Beth Tabler's Blog, page 195

Review – Ghost of Tsushima

This game is a mixture of ahistorical “cool” and surprisingly accurate details.

GHOST OF TSUSHIMA is a samurai open world game by the delightful people at Sucker Punch media who should be making a fourth InFamous game but decided to make this instead. Because the game is 90% fantastic, I’m going to forgive them for this. However, they really need to get on that since InFamous was a major influence on the Supervillainy Saga and part of the reason Gary is a guy in a hoodie who has an eternal battle with his alternate older cynical self. I mean, uh, I took nothing from those games.

The premise is that you are Jin Sakai, a samurai who is nephew of the tiny island’s Jito (AKA Lord). The Mongols are invading the island during the first invasion of 1274 AD and that’s never a good thing. Historically, the islanders held off the Mongols for a day with their knowledge of the terrain and incredible archery skills, but Lord Shimura is an idiot compared to the real-life So Sukekuni and charges into battle straight away. Mind you, historically So Sukekuni had eighty men and the Mongols had eight thousand so neither of them were ever going to win.

Unlike history, there’s a couple of survivors of the battle and one of them is Jin Sakai. Jin Sakai is nursed back to health by a beautiful thief named Yuna. Yuna thinks Jin can help her and her brother Taka get off the now-conquered island but her use of stealth as well as “dishonorable” tactics is a way to possibly fight against the Mongols. What follows is Jin eventually developing into a proto-shinobi (actual ninja not existing until the 15th century) who begins a reign of terror against the 8000 or so Mongols present.

This game is a mixture of ahistorical “cool” and surprisingly accurate details. Speaking as a guy with his degree in Asian history, I could tell you that katanas weren’t invented yet (and were in fact created as a way to fight Mongols), that “honor” certainly didn’t exist like it was described in this game, that the Mongols swiftly moved from Tsushima to Iki Island then the mainland, and Kublai Khan led the Mongol invasion of Japan rather than the fictional Kotun Khan. I’m not going to because I am not a relentless killjoy.

Indeed, Ghost of Tsushima is a game that is dripping with accurate historical details and fascinating insights into the culture of both Medieval Japan as well as the Mongol Empire. After the treatment of the Dothraki in Game of Thrones, it’s nice to have a game that remembers they were the most technologically advanced society in the world for centuries as well as an incredibly efficient empire that seemed unstoppable.

Khotun Khan may not be the most nuanced character but he’s an effective villain as well as an intelligent one. He’s not needlessly sadistic, he’s very needfully sadistic. What horrors he inflicts are only on those who resist and if you surrender without a fight, you are spared–something pride doesn’t let the majority of people agree to. I also very much enjoyed Jin’s conflict with his friend, Ryuzo, who points out that even if they manage to raise an army–it will be used as cannon fodder by his uncle’s questionable leadership.

But how does the game play? Basically, it’s Assassins Creed: Samurai Edition with all the good and bad that implies. It’s also more like the “classic” Assassins Creed games versus the new Witcher 3-like ones. You can do a lot of sword-fighting, yes, but the game gradually makes it harder and harder to do so until you are encouraged to make use of your ninja arsenal of throwing knives, fireworks, smoke bombs, and stealth skills. There’s also a dueling system that is immensely fun, but you can get annoyed when you suddenly lack access to all your toys. I would have loved duels where I could throw smoke bombs or knives.

Unfortunately, the game starts to get a bit tedious if you’re a completitionist around the second Island I actually put it down for a few months until I was ready to resume the grind of Mongol slaughter, fox chasing, and running around the map for collectibles. This is probably a game you might want to just do the story missions for and hope you’re properly kitted out for the final confrontations. Still, it is absolutely beautiful on every conceivable level, and I would often stop to stare at the fantastic art on display.

Ghost of Tsushima: Iki Island DLC

Deserving of its own spot in this review is the Iki Island expansion that comes with the Director’s Cut of the game. It adds a second island (and fourth zone) to the game in the titular island. Iki was the location of the second part of the Mongol Invasion and is a good location to continue the story from despite the fact it bears little resemblance to the real-life location. Basically, Iki Island is Mos Eisley or the Japanese Tortuga (The Pirates of the Caribbean one). It is an island almost universally inhabited by pirates, raiders, and smugglers.

While technically playable after you reach the second zone of Tsushima, the truth is this is much better played as endgame content when you have finished off Khotun Khan and his forces. The enemy types are much more varied and there’s a significant difficulty spike. Technically, it’s just more Ghost of Tsushima but there’s a few notable additions like the addition of saddlebags and horse charging mechanics.

Iki Island has been invaded by the Mongols but this group of them is hyper-religious and into cult brainwashing as well as using drugs to drive individuals mad instead of straight up murder. It’s basically the Seed family from Far Cry 5. Their leader, the Eagle, is a shamaness who preys upon Jin’s daddy issues and PTSD from witnessing his father murdered in front of him. Jin finds himself poisoned early on and has to deal with the resulting hallucinations that, again, feel a bit more Far Cry than Ghost of Tsushima.

Much of the island’s story content deals with the invasion of Iki Island by Jin’s father twenty-years earlier that has some odd comparisons to the War on Terror. After dealing with numerous pirate raids, the samurai come to Iki island to establish order and root out the undesirable element. However, the locals get caught up in the attack and radicalized due to the samurai’s heavy-handed tactics. Personally, I think it’s a poor comparison and I kind of wish Jin could wipe out the pirates rather than focus on teaming up with them against the Mongols. Still, great storytelling and I think the emotional beats are stronger than in the main game.

Iki Island is exceptionally well-designed and every bit as beautiful as the main game with its own unique personality. The locals are kind of a bunch of scumbags, even the non-pirate ones, but that just underscores the DLC’s themes. Jin wants to defeat the Mongols and is willing to ally with everyone here but has a limit to how much he’s willing to let the locals shittalk his dad. I especially liked the character of Tenzo who thinks Jin is fooling himself with all his honor and nobility crap.

If I had a single complaint, it would be that the villain, the Eagle, is even weaker than Khotun Khan. She’s basically an evil witch and one-dimensional in her attempts to recruit Jin Sakai to her cause despite the fact hes’ carving up her tribe one Mongol at a time. We don’t even know what her goals are since she doesn’t seem to answer to Kublai Khan. Still, this is a small complaint for an overall excellent emotional ending to Jin’s journey.

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SIX ELEMENTALS AUTHOR INTERVIEW – LUCIEN TELFORD

Six Elementals Author Interviews will introduce prospective readers to some of the best writers in their genre you may, or may not, have heard of, via a series of six questions. I encourage you to check out the work of these phenomenal creatives! Links to their websites and purchase links will always appear, accompanying the interview. Check them out!

I am very happy, because the amazing sci-fi author Lucien Telford joins me today, on Six Elementals Interviews! Lucien’s published work is: The Sequence.       

P.L.: Thank you so much for interviewing with me, Lucien! I loved your novel, The Sequence, and one of the things I loved most about it was the gorgeous prose! You do not write like a debut novelist, but rather a savvy, polished veteran author, in my opinion! What is your writing background? How long have you been writing, and what inspired you to write a novel?   

Lucien: My writing background is embarrassingly limited. With the exception of some childhood comics that I wrote and illustrated, and some collaborative lyrical writing with my band (Baked Goods) back in the 90’s, my writing background has exclusively consisted of course work during the creative writing classes I’ve enrolled in over the last five years. Those classes were all taken online, via edX, UBC, Coursera, and SFU’s creative writing program.

My inspiration to write a  novel came from so many directions, I feel like we could do an entire interview just answering this one question! I would say largely it was that I saw a gap in modern science/speculative fiction that I very much wanted to read, so I wrote it!

I was asked recently what my inspiration for the book was while eating in a restaurant (and signing multiple copies of my book for family), and my response was, “well, my life.” I’ve lived several wildly different lives, and being able to draw from the rich tapestry of those experiences and then fictionalize and amalgamate them into settings, characters, and personalities of people I’ve known and places I’ve lived, I feel has brought a unique and tangible reality to my work.
 
P.L.: Your obvious talent proves that formal training in writing can be an asset but is not a requirement to be a great writer! Some of the world’s famous writers had no such training! There are some very compelling themes in your novel, and one of them involves the editing of human genes. I can imagine this topic must inspire a lot of debate amongst your readers, and possibly a lot of controversy. What made you touch upon this subject in The Sequence? What have your readers and reviewers of your book been saying about this aspect of The Sequence? What are some of your own thoughts about the subject?    

Lucien:  To discuss the genesis of how and why I chose to touch upon genetic editing would give away my favourite piece and surprise ending of the book (and you know what I’m talking about P.L. because you’ve read it – lol) but as I researched and investigated further into the possibilities that exist using just  today’s  available technology in the field of genetic scissoring using CRISPR-Cas9, I was both astounded and horrified that no governing body had, at the time, considered the ethical challenges that lay ahead of us as a species. We will, in the very near future be regularly editing the human genome, and the implications of germline editing, which means hereditable and permanent changes, will have evolutionary ramifications to humanity.

As for reader responses, reviews are slowly trickling in as the book has only been available since August this year, however the reactions to the genetic possibilities I ’ve written about in our near future have been surprisingly and consistently that the readers are horrified at what could be a very real possibility within our lifetime. It’s a subject not really in the minds of the masses and yet genetic changes are revolutionizing medicine at an alarming rate, without any due consideration to what long-term ramifications these changes will have.

Think climate change but for human evolution. We continue to alter the environment knowing we are making permanent and irreversible transformations.

P.L.: There is so much food for thought in the human evolution angle. But your book is much more than an exploration of that topic. I found The Sequence has so many layers to the book. It is part sci-fi, part-detective novel, part thriller, and much more. Is it difficult to write such a multi-faceted novel that somewhat blends genres?  

Lucien:  Short answer, YES! But from the very beginning I wanted to write a cross-genre novel, and I believe it’s the future of storytelling. Template-fiction has an audience without a doubt, and I follow the classic three act structure which one could argue is a template of sorts. But why limit ourselves to one genre? Isn’t it exciting to watch a movie like Blade Runner that combines science fiction with a hard-boiled detective plot? Or Star Wars, combining Science Fantasy and “Chanbara” (sword fighting movies). These are some of the most epic stories of our time and they successfully crossed multiple genres. I hope to accomplish the same!

P.L.: In my opinion, your story is definitely epic, so you have accomplished that! Who are some of your favourite sci-fi writers? 

Lucien: My favourite author by a very long way is William Gibson. His work is the inspiration for so much of my writing. His style, his worlds, his characters, and his beautiful prose are the reason I write the way I do. Hunter S. Thompson for his brilliance and unique viewpoint on the world (I have a first edition of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.) Larry Niven for writing Ringworld, Frederik Pohl for the Heechee Saga. These writers and their works shaped my imagination from a young age right up until this very minute. Other notables include Philip K. Dick, Margaret Atwood, Tolkien, the list is long but these names in particular have helped me become the writer I am today. 

P.L.: You have noted some real powerhouses! There are some thrilling action sequences in your book, and your background and knowledge as a pilot is obviously on display. Being a pilot is a thrilling and challenging job. But which is more difficult, flying a plane, or writing a book? How do you compare the challenges to each role?  

Lucien:  I would suggest that after thirty years of flying aircraft, and twenty plus years operating several different types of Boeing airliners, that flying an airplane has become second nature to me, whilst writing is a relatively new adventure. So in the same way that an inexperienced pilot will make many mistakes, and hopefully learn from them, I am finding similar challenges with writing. So armed with new knowledge, I’m hoping each novel I create will be better than the last.

Both disciplines however, require an incredible amount of homework to be successful. And much like watching a pilot fly an aircraft on a gin-clear day when everything is going well may look easy, a beautifully written book will elicit a similar response. However that pilot has studied their entire career, every six months we are trained then tested in full motion simulators to respond to multiple emergencies. With each test our licenses and jobs are on the line, so that when we go flying, our passengers ’ lives are not.

The published book we all hold in our hands is no different. The small visible tip of the iceberg is what we read. The years of research and rewriting and editing and study are not visible to the reader, but the end result is the same and always worth the effort.

P.L.: A man of many talents, including flying and writing! What projects do you currently have on the go? What can readers expect next from Lucien Telford?

Lucien:  I’m currently working on the first draft of the sequel to The Sequence, entitled False Ignition. I have listened to my readers, and have given much more attention to the recurring and new characters’ reasons for why they are who they are. I’m excited to be writing it and I really do believe this book will blow the reader’s mind.

Beyond that I ’ve been outlining very generally the rest of the quadrilogy, and how I intend to weave together all these characters’ lives and technologies like the double helix of our DNA’s genetic sequence into a blockbuster series ending that I hope will generate some very complex, difficult and pertinent questions to our exponentially increasing quantity of emergent technologies.

Look for the  Emergent Saga  with the release of  False Ignition,  hopefully in late 2022.

P.L.: I am eagerly awaiting your next book, and all your future works! It was a real pleasure to speak to you today Lucien! Thank you so much for interviewing with me!   

Lucien: Thank you for this opportunity P.L., it’s always a pleasure and I’m looking forward to seeing and chatting with you soon!
 

Twitter: @lucientelford
Instagram: @lucientelford
Webpage: lucientelfordbooks

Check Out Lucien Telford’s Book The Sequence

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Ten Recommended Classic Dungeons and Dragons Novels

I have to admit that Dungeons and Dragons is where I got my start in fantasy. Aside from The Hobbit when I was a small child, my first real experience was the worn paperbacks I picked up in my school library of Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, and Ravenloft. However, for every awesome work of fantasy, there’s going to be five that aren’t up to snuff.

These are some of my favorite books from the TSR/WOTC era of novels and what I enjoyed most among them. There’s some other fantastic novels other than these but I don’t want to recommend a hundred of them.

1. Homeland by R.A. Salvatore (Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt)

RA Salvatore is one of the most successful fantasy authors of all time with over fifteen million copies of his books sold. The Homeland Trilogy is, for me, the best of his works. Setting in the underground city of Menzoberranzan, the dark elf race is a theocratic and sexist fascist state that practices racial supremacy as well as worship of the demon princess Lolth. In this horrific environment, a young drow boy named Drizzt Do’Urden is born.

Drizzt is, to turn a phrase, “Not like other drow” and suffers from the pangs of conscience. Struggling to articulate why he does not feel ruthlessness and power-lust are the ways to live, he wishes to find something better but finds no other dark elves who feel like him. It’s a fascinating and well-done work that ranks among not just the best of D&D fiction but fantasy in general. Or maybe I’m just remembering it fondly because it was the best thing ever when I was fourteen. Maybe both.

Needless to say, if you read this trilogy and like it, you have about thirty other books starring Drizzt to read thereafter. RA Salvatore is a writing beast and they’re a steady meal that I have enjoyed for decades.

 

2. Elfshadow by Elaine Cunningham (Forgotten Realms, Song and Swords)

The Drizzt Do’Urden books are fascinating tales about a ranger dealing with racism on the surface as well as the philosophy underscoring life, the universe, and everything. Unfortunately, the metaphor of Drizzt Do’Urden for oppressed minorities breaks down since his people are the equivalent of Nazis.

Elfshadow deals with the metaphor of racial bias in Dungeons and Dragons in a more successful way by making the subject Arilyn Moonblade, half-elf. Arilyn is a Harper, sort of a secret service for adventurers, and the reluctant wielder of the Moonblade. The Moonblade is a sacred elvish relic designed to protect their species from its many enemies. The relic kills anyone who isn’t worthy but a lot of elves take it personally the gods think Arilyn is.

Arilyn isn’t an elvish nationalist and can barely stand her people at times. She’s also attracted to a human wizard (who acts like a bard) named Danillo Than. It’s a rocky-rocky road for Arilyn and no one can say which side of her heritage she’ll end up pursuing–or if she needs to make a choice at all.

 

3. Azure Bonds by Kate Novac and Jeff Grubb (Forgotten Realms, The Finders Stone Trilogy)

One of the early successes of the Forgotten Realms, Alias is a woman who wakes up with no memory of her past and a magical tattoo. Describing more of the plot would potentially spoil it but it is an odd collection of weirdos that slowly become a family as well as resolve a fascinating mystery. I really enjoyed the character of Alias and think this is one of the most Dungeons and Dragons-like novels in this novels I’m listening.

 

 

4. Vampire of the Mists by Christie Golden (Ravenloft)

Ravenloft is a fascinating setting as well as a frustrating one. Created around the Hollywood Transylvania-like nation of Barovia, Dungeons and Dragons chose not to make it a setting like others but a weird demiplane where it touched multiple other worlds before drawing in the wicked or simply vulnerable. This premise was best illustrated by Vampire of the Mists. Jander Sunstar, elvish vampire, is sucked into Demiplane of Dread where he becomes the semi-willing guest of Strahd von Zarovich.

A bit like Interview with a Vampire, Jander is the “good” vampire to Strahd’s “bad” vampire but the two of them are stuck with each other since no one else can possibly understand their shared plight. However, there’s a limit to how far Jander Sunstar is willing to go to ease his loneliness and he unwittingly starts a religion dedicated to fighting the undead.

It’s a fun mix of Gothic horror and high fantasy.

5. Time of the Twins by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (Dragonlance, Legends)

I know what you’re going to say, but Charles, isn’t the proper place to start with Dragonlance the Chronicles trilogy? Time of the Twins is the first book in the Legends Trilogy that is the sequel to the Chronicles trilogy. Yes, my readers, this is true. However, the first fantasy novel I ever read was Time of the Twins and I loved it.

The War of the Lance is over and the Heroes of the Lance have been feted as legendary heroes. However, not every one of them has landed on their feet. Caramon Majere, warrior, has become nothing more than a fat drunk due to being abandoned by his magic-using twin brother, Raistlin. Raistlin has become the most powerful and feared wizard in the world but turned to the powers of darkness. A beautiful cleric, Crysania, has decided to recruit the former to engage the latter and things get complicated from there.

The storytelling dynamics of these books hold up decades later and I regularly re-read them. What happens after the big adventure? What new vistas are left to conquer?

 

6. Prince of Lies by James Lowder and The Crucible: The Trial of Cyric the Mad by Troy Denning

I’m cheating by including these two but they’re not quite a duology and both work as standalones. Both of them deal with an area not often discussed by Dungeons and Dragons: gods and how they react. It is also a book from the perspective of one of the gods of evil no less. Cyric the Mad, God of Evil, has been royally screwing up his side. This would be good if not for the fact that there must be a cosmic balance in the universe.

Both of these books follow various deities and mortal champions as they attempt to deal with Cyric’s erratic, even stupid, behavior that causes massive damage to both his side as well as the side of good. I really enjoyed both books and think they get into the Olympian-like antics of Toril’s heroes.

7. The Verdant Passage by Troy Denning (Dark Sun, The Prism Pentad)

Dark Sun is a very strange setting that attempted to broaden what Dungeons and Dragons was all about. Basically, a magical post-apocalypse setting, Dark Sun had the majority of the world reduced to a brutal unforgiving desert ruled by depraved sorcerer kings. Troy Denning took this opportunity to tell a huge epic about a group of adventurers who make the decision to tackle this world head on and do their best to save it.

Sadira of Tyr and her companions are part of the city-state of Tyr’s resistance against the brutal sorcerer king, Kalak. They are determined to be heroes and overthrow the tyrant but even when the book was first written, they weren’t your typical adventurers. The antiheroism was strong in this group and made all the stronger for their ruthless Darwinist society.

8. I, Strahd by P.N. Elrod (Ravenloft)

Strahd Von Zarovich is undoubtedly Dungeons and Dragons‘ greatest villain. The Count Dracula-esque antagonist not only had personality when most villains were, “Stay in the end of the dungeon waiting for the players to reach them” but also a genuinely compelling character.

So, reading his biography from his perspective is quite the treat. It may seem a bit redundant to read this with Vampire of the Mists but I actually think the books make excellent compliments. Specifically, I, Strahd has Strahd putting all of his actions in the best light possible and you can tell he’s outright lying in several places.

 

9. Darkwalker on the Moonshae by Douglas Niles (Forgotten Realms, Moonshaes Trilogy)

The first Forgotten Realms novel was actually originally written unrelated to the setting but created one of the most vibrant and interesting stories of the setting. Part of what makes these books so good is the fact that they are set in a self-contained isle around a limited but likable royal family. The Kendrick family are worshipers of the Earthmother and living on the idyllic Irish-themed islands. Unfortunately, Bhaal the God of Murder has decided to summon himself in the physical world to lay waste to their home. That’s it and that is an impressive epic story by itself.

10. The Legend of Huma by Richard Knaak (Dragonlance)

One of my all-time favorite fantasy novels and what introduced me to the works of Richard Knaak. The Legend of Huma is a prequel to the Dragonlance Chronicles as well as Legends books. Takhasis, the Queen of Darkness, has started a massive war to conquer the world with the forces of good on the losing side. Huma, a young Knight of the Crown, finds himself the reluctant champion of the god Paladine against her efforts. It is a compact but entertaining story with a strong narrative that manages to introduce all the elements of Krynn you need to know without being otherwise familiar with the setting.

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The Books That Made Us – As I lay Dying by William Faulkner

How I lost my Literary VirginityBy Dan Fitzgerald

I was your average high school nerd, more interested in D&D than books, though I read a fair amount of fantasy and horror and the like. I did enjoy some of the classics I read at school, and I have fond memories of tackling Dickens as a freshman, along with the entire Bible (Catholic school, whaddyagonnado?). But when a friend of mine started talking about a literary book he was reading that blew his mind and was NOT for school, I got more than a little curious. And so, I checked William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying out of the library, and my world changed.

I was used to reading books that told stories. Where the story was the point. Wild, I know. I sort of assumed that was the whole reason books existed. But the narrative of As I Lay Dying was almost incoherent to my teenaged brain. There are fifteen point-of-view characters—FIFTEEN! Who does that? And most importantly, why? And oh, the best chapter in the whole book? I can recite it from memory:

My mother is a fish.

Mind. Blown. It was like all my reading life I had just been making out with books, maybe a doing a little dry-humping, but suddenly this book was making love to my brain. It changed me in ways it took a long time to unravel. Everything I thought I knew about reading was a lie, and this new truth revealed an entire world that had been lurking beneath the surface.

As much as the unusual narrative structure, it was the writing that made me. Faulkner has a way of cramming countless clauses of impenetrable brilliance into sentences seemingly without beginning or end. I found myself rereading sentences and paragraphs and entire pages several times because, though I understood all the words, they were locked together in hermetic patterns, and I needed to level up as a reader to make sense of them. And that’s exactly what happened.

Though the book clocks in at a svelte two hundred ten pages, it contains multitudes. I surely read every page more than once, unlocking new doors in my mind with each nugget of genius crafted from the great word-hordes of old. I emerged on the other side of that slim volume a different person. A child had read the first page, but it was an adult who closed the back cover and leaned back with a dreamy sigh.

I know not everyone digs Faulkner. Hell, my wife absolutely hated that book. And that’s wonderful. I love the fact that this author, this book, which touched me so deeply, repulsed the person I most love in the world. That’s the power of literature right there: forming a unique relationship between a reader and a book that can never be duplicated. That, my friends, is why we read.

Check Out As I Lay Dying

Read Some of Our Other Articles in This Series

The Books That Made Us – Author Influences by Janny Wurts

The Books That Made Us – Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

About The Author – Dan Fitzgerald

Fantasy author of the Maer Cycle trilogy (low-magic fantasy) and the Weirdwater Confluence duology (sword-free fantasy).

I write non-epic fantasy books in which you will find:

Mystery. Darkness. Wonder. Action. Romance. Otherness examined and deconstructed. Queer and straight characters living and fighting side by side. Imaginary creatures and magic with a realistic touch.

What you won’t find in my books:

Wholesale slaughter. Sexual assault. Unquestioned sexism or discrimination. Evil races. Irredeemable villains. Predestined heroes. An ancient darkness that threatens to overspread the land.

Catch me on Twitter or Instagram as danfitzwrites.

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The Books That Made Us – The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

 

You’ve got a great career ahead of you…

I pan my gaze across an ocean of neon lights, fast-talking business folk, and false promises. Hidden in the depths of my backpack: a single book, waiting patiently for the moment I escape.

Day One

“You’ve got a great career ahead of you,” she says. We stand on the corner of a carpeted trade show floor surrounded by the omnipresent ringing and dinging of a thousand slot machines. They vie for attention here as much as they do in an actual casino.

Here, they won’t siphon your money. Just your time and attention.

“Here” is a greasy place, embodied by parties “where deals are made” and middle-aged white-guy handshakes. The kind that glisten with sweat and squeeze just a bit too hard.

Behind me, those same guys circle the show floor like sharks sniffing for blood. Salesmen in too-big suits chase after sandals-and-socks wearing “entrepreneurs” who were gifted high ranking pseudo-jobs at casinos because they knew someone who knew an industry “power player.”

I snap back to the imminently ending conversation. She’s saying goodbye and wishing me the best. “Say hi to the rest of the team for me!”

“Sure thing, and it was SO great to see you!” I force a bright smile, making sure it reaches my eyes. She turns and wobbles away, shoes digging into the unforgivingly soft carpet. My face shifts from jovial to indifference-bordering-on-anger, and I walk in the opposite direction. I won’t say a damn thing to the team.

A slow 360-degree twirl bathes my eyes in an iridescent rainbow of company logos and marketing imagery hanging from displays on the ceiling. Funny how everyone always seems to have the latest and greatest gambling technology.

I carry on, slumped over. My lack of insoles shouts up my leg and into my lower back. And I’m only four hours into day one.

I meander through the labyrinth of glittery screens boasting scantily clad animated fever dream girls meant to entice “young people”—people like me, by the industry’s standards—into feeding the machine with a wad of Washingtons. I press the buttons, I pull the levers, I spin the reels. I wonder why these show-goers think they’re important. Is it because their livelihood depends on people pressing these buttons, pulling these levers, and spinning these reels?

A friend and former colleague stops me. He’s with a different company now, and he wants to show me some of the “fun” stuff they’ve been working on. I’ve seen it a million times before. Dragons intertwine on the screen as fiery symbols ignite the reels, ushering a big win bonus round or some shit like that. A gaggle of cartoonishly stylized babies busts open a pot of gold coins to celebrate a two-dollar win.

“This one’s really volatile,” my friend tells me, “Made for the bonus chasers.” A beer-league Greek God knock-off oversees this spin of the reels. The spin ends with no wins. The God smiles.

My friend’s genuine enthusiasm drains me.

This convention center collects a hoard of self-important people who make this show out to be the event of the century. It’s fruitless to remind them it happens every year.

My third go-around leaves me tired and shaky. I glance behind the black curtains that comprise the border of the show floor. Behind them, a sea of concrete pillars. A few rolling garbage bins. A forklift. Mostly, it’s empty space. Half the building consumed by “heavy-hitters,” the other half left to gather dust as the salespeople “make headway with potential leads.”

I venture back to my booth. “My company spent $4,000 for me to be here,” I think. Or maybe I whisper it to myself.

My department’s section of the booth is dim and empty. My sales colleagues are meeting with customers. They boss me around because they know I won’t refuse. This is the one week per year when they’re the superstars. This show is the time of year when they can write “I’m awesome” in the memo line of their commission checks.

“We need more fidget spinners on the table,” says the boss-baby-looking guy who called me an idiot just one day before for getting fidget spinners in the first place. He also told my boss to “buy that kid some new pants.” I unload the nearest box of fidget spinners onto the table. I find another box, slide into the coatroom, and dump its contents into his computer bag.

Two minutes later, I’m back at our booth. The fidget spinners are gone. I load more.

Night One

I order room service. Chicken noodle soup and french fries. The food comes to me on a metallic platter adorned with condiments and salt packets.

Belly full, I prop my bloated self up with a glob of pillows and crack open The Name Of The Wind. Kvothe regales me with his exploits and adventures. I pine for more stories like this. I long for my story to feel more like his. In a swirling mass of corporate jargon and unrealistic expectations, I struggle to stay afloat.

Nobody asks me what I want. They tell me what they need, and they expect it to be done. The Name Of The Wind asks nothing of me, and I feel a change broiling within. Long basking in the ease of young adult fantasy, I now crave challenge and complexity.

Ravenous, I read 200 pages in a single sitting, until my eyelids start to pull me to a world between sleep and waking. For a stretch, The Name Of The Wind makes me happy. I smile, drearily progressing through my bedtime routine, and imagine plucky, melancholy melodies resounding through a tavern as I fall asleep.

Day Two

Alison walks up to me. “How are you doing?” She asks. Alison is the booth model assigned to my department. They’re necessary because they’re models, you see. And if you don’t have models for your booth, then what reason will all these casino owners have to visit your booth packed with gambling products?

Alison is nice. I’ve told her multiple times I have nothing for her to do other than collect business cards or reload the fidget spinners. I apologize again for the lack of excitement she’ll inevitably endure over the next two and a half days. She takes it in stride. “They pay me either way,” she says. She hands me a small stack of cards and I slot them into my little folio, which I carry around because I am a professional.

Those business cards are on a one-way trip to the single-stream recycling plant. And the people who handed them to Alison certainly expected their contact info to reach the desk of our CEO. I pretend to feel sad for them as I dump their cardstock identities into the recycling. Maybe they’ll become a Starbucks cup.

“This game isn’t loading.” Our content lead can’t hide the shimmer of gleeful disappointment in his eyes. “How come it’s not working?” I can tell he’s happy to blame me, a writer, for this malfunctioning mix of math, code, and art.

“Well, you gave me the latest links to those games yesterday, and those are the links I uploaded to this device.” I tell him. “If the game doesn’t work, it means you gave me the wrong link or your game is faulty.”

“It should be working, though.”

“If you had given me the right link, maybe it would be.”

He storms off. Apparently, the sixth and nowhere-near-final installment of this leprechaun game is crucial to his next meeting. Pin your problems on someone else, buddy.

Two hours later, our sales lead wanders into the whitewashed meeting room I reserved for an interview. The reporter has a camera and a microphone in hand, ready to go.

“You didn’t tell me this was gonna be a video,” blurts the interview subject. The reporter blinks. I prepared for this. I show him a screenshot of the very email chain in which I informed him of this video interview and to which he responded: “Sounds great, looking forward to it.”

I see righteousness flee his eyeballs. Anger rushes in for an instant to replace it, then makes way for a poor attempt to recover from his screw-up. “Just messing with you,” he says, squaring his shoulders happily. He’s thrilled with his lie. I am too, but only because I caught him mid-complacency and forced him to perform verbal gymnastics to cover for his own idiocy.

He answers the questions and hits the talking points. Sounds of the show floor bleed into the thin-walled meeting room and the cheap leather chair squeaks as he shifts in his seat.

My boss and my senior team members will think this interview is a game-changer. Something that will set us apart. In two years, the same man will respond to the same questions with the same answers. “This one’s a game-changer,” they’ll say. And we’ll continue the game until someone finds out I’m faking it and fires me.

I have a great career ahead of me, though.

Night Two

I tell my boss and one trustworthy coworker not to bother contacting me this evening. I have plans.

I walk through the labyrinthine show floor and hitch a cab to my hotel. I stock up on Chinese food and venture to my room. The Name of the Wind rests on my nightstand. A chunk of pages is starting to look worn. The sort of worn that only a well-loved book can be. The wear and tear of use, the slow degrading of something I love because I wring out of it every drop of joy I can.

When I finish the book, all of its pages will look darkened, warped, and used. I will display it on my favorites shelf just like that for years to come, its cracked and weather spine poking out between special editions of other stories I’ve loved.

Tonight, I read 400 pages. I am up far too late, but the story is far too good. I sense a transformation. My eagerness to read has returned after years of being tempered by society’s expectations, responsibilities at work, and a lingering uncertainty that I wasn’t truly enjoying the material I so often engaged with.

The Name of the Wind is different. It is what I need in this moment. When this one passes, I’ll seek other moments. I know I will find them, but for now, this one will do. In this moment, I begin to grasp the parts of myself I’ve locked away for the benefit of others. I understand for a glorious instant that my identity isn’t tied to a dead-end job.

Day Three

Haggard, pale faces haunt the aisles between loud, clanging machines. Feet shuffle across the carpet, collecting static and frizzing once-gelled hairdos. Croaky whispers recount last night’s escapades, the deal-making parties to which I was (thankfully) not invited.

Hungover ghosts float between the booths from meeting to meeting. It’s a forced slog. A deathly procession.

I scroll through my texts. Last night, I ignored a few invites to “team dinners” that would surely have degraded into benders bursting with peer pressure and unsolicited career advice.

The crowds disperse over the hours, and the very important business people catch their early flights home. I count the 15-minute increments until I can leave. I have to pack up the fidget spinners and ship them back to my office. It’s a highly important task only befitting a marketing associate.

The show floor closes, the slot machines go dark, and the union workers file in to disassemble the hodgepodge of machinery, cheap furniture, and electrical equipment. I weave and bob, careful to stay out of their way as they haul 1500-pound money-suckers into crates six times my size. I shove the fidget spinners into a box and steal some duct tape to secure the package. I address it, set it somewhere I hope the trade show team will find it, and leave.

Night Three

On my flight home, I read about Kvothe, who kills kings and performs beautiful songs for thousands. I wonder briefly if I consume so much because I’m terrified to create. I contemplate what would happen if I applied myself to a passion. I close the book, brush off the thought and let the motion-sickness pill lull me into an uneasy mid-flight sleep. I don’t need to create when I have a job that lends me such valuable opportunities. After all, I have a great career ahead of me.

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#SPFBO Review – The Forever King by Ben Galley

a new series with a bright, colorful edge to it

 

Ben Galley’s The Forever King is the start of the second trilogy in his Emaneska series. It picks up 20 years after the end of the first trilogy and follows the heroes’ and villains’ continuing journey, while introducing some new characters along the way.

Now, all SPFBO entrants need to be standalone, or the first in a series, and, despite its chronology, The Forever King does indeed work as the start of a series. Much like the original Star Wars drops us into a fully-realized, extant world and expects us to pick up pieces of the past along the way, so too does Forever King. I never felt lost as Galley deftly covered all the necessary backstory in the same hushed tones of Alec Guinness talking about the Clone Wars.

The story proper follows Mithrid, a young girl left an orphan when evil forces destroy her idyllic seaside village. From there she is drawn into the war between Malvus Barkhart the current – and quite evil – Emperor, and Farden, the titular, rebellious Forever King, both having endured the status quo at the end of the original trilogy. Mithrid is found to possess a power with the promise to end the cold war between the foes and bring victory to one side or the other. Either outcome will drastically alter the world of forever.

And what a world it is! The Forever King feels like the platonic ideal of the word ‘fantasy’, weaving in absolutely everything you would expect: Warring Kings, Magic, Armies, Demons, Dragons, Rogues, Minotaurs, Gods, and so on. It’s a bright, colorful tapestry of wonderful world-building that will leave fans of traditional fantasy (like me) more than satisfied. Galley’s prose and dialogue also sparkle in the process, providing us with characters as vibrant as the world they’re in. Think more the wit of Locke Lamora versus the relative stodginess of classic Tolkien.

Galley’s world and character-building also rely heavily on Norse influences, which provides a very interesting tinge to his settings and people. But, personally, there are times where I feel this goes too far, ruining my immersion in his otherwise creative and beautiful world. The most egregious of these -again, to personal taste – is the inclusion of Loki as a secondary character. Loki as a concept has suffered from a bit of over-exposure in the past decade-and-a-half due to the MCU, and that is felt here. I found myself wishing Galley had created his own gods to play with, rather than drawing from real world myth, as it feels like a thorn in the side of his otherwise great world-building.

Another prominent thorn is that I feel the book is simply a smidge too long. But I think that’s just because I’m not the best audience for chonkers. I prefer my fiction tight and pacy, with as little fat as possible. And, for the most part, I thought Galley succeeded, but there were stretches toward the second half where my interest began to wane a bit and I felt the inclusion of certain set pieces and scenes felt a little more self-indulgent than absolutely necessary to the story. But, admittedly, this is a minor gripe, as they were still fun.

Ultimately, The Forever King is a must-read for fans of classic fantasy looking for a new series with a bright, colorful edge to it. It gave me everything I wanted and more, leaving me more than immersed enough in the world to want to go back and read Galley’s original trilogy, as well as continue on with this one.

9/10

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Short Story Review – Mr. Death by Alix E. Harrow

Don’t Fear The Reaper

I have one child, one child that I carried, all 12 pounds of her, and had her pulled from me, squalling into this awe-inspiring and cruel world. All of my love, hopes, and dreams for the future lay upon her tiny shoulders. As the saying goes, “my heart lives outside my chest.” This is why Mr. Death by the always incredible Alix E. Harrow smacked me around a bit emotionally. I empathized with both the reaper and the parents. Two sides of the same coin, and in the middle is a little boy, age two, whose soul shines like the sun. 

You know from the first line of the story, “I’ve ferried two hundred and twenty-one souls across the river of death, and I can already tell my two-hundred-and-twenty-second is going to be a real shitkicker.” Mr. Death is about a reaper who gently ferries souls from their bodies to the river and the after. Sam Grayson, the reaper in question and the main protagonist of the story, is a father grieving the loss of his own son years before when he is taken by lung cancer. While waiting in the breakroom for his next assignment, He is handed a manilla envelope. Thin, to thin, with this information printed on it:

Name: Lawrence Harper 

Address: 186 Grist Mill Road, Lisle NY, 13797 

Time: Sunday, July 14th 2020, 2:08AM, EST 

Cause: Cardiac arrest resulting from undiagnosed long QT syndrome 

Age: 30 months 

As a reader, his response and mine are the same, “Jesus Christ on his sacred red bicycle. He’s two.” Sam visits the child, supposedly invisible, but for some reason, Lawrence can see him. Sam’s heart aches in solidarity for the upcoming earth-shattering pain he will have to inflict upon these loving parents and the pain of his own loss. But all bodies will eventually die, and when it is your time, that is an unassailable fact. Or is it? 

Harrow has pulled just enough of the raging thunderstorm of grief into this story to make you empathize and believe the situation. Instead of maudlin, it is heartfelt. It is a lovely read and pretty obvious why it is now nominated for a Nebula. Awards seem to stick to Harrow like magnets these days, and rightly so. Check it out.

Check Out Mr. Death Check Out Some of Our Other Reviews

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The Books That Made Us – Time of the Twins (Dragonlance Legends) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Raistlin Majere was my jam.

One of the things Before We Go’s reviewers have been revealing is that a lot of us share the same books that made us the lovers of fantasy we are. Ryan Howse did a fantastic job talking about what the Canticle books by RA Salvatore meant to him. Jodie Crump talked about the wonders of the Dragonlance Chronicles.

For me, however much I liked these books, the ultimate book series was Dragonlance Legends: Time of the Twins, War of the Twins, and Test of the Twins. These were the sequel books to the Dragonlance Chronicles but I actually read them first. Furthermore, they were not only my first exposure to Dungeons and Dragons fiction but they were my first fantasy novels ever. I mean, not counting Narnia and the Hobbit when I was in grade school.

The premise is the big epic heroic battle against the forces of darkness is over. The forces of good are triumphant and the forces of evil are defeated. I always thought that was a tremendously clever way of opening a campaign setting because, even then, I knew enough about high fantasy to be bored of epic battles against good versus evil. Indeed, it was such a clever idea that I pretty much copied it with Wraith Knight (shh). A war of light and dark can usually end only one way while the aftermath can go anyway you want it to.

War hero Caramon Majere, who I misread as Cameron for a decade, is a fat drunk who is barely keeping himself from being abusive. While the rest of the Heroes of the Lance have gone on to bigger and better things, he’s allowed himself to wallow in self-pity as well as regret. There’s also some undiagnosed PTSD but there isn’t exactly much in the way of psychology on Krynn. The biggest regret Caramon has is his brother Raistlin Majere turning to the Dark Side (or Black Robes in this case).

Raistlin Majere. Man, if there has been a more influential character to my writing then it’s either Harry Dresden or no one. Raistlin was the man when I was a fourteen-year-old nerd thinking he was smarter than everyone else. As a teenager, you think the entire world is out to get you and everyone is jealous of your superior intellect–or maybe that was just me. As an adult, I look back on Raistlin Majere with different eyes. Perhaps the eyes of wisdom. A genius, indeed, but so self-absorbed and misanthropic that he made 90% of his own problems.

In a way, Raistlin also serves as an excellent rebuttal for all those dark and tragic romances out there. He and the cleric, Crysania, have all the hallmarks of a bad boy/good woman romance but the books never shy away from what a terrible person he is. He could have happiness with her but to do so would require him to give up his self-agrandizing plans that have no real purpose to him. Raistlin wants to be a god but, really, why? What’s he going to do once he’s a god? It was an interesting concept to present to a teenager.

I also loved the character of Crysania who was a spoiled and somewhat arrogant woman but possessed of a genuine empathy as well as faith. She wants to help Raistlin but also has own ambitions that are guiding her somewhat foolish actions. I also love the story of Caramon Majere as he struggles to overcome his trauma as well as addiction. He also needs to divorce himself of his toxic relationship with his brother that was, previously, his only reason for living.

Fantastic series and everyone should read it.

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Review – Red Sonja by Gail Simone

Sonja is a beloved fantasy icon

 

RED SONJA is one of the classic characters of sword and sorcery who has inspired a hundred imitators as well as helped make action girls more acceptable in Modern Fantasy. However, she’s unfortunately suffered from being effectively reduced to a joke about her infamous chainmail bikini.

Part of this is due to the inherent silliness of it and the inherent double-standard when it comes to sexualization. Conan can run around with a loin cloth and not be sexualized but every part of Sonja is scrutinized and often deliberately highlighted. After all, Roy Thomas assumed he was primarily selling his creation to teenage boys.

Gail Simone opens her omnibus discussing this dichotomy with the fact that she was part of the periphery demographic of comic book readers that absolutely loved Red Sonja as an ass-kicking, deep, and fascinating character in her own right. Yes, this small and ignored group of people called women that compromised half the human population as well as a significant chunk of comic book readers. In fact, had always been so. When given the chance to write the character, she lept at the chance and decided to put her own spin on it.

Gail Simone’s issue with the She-Devil isn’t that she wears the chain-mail bikini or fanservice. There’s quite a bit of both in the book, though Sonja wears quite a bit more clothes and armor than usual. No, her primary issue is with the other thing that she was most infamous for: her rape backstory, empowerment by Scathach, and the oath to never be with a man unless he beats her in battle. Her opinion on that? “That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my life.”

Indeed, Red Sonja is deliberately not chaste in this reboot of her character and spends a not-insignificant portion of Simone’s run trying to get laid. Gail Simone throws quite a number of humorous obstacles to explain why Red Sonja, looking like the original swimwear model, has difficulty with this and it is always hilarious. More controversially, Gail Simone makes it clear that Sonja is bisexual as well. Which perhaps was done due to the character’s somewhat checkered history with queer representation.

Gail Simone perhaps goes a bit too far in reinventing the She-Devil with a sword. While I don’t think too many readers will mourn the fact she is no longer sexually assaulted in her backstory, being away from the massacre when it happens, the lack of Scathach and changes to her personality are a bit more noticeable.

Fine, let Sonja be horny and a party animal but Gail Simone flat out makes her seem dumb at times as well as a caricature of Conan–who was, himself, never dumb save when caricatured. To seasoned Conan pastiche readers, you’d know that Conan is Chaotic Neutral occasionally bordering on Chaotic Good while Sonja was always Chaotic Good, occasionally bordering on Neutral or even Lawful Good.

The first of the stories, “Queen of Plagues” is a surprisingly intricate storyline that reboots Sonja’s backstory as well as well as deals with an ex-lover/rival Dark Anissa who has now become the head of an army of zealots who kill all people who may carry a devastating plague. “The Art of Blood and Fire” is a hilarious zany comedy about Red Sonja trying to assemble seven artisans for a pharaoh’s death party in order to free a thousand slaves. It is one of the best comics I’ve ever read in my life. “The Forgiving of Monsters” is the only dud in the group as it suffers from the Spider-Man 3 problem that it wants the heroine to let go of revenge while their object of revenge remains a complete scumbag continuing to commit crimes.

In conclusion, I definitely recommend this book for fantastic art, fantastic action, and something that goes a long way to reminding readers while Sonja is a beloved fantasy icon. However, I feel it goes a little too far in changing her backstory as I always liked the Scathach connection. I also don’t think it was a good idea portraying Sonja as sometimes bordering on a complete dumbass. Which has never been part of her characterization.

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#SPFBO Review Legacy of the Brightwash by Krystle Matar

And that’s what makes it so painfully, soulfully, and beautifully human.

 

Oh, man. This book is not for me.

Krystle Matar’s Legacy of the Brightwash is a long, bleak, Gaslamp fantasy that focuses on the world of the Dominion – a grim and gritty setting with late 19th and early 20th century technology, with one important difference: the existence of humans with limited magical capabilities. These ‘Tainted’ (or ‘Talented’, depending on who you ask), are effectively mutants with the ability to heal, or generate electricity, or run machines, or other similar useful tasks. Of course, the human government of the Dominion has seen fit to register them and tightly control the use of their ‘talents’.

Brightwash follows Tashué Blackwood – a regulation officer who registers and tracks the Tainted– after he finds the mutilated body of a young Tainted girl wash up on the banks of the Brightwash river, sparking his investigation on where this child came from and who was responsible.

Now, while you would think this mystery would be the main thrust of the plot, it actually quickly takes a backseat as the book shifts gears entirely and delves deep into the politics of the Dominion and Tashué’s place within them, while he begins an emotional and eventually physical affair with Stella Whiterock – one of the Tainted he’s charged to monitor. The novel devotes the majority of its very considerable page count to the complex interpersonal dynamics between the various characters introduced in the narrative and their place in society before coming back to, and wrapping up, the mystery of the mutilated child in the back 20%.

This makes Brightwash a slow, sad, depressing, trudge through the dark world of the Dominion and the even darker inner world of its protagonists and secondary characters.

And that’s what makes it so painfully, soulfully, and beautifully human. Brightwash uses fantasy like a safecracker’s tool to break its characters open and lay their contents out with the lightest of touches.

Matar’s prose is deep, mournful, and gorgeous, able to bring out both the deep physical and emotional wounds the characters experience throughout the story. And although the world is light on its fantastical elements, Matar manages to make it feel absolutely strange and familiar all at once – books like Caleb Carr’s The Alienist and China Miéville’s The City and The City come to mind. This is dark stuff written so beautifully that you can feel the grime on the walls and the grit in every crevice – both in the world and the characters themselves.

As I said, this book is not my cup of tea. Its a light fantasy frame around a long, introspective look at the human condition and our power structures that left me feeling absolutely emotionally drained and uncomfortable.

But that’s what all good art is supposed to do.

9/10

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