Tac Anderson's Blog, page 2

Of all the books I read this year, I would be remiss if I didn’t include my own book. Because not…

Of all the books I read this year, I would be remiss if I didn’t include my own book. Because not only did I read it, I wrote the damn thing! And I’m pretty proud of it. You can read the whole thing for free here. If you buy it, I’ll donate all proceeds to UNICEF USA.

The Man Who Killed The Man Who Killed Putin is a novelette I wrote in a Cold War, PTSD fueled state of Gen X anxiety. It takes place in the same world as my first book, Super-Borg Dies, but can be read independently as there are references to the first book, but nothing important to the plot. It’s told as a story that’s been passed down from generation to generation in an oral tradition, so it reads very conversationally. It was a lot of fun to write and I’ve received a lot of good feedback on it. I hope you’ll check it out.

Of all the books I read this year, I would be remiss if I...

Of all the books I read this year, I would be remiss if I didn’t include my own book. Because not only did I read it, I wrote the damn thing! And I’m pretty proud of it. You can read the whole thing for free here. If you buy it, I’ll donate all proceeds to UNICEF USA.

The Man Who Killed The Man Who Killed Putin is a novelette I wrote in a Cold War, PTSD fueled state of Gen X anxiety. It takes place in the same world as my first book, Super-Borg Dies, but can be read independently as there are references to the first book, but nothing important to the plot. It’s told as a story that’s been passed down from generation to generation in an oral tradition, so it reads very conversationally. It was a lot of fun to write and I’ve received a lot of good feedback on it. I hope you’ll check it out.

For my 50th birthday this last summer I didn’t want my kids to feel the need to do anything crazy…

For my 50th birthday this last summer I didn’t want my kids to feel the need to do anything crazy for my birthday so I asked them to buy me books. Specifically I asked them to buy me old used paperback versions of one of their favorite books and then to write a message in the front cover of why it was one of their favorite books.

Good Omens was the book my daughter gave me. An excerpt of her note on why this is one of her favorites is as follows:

“I like that the demon isn’t 100% bad, and the angel isn’t 100% good. Like Crowley and Aziraphale, I’ve learned that asking questions is all part of the great plan.”

I completely agree. I haven’t read this book in decades, so it was great fun getting to read it again especially after watching the series. The series is so close to the book that when you’re reading the book the differences really jump out. It was interesting to see what Neil Gaiman added or edited to make the series work as a series and a few things that were updated just because times have changed.

But above everything else I was just amazed at how well written this book was. Even the most seemingly mundane sentence was written so well. The flow, the word choices were all just perfect. I’ve read interviews where Neil Gaiman says that he and Terry Pratchett were mostly just having fun and trying to impress each other. It’s very obvious that was the case. They weren’t trying to write a hit, they were just having fun. There’s something to learn from that.

For my 50th birthday this last summer I didn’t want my ki...

For my 50th birthday this last summer I didn’t want my kids to feel the need to do anything crazy for my birthday so I asked them to buy me books. Specifically I asked them to buy me old used paperback versions of one of their favorite books and then to write a message in the front cover of why it was one of their favorite books.

Good Omens was the book my daughter gave me. An excerpt of her note on why this is one of her favorites is as follows:

“I like that the demon isn’t 100% bad, and the angel isn’t 100% good. Like Crowley and Aziraphale, I’ve learned that asking questions is all part of the great plan.”

I completely agree. I haven’t read this book in decades, so it was great fun getting to read it again especially after watching the series. The series is so close to the book that when you’re reading the book the differences really jump out. It was interesting to see what Neil Gaiman added or edited to make the series work as a series and a few things that were updated just because times have changed.

But above everything else I was just amazed at how well written this book was. Even the most seemingly mundane sentence was written so well. The flow, the word choices were all just perfect. I’ve read interviews where Neil Gaiman says that he and Terry Pratchett were mostly just having fun and trying to impress each other. It’s very obvious that was the case. They weren’t trying to write a hit, they were just having fun. There’s something to learn from that.

The Kaiju Preservation Society

The Kaiju Preservation Society

I’ve never read any John Scalzi before. He’s been on my radar for a long time and frequently comes up under recommendations based on other books I’ve read - Red Shirts is probably the one that comes up the most, which makes sense since it won a Hugo - but I just haven’t picked one of his books up yet. So when I saw The Kaiju Preservation Society come up for pre-order, I jumped on it. Not only is it about kaiju - a topic I really like and wish there were more books about - this is a cool numbered and signed first edition - something else I geek out over.

The book was written during and about the covid times, but quickly leaves that setting and moves onto kaiju. It’s a fun read, I really enjoyed it and will definitely check out other books by Scalzi.

The Kaiju Preservation Society I’ve never read any John S...

The Kaiju Preservation Society

I’ve never read any John Scalzi before. He’s been on my radar for a long time and frequently comes up under recommendations based on other books I’ve read - Red Shirts is probably the one that comes up the most, which makes sense since it won a Hugo - but I just haven’t picked one of his books up yet. So when I saw The Kaiju Preservation Society come up for pre-order, I jumped on it. Not only is it about kaiju - a topic I really like and wish there were more books about - this is a cool numbered and signed first edition - something else I geek out over.

The book was written during and about the covid times, but quickly leaves that setting and moves onto kaiju. It’s a fun read, I really enjoyed it and will definitely check out other books by Scalzi.

Nick Harkaway and John Le Carre

The Gone-Away World

I first found a paperback version of The Gone-Away World, by Nick Harkaway in 2011. I’m saddened by the fact that I don’t have that version anymore, but I must have lent that copy to someone and I really hope they’re enjoying it and passing it on to others.

I also have consoled myself by buying every version of the book that I can find. (The hardcover version in the picture above is pink on the front and is actually fuzzy. It’s amazing.) By the state of the book on the right, you can tell that this version of the book has been read multiple times. But wait Tac, you keep telling us you don’t reread books. Yes, this is largely true, but I’ve also stated that this year was a big exception to this rule - plus there are three books I have regularly made an exception to in the past: 1) The Gone-Away World, 2) Fight Club, 3) Lord of the Flies. Lord of the Flies was the first book I fell in love with. Fight Club was the book I read after college that reignited in me a love of reading.

The Gone-Away World is just crazy in all the best ways. There’s world ending weapons, Mad Max style caravans, and ninja mimes. But the best part about this book is that you can tell Nick loves writing. He loves words. I’ve read everything he’s written, even his one non-fiction. I’ve even read the books he’s written as Aiden Truhen - which are like Spy vs Spy, meets Michael Bay, meets a wood chipper.

Nick’s writing is so infectious, I decided to read his dad’s books. Oh, did I forget to mention that Nick is the son of world famous spy novelist, John le Carre? (Both le Carre and Harkaway are pseudonyms, if you were wondering.)

A Murder of Quality

A good place to start with le Carre is the Smiley novels. George Smiley is the protagonist of several of le Carre’s early books (eight in total). The best way to describe George Smiley is that he’s the anti James Bond. Where James Bond is suave, and gets all the ladies, and has all the gadgets, George Smiley is old, frumpy, his own wife left him for another man, but he’s smart and determined. And honestly, John le Carre is such a better writer than Ian Fleming. Fleming’s books do not hold up well with time, while le Carre’s do.

There’s not a lot of specific similarities to Harkaway’s writing and le Carre’s but you can see the family resemblance in something about the tone and the choice of words. Maybe I’m just imagining it because I know Nick is John’s son, but I really feel like I can tell that Nick gained his love of words from his father, and that’s going to leave some forensic residue.

Hi Tac, Love your notebook hack. Would it be possible to elaborate on your daily writing every morning and night? Do you follow Julia Cameron’s Artist Way 3 pages for morning pages? Is your nightly writing routine in addition to “Return and Receipt”? How i

My morning writing routine is creative in nature. I work on my most recent book, or write blog posts. My end of day “Return and Report” writing is reflective, more like journaling. I write about how the day went, what went well, what didn’t, and any other thoughts.

The Japanese Book, American Movie Connection

ALT

It’s hard to find many Japanese books translated into English that aren’t manga. Nothing against manga, I just wish more novels made their way over here. If you’re interested, here’s two books worth your time and one that’s not Japanese, but you’ll see why I included it here.

Bullet Train

Have you seen the movie Bullet Train yet? Great movie. Brad Pitt does an excellent job playing the unlucky (but really lucky), bumbling criminal. (Fun fact: the director, David Leitch (John Wick, Deadpool 2, Atomic Blond) was Brad Pitt’s stunt double before he became a director.) When I saw the trailer I looked up the movie and saw that it was an adaptation of a Japanese book. So before I talk more about Bullet Train, I need to talk about a book I first read in 2014 and then re-read this year (yeah, I know, for someone who said he never rereads books, I sure reread a lot this year).

All You Need Is Kill

In 2014 the movie Edge of Tomorrow came out. Interestingly, the DVD release would change the title to Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow. As in most cases, the book usually gets it right and they should have stuck with the original book title, All You Need Is Kill. What a great name. But I can see why they wouldn’t think it would work well as a major motion picture movie title.

So, in 2014 Edge of Tomorrow was released and some neighbors came back from seeing the movie (opening weekend, I think) with the above pictured book. Knowing I was interested in seeing the movie and that I was a sci-fi fan, they gave me the book. At first I thought it was one of those movie novelizations, but quickly realized it was the actually the book the movie was based on. First off, how awesome is that?

If I had one Christmas wish it would be that every time a movie was made from a book, the studio would give out free copies of the book with every opening weekend ticket. I can tell you I’d see a lot more movies in the theater if they did that.

So, I read the book and instantly fell in love with it. I went and saw the move and loved it as well. While the movie was different, I felt like they did a good job sticking to the spirit of the book. I wish the movie would have ended about 10 minutes earlier, without the Hollywood ending, so it would have been closer to the book ending, but that’s okay. I get it.

So, back to Bullet Train. I had plans with some friends to go see the movie and I quickly read the book before we went. The book was great, but there was one character, The Prince, that really bothered me. He’s this psychotic tween who manipulates everyone in the book. That’s not actually what bothers me. What I didn’t like was he’d have these long internal and external monologues about morality and how he was so much superior to everyone, and blah, blah, blah. Way too much ink was spent on these thoughts of his.

The movie didn’t have this and The Prince, gender swapped and played by Joey King, wasn’t nearly as annoying. And this is one of these rare instances where I’m going to say that the movie was better than the book. I still enjoyed the book, but the move was way more fun.

But this leads me to my third book.

Shibumi

When we first meet The Prince, she is reading a book called Shibumi. I hadn’t heard of this book, but the cover reminded me of the cover to Shogun, which I remember my dad reading when I was a kid. I quickly jotted down the name of the book and looked it up later.

Shibumi may be my favorite new book I read this year. It was definitely the most unexpected. The author of Shibumi simply goes by the name Trevanian. As it says on the cover of my book, Trevanian was the only writer of airport paperbacks to be compared to Zola, Ian Fleming, Poe, and Chaucer.

Upon researching the book and the author, I was very surprised to learn that Shibumi was a best selling book when it was released in 1979 and between 1972 and 1983 Trevanian had five books all sell over a million copies each. Having been born in 1972, its no surprise I hadn’t heard of him, but given how good the book is, and how much praise the author gets I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of him until now. But I think that’s all going to change. I think we’re about to have a small Trevanian resurgence.

The book is being adapted into a movie. The screenplay is being adapted by Matthew Orton, who wrote episode one of Moon Knight, and it’s being directed by Chad Stahelski, who has directed all three John Wick movies, as well as the upcoming fourth one. But this isn’t his first movie adaptation, he also write The Eiger Sanction in 1972, which was adapted into film in 1975 starring and directed by Clint Eastwood.

Through all the success Trevanian had no one ever knew his actual name. It was a lot easier to keep your identity hidden before the internet came along. Trevanian’s real name is Rodney William Whitaker. What’s even more fascinating to me is that Whitaker didn’t stick to one genre, even with his pen name, Travanian, he published under several different genres.

But here’s the thing that impressed me. Shibumi is satire. It’s such a subtle satire that it frustrated the author because most people didn’t get it. I have to admit when I first started reading it I thought, “wow, this is over the top 1970’s macho spy stuff.” Then after a few more pages, I thought, “that can’t be right, this is too well written.” The text isn’t subtle, but the satire is. If you want a good laugh, read the hundreds of one-star reviews on Goodreads and you’ll see just how much people miss the mark on this book.

Revisiting Favorite Book Series

ALT

I mention in my last post that I normally don’t re-read books. There are just too many books I want to read (seriously, my TBR pile is easily over 100 books). But this year I revisited several favorites. Of the 60 books I will have read this year, 16 of them were books I’ve already read. This post contains 12 of those I reread and two new books to this year.

The Rivers of London

First up, let’s talk about The Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch. This has been one of our favorite series and my wife and I eagerly await each new release. This year, book nine in the series, Amongst our Weapons was released. Yes there are nine books in the series, plus three novellas, a slew of short stories, a series of comic books, and now a role playing game from the same publisher that brought us The Call of Cthulhu. It’s probably the most popular series most people in the States don’t seem to know about. Nick Frost and Simon Pegg opted the series for TV, but that was in 2019 and then the pandemic hit, and that hasn’t gone anywhere. But I know Nick Frost his a huge fan of the series.

ALTThe Checquy Files

Like The Rivers of London, The Checquy Files (written by Daniel O'Malley) falls squarely in that urban fantasy genre and also takes place in London. Whereas The Rivers of London was, ‘If Harry Potter grew up and joined the fuzz,’ I’d describe The Checquy Files more like 'If The X-Men joined MI5.’

The Rook was turned into a short-lived series on Starz, that was originally being adapted by Stephenie Meyer (yes, the Twilight author), but she left as soon as filming started over creative differences. The series drifted pretty far from the source material, from what I understand, and was cancelled after one season.

I also find it interesting that Daniel O'Malley was born in Australia, went to college in the States (both for his undergrad and his Masters), and then moved back to Australia, but still set his book in London. I’m not sure if he ever lived in London, but having lived in London myself, I can safely say that it really lends itself to urban fantasy.

ALTMurderbot!

I love all three of these series, but The Murderbot Diaries has a special place in my heart. The main character is a non-gendered, humanoid construct, cyborg - person. Basically a brain, skin, muscle, and something that’s not blood, combined with a supercomputer and the insides of the Terminator. But it’s the most relatable human character, that’s not technically a human, you’ll ever read. Imagine someone that hates their job, is annoyed at having to deal with people and just wants to watch TV all day. That’s Murderbot.

Martha Wells is primarily a fantasy author, but I think this sci-fi series is her most highly rated. A good example of why authors should be willing to experiment.