesn't hurt me, and I can say whatever I want! If you don't like it, you should go back to pig country."

The pig looked at the bunny, who was staring at the dirt. She looked at the wolf, who towered over them both. She looked past the wolf, to where the path emerged from the woods into a field.

The pig took a deep breath and said, "Mister wolf, I understand what you're saying, but you are hurting my stepson, and you are hurting me. Mister wolf, you are a jackass."

The wolf bared his teeth. "You can't say that to me!"

"I thought we had freedom of speech," said the pig.

One of the wolf's ears flicked backward. "Well, you'll never convince people to do what you want by calling them names."

"So how should I convince them?" the pig asked. She waited, but the wolf didn't answer. He opened his book and continued to read.

The pig looked at her stepson. Her shoulders slumped lower. Holding the bunny's hand tightly, she walked on.

When they reached the edge of the field, the bunny looked up and said, "Mama?"

The pig scooped the bunny into her arms and hugged him, hoping he wouldn't see the tears in her eyes. "What is it, sweetheart?"

"I love you."

For a long time, the pig merely stood there, holding her stepson. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve. Slowly, she straightened her shoulders. She kissed the bunny on the head and pet his ears. "I love you too."

Six SFWA Candidates and One Facepalm

My ballot for the 2012 SFWA Officer Election showed up this week. Some of the decisions are pretty straightforward. John Scalzi is running unopposed for President, and overall I'm fairly happy with the work he's done for the organization. Bud Sparhawk is also running unopposed for Treasurer. He's got experience and a reasonable platform I can support.

There are two candidates for Secretary: Michael Burstein and Ann Leckie. I haven't yet made up my mind here.

And then there are the Vice-President candidates, Rachel Swirsky and Lou Antonelli.

The platforms of the various candidates are posted in the SFWA Forums (you have to be a member to log in and read them). Let me say up front that I appreciate anyone's willingness to step up and volunteer for a tremendous amount of work, work that can be difficult, time-consuming, and often thankless.

With that said, I'd like to publicly support Rachel Swirsky for VP.

Both Swirsky and Antonelli bring impressive resumes. While I was leaning toward voting for Swirsky already, what solidified my decision tonight was an exchange in Antonelli's blog where he had posted his platform. Author Nisi Shawl expressed being offended by his use of the phrase "Canine-Americans" to describe his dogs. Antonelli responded by calling her concerns esoteric, politically correct bullshit, and saying she takes herself way too seriously.

I'm not posting this with the intention of dropping the internet on Antonelli's blog. But … well, I guess I take stuff way too seriously too.

To start with, I get really sick of white folks lecturing people of color on what they should and shouldn't take offense to when it comes to issues of race and ethnicity. If you don't get it, that's one thing. I don't believe there's any shame in saying "I don't understand."

But this is a condescending, insulting, and flat-out shitty way to respond when someone calls you on something.

I get that it's hard. I've been called out on stuff before too. Sometimes I've agreed, sometimes I haven't understood, and sometimes I've thought about it and decided I didn't agree. None of those responses require you to disrespect or insult the other person.

More to the point, whether you agree with someone or not, this is an utterly unacceptable way for a potential officer in an organization to respond to the concerns of a member.

ETA: a link to Shawl accepting Antonelli's apology.

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Follow-up: I'm angry right now, which is a dangerous time to blog. I've tried to lay out my concerns clearly, without getting into personal attacks or name-calling. If I've screwed that up, I reserve the right to come back and tack on an addendum, though I'll leave the original post as is.

Fairy FBI Agent and Random Werewolves

Our house continues to be somewhat of a plague house, which means I'm still a little behind on blogging, e-mail, and everything else. I blame Jackie Kessler. I was reading her book about Pestilence, and voila — everyone gets the sick.

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Anyway, today is the release of The Modern Fae's Guide to Surviving Humanity [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy] edited by Joshua Palmatier and Patricia Bray. It contains my story "Corrupted," about a fae FBI agent and how far she'll go to stop her murderous kin.

I read this at ConFusion, and it was strange … the story has a fair amount of action and some humorous bits, like most of my work. But at the end, I actually choked up a little while I was reading. That doesn't usually happen when I read my own stuff.

I was rather pleased. I mean, I would have been pleased, if not for the fact that it made me stumble while I was trying to be Mister smooth and professional author guy doing a reading…

The book also includes work by Kristine Smith, Seanan McGuire, Jay Lake, Elizabeth Bear, Anton Strout, and more.

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With Libriomancer [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy], I played around with a variety of vampires. I've got pre-Stoker vampires, modern urban fantasy vamps, even a few sparklers.

For the sequel, I've introduced a pack of Yooper1 werewolves. Since I rather enjoy playing with and subverting expectations and tropes, I wanted to open up a chat about werewolves, talking about things like:

Do you like them? Hate them? Why?
What werewolf cliches have you seen way too often?
What's your favorite werewolf myth or belief?
Who do you think writes the best werewolf fiction? What about the best films?
What makes werewolves cooler than vampires? (Or vice versa.)

Because what fun is having a blog if you can't occasionally tap into that big old group brain?

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From Michigan's Upper Peninsula ↩

More Books: Foglio, Broaddus, and Korogodski

I have three books to talk about today, starting with the Girl Genius omnibus from Tor: Agatha Awakens [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy] by Phil and Kaja Foglio.

So here's the thing. Girl Genius is a Hugo-winning webcomic, and the entire archive is available online. And I've tried several times to read it … and was never able to get into it. However, when Tor's review copy showed up in the mail, I devoured the entire book in a day and a half.

I think the full-color artwork, with all its detail, was just too much for me to read online. But when packaged in such a gorgeous hardcover book, it all works. It's a fun steampunk adventure with kick-butt men and women, an interesting world, and a pretty fast-moving plot. I could have done without quite as much Agatha-in-her-underwear in the beginning, but it didn't feel overly gratuitous.

The book starts with the very first strip, presenting Agatha's origin as a failed student who lacks the "spark" that allows her to invent and create … or does she? (Really obvious spoiler alert: yeah, she's got the spark, and she soon creates some kick-ass stuff.)

You learn a lot in those packed panels, and the book ends in a good spot: with some closure, but leaving you hungry to find out what comes next. Thank you Tor for shooting this one my way!

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Next up is King Maker [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy] by Maurice Broaddus. The official summary states:

The King Arthur myth gets dramatically retold through the eyes of street hustler King, as he tries to unite the crack dealers, gangbangers and the monsters lurking within them to do the right thing. From the drug gangs of downtown Indianapolis, the one true king will arise. Broaddus' debut is a stunning, edgy work, genuinely unlike anything you've ever read.

I stopped reading this one after chapter four. Not because it was bad, and not because of any problem with the writing — Broaddus is a very good writer — but because it wasn't the kind of book I wanted to read. There's a scene where a snitch is tortured and then killed in front of her children. That's the point where I set the book down and didn't pick it back up.

There are things I liked about what I read. I liked King James White's character a lot, and wanted to see him evolve into the Arthur character. Merle and his pet squirrel provide some great humor. But in the end, I couldn't enjoy what I was reading.

If you're into a grittier modern-day retelling of the Camelot myth and you've got a higher tolerance for violence than I do, I'd recommend checking it out. There's a sample chapter on the Angry Robot site.

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Finally, I want to talk about Pink Noise [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy] by Leonid Korogodski.

Let me start by saying the physical book is gorgeous. Hardcover with glossy pages, internal black and white illustrations by Guddah, a pink bookmark ribbon, pink dropcaps at the start of each section … a lot of time and care went into designing this book. (This is also reflected in the price: $25 for a 190 page hardcover. However, it's also available as an e-book for around $5.)

Like King Maker, this is a book that takes me outside of what I usually read. It's post-singularity science fiction about a posthuman brain doctor named Nathi who's brought in to save a comatose girl on Mars, which he does by essentially splicing his own mind into her brain. In her, he discovers his own enslavement and a chance at freedom.

Because I'm not well-read in this kind of fiction, I don't know that I have the vocabulary to really talk about it. And I'm sure there were things I missed.

It took me a few chapters to really get into the story, but once I did, I found it fascinating. Korogodski has done a great deal of research, and he creates a convincing world of virtual beings and warfare. The worldbuilding is incredibly rich, and there were plenty of, "Hey, that's so cool!" moments, which is one of the things I read SF for.

At the end, there are about 60 pages of Korogodski's notes and references.

You can read a sample at his website.

Hello there, Friday…

My son has been sick this week, so it's all been a bit of a blur of schedule-juggling and trying to keep him quiet and resting (because when the medicine kicks in, he feels better, so he promptly runs around … which stirs up the asthma/congestion nastiness). On the upside, I've now watched approximately six trillion episodes of the Wild Kratts, and can tell you how an owl's fringed feathers allow it to swoop down silently, or how the basilisk lizard's toes are fringed to help it run across water.

Yeah, fringe is in these days.

So anyway, all I've got this morning are some links.

Patrick Stewart talks about growing up with an abusive father and the dangers of slashing support to domestic violence shelters and services.

"My mother had no escape route. There were no refuges she could run to; no helplines to call; no advocates to speak out for her. No one came to help, even though everyone knew what was happening behind our closed doors. The small houses in our road were close together, and every Monday morning I walked to school with a bowed head, praying that I wouldn't run into a neighbour who had heard the weekend's rows."

China Mieville on what is and isn't "censorship."

"Indeed, an astoundingly small proportion of arguments 'for free speech' & 'against censorship' or 'banning' are, in fact, about free speech, censorship or banning. It is depressing to have to point out, yet again, that there is a distinction between having the legal right to say something & having the moral right not to be held accountable for what you say."

Finally, a collection of LEGO optical illusions, by Brixe63.

Big Bang Theory

I started watching The Big Bang theory because of Wil Wheaton. When I read that he had a recurring guest spot as Evil Wil Wheaton, I got curious. I think the "Bowling Supervillain" one was my first episode.

There's a fair amount I like about the show. I enjoy seeing smart characters in central roles, roles that try to go beyond the standard sidekick bit of "Smart, wimpy kid gets bullied and maybe helps the real hero." I like the SF/F references and guest stars. (I'll watch just about any show that brings in George Takei.) I like the experiments, like non-Newtonian fluid dancing on plastic wrap over a speaker.

But the more I watch, the more certain things bother me…

The Inhaler - How do you demonstrate that a character's a nerd? Give them an inhaler! Because as the writers know, asthma is a genetically nerd-linked disorder. Dumbasses. (To quote Leslie Winkle…)

Speech Impairments are Funny! - Another lazy nerd stereotype/cliche. But hey, at least it's okay to laugh at Kripke's speech troubles, because he's not a very nice guy, see? His iPhone 4s doesn't understand him, LOL! Tune in for the next episode, when someone in a wheelchair is mean, so everyone turns around and says, "Ha ha, you can't walk!"

The Sexism - Let me make this as clear as I can. Social ineptitude does not equal, justify, or excuse sexual harassment. One of the worst examples, which came up in a discussion with some other authors a while back, would be Howard. Especially in the beginning, he was slime, oozing over every female he saw. Boundaries? What are those, except obstacles to be overcome? When Pennie finally told him off, Howard's friends came together and made her apologize for hurting the poor creeper's feelings.

The Fat Jokes - Howard's mother is fat. Isn't that hilarious? I wonder how many TV writers would be out of a job if society ever decided it wasn't okay to treat heavy people like shit.

Racial Issues - I guess you could argue that the show is making a statement about higher education being dominated by white folks, but I think you'd be giving them too much credit. We do get get Raj, who's Indian … and therefore must joke about the untouchables back home, or have his accent mocked by Howard (the person on the phone can't tell the difference between Raj and Howard doing a bad Indian accent).

The Hick Jokes - Sheldon's mom lives in Texas, where everyone's an ignorant Bible-thumper! Pennie's from Nebraska, land of dumb farm girls!

Having now seen most of the show's run, some of these problems were present from the beginning. But I feel like as it progressed, it's been losing the things I actually enjoyed. We see less and less of … well, of anyone actually being smart. With the exception of the current Howard The Astronaut subplot, we see almost nothing of anyone's jobs anymore. When was the last time the whiteboard came out, or they bounced a laser off the moon?

It feels like, as the show became more popular, it's been co-opted. The focus has shifted more toward generic sitcom territory. I can imagine the marketing meetings.

"We need to expand our audience! Cut back on the science jokes and the geek bits, and double the sex stuff."

"We introduced Amy as a foil to Sheldon, socially cold but brilliant. Since she's a chick, let's rewrite her to focus on important things like getting a boyfriend and learning to be popular. Throw in some lesbian innuendo too. Guys love that."

"You remember Ross and Rachel's on-again, off-again relationship from Friends? That wasn't at all like beating a dead horse, resurrecting it as a zombie, then beating the undead horse for another six seasons. We should totally do that!"

No show is perfect, but this one is losing (or has lost) the elements that drew me in, and is pushing things that make me change the channel.

Discussion is welcome. However, if your comment includes the following, please don't bother:

Any variation of the phrase "political correctness."
The words "overreacting" or "oversensitive."
An attempt to argue that other shows are worse, as if this in any way invalidates a critique of this one.

Fame and Fanboy Fails…

MythBusters is coming to East Lansing next month!

When my wife was looking at tickets, she noticed that for an additional dungload of money, you could get into a backstage reception with Adam and Jamie.

My initial reaction was a kind of dignified Kermit flail. Of course I want to meet the MythBusters!!! Then I stopped to ask myself why I wanted to meet them. I mean, it would be nice to be able to say how much I enjoy their show, but why would introverted me want to cram into a room full of strangers, all trying to get a few minutes of Adam and Jamie's time? What is it I really think is going to happen?

[image error]

Yeah, probably not.

I bumped into Neil Gaiman at an event five years or so back, and blurted out something like, "Hi, I'm flarglsnuffpumps. Glablestib Neil Gaiman!!! Bububububbb." I might have also peed myself a little. He gave me a polite nod and promptly fled. I retreated to the nearest room, which I dubbed my Broom Closet of Shame, and didn't come out until it was time to go home.

Okay, maybe it wasn't quite that bad, but I suffered a definite verbal and mental derail.

Why? Gaiman is a very successful author, but so what? He's a guy who writes highly popular books and comics. I've met hundreds of other authors. Why was this any different?

Since then, I've been on the receiving end a few times. Sometimes it's online: a Twitter comment like, "OMG, @jimchines answered me!!! BEST DAY EVER!" Once it was a flying hugsquee as I stepped off the elevator and someone saw my nametag. It's flattering and good for my ego, but each time, I end up feeling a little baffled. I'm just a geeky 37-year-old guy who writes books, cracks the occasional fart joke, and spends too much time online.

I've become friends with some pretty well-known authors over the years, including New York Times bestsellers and folks who've won pretty much every SF/F award out there. When I see them at conventions, I don't think, "Yay, I get to hang out with Famous Big Name Author!" They're just friends, people I haven't seen in a while who happen to write great books.

That's the disconnect.

[image error]When we think of Famous People, we're generally not thinking about people. We're thinking about the idea of those people, our mental constructs of the people who gave us a favorite show, movie, song, book, or whatever. Everything we love about their work gets imbued into this glowing icon of awesomeness.

This can be … problematic. The brain shorts out when trying to reconcile that construct with the real person standing in front of us. I feel bad for Gaiman, and I wish I could apologize for adding an uncomfortable interaction to his weekend.

And then you get people who start to feel a sense of ownership, which can lead to truly vile outpourings when and if their celebrity does something they disapprove of…

I think I've got it mostly sorted out in my head. I think about Fandom Fest, where I'll be a guest of honor alongside folks like Bruce Campbell and James Marsters, and I'm fairly sure I won't spontaneously wet myself when and if I bump into them. I'm hopeful that I could meet them, shake their hands, and simply tell them how much I've enjoyed their work.

We ended up passing on the MythBusters reception tickets. Much as I love and appreciate their show, I'm still an introvert, and I don't generally like trying to mingle through a room full of strangers. So we'll just go and see them do some experiments on stage, and that should be a lot of fun.

Fame is weird. It creates bizarrely obsessive and possessive dynamics. It's a barrier, even as it builds an illusion of familiarity. (If you don't understand how it's a barrier, imagine Gaiman at a con, trying to hang out at the bar and chat with other writers…)

There are times that my very low-level "celebrity" as a fantasy author has been a lot of fun. But overall, I'm very happy to not have to deal with rock star levels of fame.

The Princess Curse and Collect All 21

It's two-for-one bookchat time, starting with The Princess Curse [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy] by Merrie Haskell. Just as I was wrapping up my princess series, Mer came along with her YA retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses. I guess it's a rule now: there must always be one Michigan author writing fairy tale retellings. Makes me wonder who she'll pass the tiara to when she moves on to something new.

Anyway, the story is set in the fifteenth century in the fictional Romanian kingdom of Sylvania. Reveka is an apprentice herbalist, though thanks to her studies, she's as skilled and knowledgeable as her master, if not moreso. She's determined to break the curse on the twelve princesses and use the reward money to gain a position as an herbalist for an entire abbey.

For those unfamiliar with the fairy tale, the twelve princesses disappear every night, returning in the morning exhausted, their shoes worn to tatters. All who try to watch and see where they go fall asleep. In Haskell's version, it's a sleep from which they never awake, a coma which eventually leads to death.

This is basically a two-act book. In the first half, we follow Reveka's investigation into the curse, an investigation which grows more urgent as people she knows and cares for fall into the cursed sleep, and neighboring kingdoms prepare for war upon Sylvania. Act two takes on a more mythological and otherworldly feel … and that's about all I can say without spoiling things.

The Princess Curse is a fast read. At times, some of the complexities of the warring kingdoms and such felt a bit rushed, and I occasionally lost track of secondary characters (it's hard to keep track of twelve princesses, let alone everyone else). I suspect this was in part due to its being written for a YA audience.

I like Reveka a lot, and not just because Reveka could totally be a goblin name. She's smart, determined, impulsive, and very human. Her study of herbalism and the way she applies her knowledge to various problems adds a lot to the story. She is in many ways a scientist in a fantastic world. I approve

So if anyone here is into fairy tale retellings with smart, independent heroines, I'd suggest heading over to Harper Collins to check out the first three chapters.

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John Booth sent me a copy of his book Collect All 21! Memoirs of a Star Wars Geek [Amazon | B&N] a few weeks back. This is a fairly short book, available both in print and electronic form, which basically talks about Booth's history with Star Wars: the movies, the toys, the interactions with friends and family, and so on.

I suspect Booth and I are roughly the same age, and his stories stirred some nostalgic memories as I read. I found myself thinking back to the original Star Wars Luke Skywalker figure I owned, with the yellow lightsaber that promptly lost its skinny tip. Then when Empire came out, Luke came with a detachable lightsaber and a gun instead of the lightsaber that slid up into his arm, and that was THE MOST AWESOME THING IN THE WORLD!

I wasn't as obsessive a collector as Booth, but the book was a nice trip back to childhood, with a few rather touching memories.

The only bit that didn't work for me was "The Dark Times," a story that felt more about a dysfunctional romantic relationship than Star Wars.

Overall, a quick, light, but fun read, one that made me wish I still had my Large Size Boba Fett Action Figure. Man, that was the coolest toy ever. And he'd be just the right size to hang out with my Optimus Prime…

Details and an excerpt are available here.