Allen Varney's Blog: The PARANOIA worldview, page 2
February 9, 2012
Reality Optional – the reviewers cheer
PARANOIA S1 "Reality Optional" by Gareth Hanrahan
Gareth Hanrahan's PARANOIA novel Reality Optional has so far earned the best reviews on Amazon of all the Ultraviolet Books PARANOIA releases. On Amazon's US site, Reality Optional now has 12 reviews; six are 5-star, five are 4-star, and one is 3-star. On the Amazon UK site, the book has three additional reviews; two are 5-star and one is 4-star. Commendation point, Gareth!
The latest review, from the enigmatically named "me," is quite fine:
A well-paced page-turner, if that's something people say about e-books… I've been a fan of the game for ages but have rarely had the opportunity to play, and this book pulls off both what I hoped what the game would be — a fast-paced adventure with mind-bending challenges and eventual brilliant success — and what playing with a good group turned out to be — a backstabbing, conniving inter- and intra-group betrayal-fest with no hope of success or indeed of anything ever really changing. (And no, neither of those spoils the ending. Or if they do, I trust you will make me pay dearly.)
If William Gibson had had an accident destroying half of his brain after he wrote Neuromancer, received a transplant of Terry Pratchett's extra lobe, then collaborated with Neil Gaiman, this book could have been the result.
Another commendation point for, uh, "me." In fact, commendation points for all the reviewers of the Ultraviolet Books PARANOIA novels! The Computer is in a generous mood.
February 7, 2012
PARANOIA in the real world: UK cop chases himself
According to a February 7, 2012 story by Andrew Hough in The Daily Telegraph (UK), a British undercover police officer accidentally chased himself for 20 minutes:
An undercover police officer "chased himself round the streets" for 20 minutes after a CCTV operator mistook him for a suspect.
The junior officer, who has not been named, was monitoring an area hit by a series of burglaries in an unnamed market town in the country's south.
As the probationary officer from Sussex Police searched for suspects, the camera operator radioed that he had seen someone "acting suspiciously" in the area. But he failed to realise that it was actually the plain-clothed officer he was watching on the screen, according to details leaked to an industry magazine. The operator directed the officer, who was on foot patrol, as he followed the "suspect" on camera last month, telling his colleague on the ground that he was "hot on his heels."
The officer spent around 20 minutes giving chase before a sergeant came into the CCTV control room, recognised the "suspect" and laughed hysterically at the mistake.
January 4, 2012
The reality behind “Reality Optional”
“Writing fiction is exactly like running a game for the worst bunch of players imaginable.” On his Milkyfish blog, Reality Optional author Gareth Hanrahan reports to the confession booth with the backstory of his first novel:
The first outline let to the second outline led to the third outline led to an endless death march. Allen and I would send each other mails starting off “I’ve got the homicidal thoughts under control now, so…” The book wandered in the desert for rather more than 40 nights.
My legal team and I are pleased to report that the endless death march did, in fact, pay off in the end, and therefore there’s no need to smother anyone with a giant pile of old outlines. Once the final outline came together, the book flowed like The Computer’s own Bouncy Bubble Beverage. It was fun to write. That’s fun in a genuine way, not in an Alpha Complex reactor-shielding-is-fun way.
The reality behind "Reality Optional"
"Writing fiction is exactly like running a game for the worst bunch of players imaginable." On his Milkyfish blog, Reality Optional author Gareth Hanrahan reports to the confession booth with the backstory of his first novel:
The first outline let to the second outline led to the third outline led to an endless death march. Allen and I would send each other mails starting off "I've got the homicidal thoughts under control now, so…" The book wandered in the desert for rather more than 40 nights.
My legal team and I are pleased to report that the endless death march did, in fact, pay off in the end, and therefore there's no need to smother anyone with a giant pile of old outlines. Once the final outline came together, the book flowed like The Computer's own Bouncy Bubble Beverage. It was fun to write. That's fun in a genuine way, not in an Alpha Complex reactor-shielding-is-fun way.
January 1, 2012
PARANOIA: 2011 in review
(Cross-posted from the official PARANOIA development blog.)
Chronometric innovations introduced during Year 214 by The Computer's loyal servants in Central Processing have been, through traitorous sabotage, unevenly applied. In particular, the new mandate to report all times to femtosecond precision has met with unexpected resistance, possibly due to consequent variance in reports due to the time elapsed in writing, reading, or speaking said times. CPU has determined a need for additional education. For these and other reasons, our friend The Computer has ordered Year 214 to be repeated, commencing promptly at 214.00.00.00.000000000.
The big news for PARANOIA in 2011 — at least I hope it will turn out, in retrospect, to be big news — was the launch of the new line of official novels from Ultraviolet Books. As I mentioned in the original Ultraviolet Books launch post, these books are never-before-published novels written by Famous Game Designers long associated with the roleplaying game. Inexpensive (holiday sale price US$2.99 apiece) and DRM-free (not copy-protected), they feature new covers by The One True PARANOIA Artist, Jim Holloway. Three novels have been posted in Kindle format on Amazon:
S1 Reality Optional by Gareth HanrahanY1 Traitor Hangout by WJ MacGuffinT1 Stay Alert (Book 1 of the trilogy The Troubleshooter Rules) by me, Allen VarneyI'm editing the fourth book now, an introductory promotional anthology called The Computer is Your Friend. Soon I hope to post ePub versions of all these on many bookselling sites. Follow @UVBooks on Twitter for updates.
There will be more Ultraviolet novels in 2012 and, if all goes well, in the years beyond. In these books we're hoping to continue a tradition of smart science fiction satire in the mode of Philip K. Dick, Robert Sheckley, John Sladek, and Pohl & Kornbluth. In my view that tradition has subsided in recent decades. The audience is relatively small, and for a publishing conglomerate the finances don't make sense. But for a small, scrappy band of High Programmers — on our own! backs to the wall! fighting The Man! — the business case is more attractive.
The main obstacle right now is a shortage of reviews on Amazon. If you're inclined to read one of these novels and post a review, contact me at allenvarney (at) Gmail and I'll send you links to free downloads of all three books. If you're not inclined to write a review, you can find the Kindle versions of all three novels in the Ultraviolet Books Amazon store, which is spartan right now but at least includes links to current PARANOIA roleplaying books.
Speaking of which: The roleplaying year for PARANOIA was unremarkable. The only Mongoose Publishing releases were the two hardcover compilations of past missions, Flashbacks Redux and Flashbacks Redux Redux. The latter, through traitorous sabotage, accidentally reproduced the same My First Treason mission already included in Flashbacks Redux. Mongoose Publishing CEO Matthew Sprange has announced a corrective Materials Treasonously Deleted volume that will be issued free to all purchasers of the errant volume.
(The following opinions are mine alone and don't necessarily represent those of Mongoose Publishing or the owners of PARANOIA).
It seems obvious the commercial tabletop roleplaying business — the traditional three-tier model of publisher-distributor-retailer — is stagnant and probably moribund. When RPG.net forum members post questions like "Is the hobby doomed?" (as they do with increasing frequency), some naysayers always pipe up with, "People have been saying the hobby is doomed since the 1980s" — as if that somehow proves the field's vitality. I never understand this; people have been saying "the RPG field is doomed" for 30 years because, hellooo, the commercial field has been visibly, provably dying for 30 years. The two temporary episodes of commercial vitality (White Wolf in the early '90s and the OGL fad) were intermissions, impermanent stalling actions in the long gradual decline of the player base since the D&D fad of 1979-82. The bright spots today, such as Pathfinder, the Old School Renaissance, retro-clones, and the effervescent indie scene — and some other isolated examples in this cheerleading RPG.net thread, "RPGs are NOT doomed" — aren't bringing in large numbers of new players and, more to the point, aren't earning much money.
One recent example: The finale of Greg Tito's three-part Escapist article series, "The State of Dungeons & Dragons: The Future," cites the sad condition of the field's flagship game and speculates briefly about a 5th edition rumored to arrive in 2013. Raise your hand if you think a new edition of D&D will bring lots of players back to tabletop roleplaying. Uh-huh.
But for PARANOIA, at least, there has been one hopeful sign. Though the fan site Paranoia-Live.net continued quiet in 2011, the last High Programmer still standing, Phial, has recently acquired root access from longtime P-L.net doyen Andy "Jazzer" Fitzpatrick. Phial is leading an overdue site redesign — nothing ambitious to start, but well conceived and helpful — that may restore vigor to PLN Sector. My congratulations and best wishes to Phial and all the loyal PLN citizens. Stay tuned.
December 23, 2011
Traitor Hangout posted to Amazon
PARANOIA Y1 Traitor Hangout by WJ MacGuffin. Cover by Jim Holloway
FOLLOW ALL MANDATES SO ALPHA COMPLEX WILL WORK PECFERTLY.
In Alpha Complex, The Computer's underground city of the future, happy citizens follow all mandates. If they don't, The Computer will be unhappy. This will make the happy citizens unhappy too. Quickly.
THE COMPUTER DID NOT SAY "PECFERTLY." THE COMPUTER ALWAYS SPEAKS FERPECTLY.
Efficiency auditor Clarence-Y enforces mandates – and he knows them all. By owning a secret pet, the mutant lab mouse Ignatius, Clarence has already broken 22 mandates. And it's not even lunch.
ATTENTION: REPLACE MISTAKEN USE OF "FERPECTLY" WITH "CREFPETLY." THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.
On assignment for Internal Security, Clarence impersonates notorious criminal "Superstar Pirate" and infiltrates four treasonous secret societies in one day. All the mandate violations! They're making his head explode.
No, wait – it's heavy weaponry. That's what will explode his head.
"This novel has been tested on non-PARANOIA fans. They enjoyed it immensely and with minimal scarring." — WJ MacGuffin
December 13, 2011
Satirical SF novels on io9
On the ever-enjoyable science fiction site io9, Charlie Jane Anders posts a fun and interesting list of "10 Satirical SF Novels that Could Teach You to Survive the Future." Here's hoping our PARANOIA novels may someday land on a similar list, "Satirical SF Novels that Could Teach You How to Survive Your Friends and Fellow Citizens."
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