Bryce Moore's Blog, page 113
March 20, 2019
Book Review: The First Book of Swords
The First Book of Swords by Fred Saberhagen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
You never quite know what you’re going to get when you reread a book you loved as a kid. Sometimes you’re impressed with what wonderful taste you had back then, and sometimes . . . you’d rather forget you ever liked that book to begin with.
I first came across Saberhagen’s Book of Swords series in the public library. I remember thinking the covers were pretty cool (Swords!), and I was definitely in the “I’ll read anything you put in front of me” age. I loved the whole series, though I never really read them in order, because the library continually had one checked out or the other. I remember thinking the magic system was really cool and always wanting to know more about the swords.
So finally I broke down and bought the first book on Kindle, hoping that my fond memories were accurate and justified for once.
I’m ecstatic to say that they were. I finished the entire first book in a day, something which almost never happens for me anymore. The premise is simple: take a standard fantasy world and have the gods of that world create 12 magical swords, each with very specific powers. For example, one can cut through stone as if it were butter. One kills dragons exceptionally well. One makes you very lucky. One helps you find anything you want. The gods take those swords and scatter them through the land, and then they sit back to see what the humans do.
Violence and adventure ensue.
It’s a great start to the series. I loved how the Swords were mysteries to all the characters for the bulk of the book. The gods made them and spread them out, but they never told the humans about them, wanting the humans to find out on their own. And instead of focusing on obscure commoners who end up becoming royalty or supreme magic users, Saberhagen has his protagonists pretty much stay constant through the book. They’re scrappy, and they’ve got a couple of the magic Swords, but they don’t have any other real tools available to help them face their foes.
If you’re looking for a fun series that’s a quick read and has some really cool magic, you should definitely check this one out. I’m already deep into book 2.
View all my reviews
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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve been posting my book ICHABOD in installments, as well as chapters from UTOPIA. Check it out.
If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.
March 19, 2019
Tax Time: Author Income and Traveling for Church
It’s March, which means it’s high time for me to be working on my taxes. Part of that process is taking an accounting of everything I was up to the past year from a dollars and cents perspective. Two data points stood out to me this year that I thought would be interesting to you as well.
First off, a candid look at the high flying life of an author. I think there’s a fair bit of misunderstanding out there on just how much you make as an author. I’ll tell people that I got a book deal, and they ask when I’m going to quit my job. Don’t get me wrong: there are definitely authors out there who are able to do that as their main job. But I’d say those are few and far between. Personally, I love the steady paycheck I get as a library director (not to mention the fact that the job itself is rewarding). I’d be hard pressed to give that up for the scattershot approach to payment that’s often the life of an author.
But it’s not making me nothing, and I thought it would be interesting to go back through the data to see how my income as an author has changed over the years, from my first sale in 2011 to this year:
2011: $5,1002012: $102013: $02014: $02015: $7,2432016: $3,1882017: $8,0352018: $8,960
None of that takes into account any actual expenses. That’s just what I earned. You’ll see there was a nice start with VODNIK, and then several years with no sales, and MEMORY THIEF has been happily churning out money for me since it first sold (and then sold again) back in 2015. I have no real idea what things will look like this year yet. I know I’ll get at least some income from some foreign sales, and hope springs eternal that INKBINDER will finally see print one of these days (or I’ll at least get the second half of my advance for it), and I have a couple other books going out on submission, but you just never know.
So am I raking in the money hand over fist as an author? Clearly not, though I’m grateful to be making what I am. Still, consider that I work on writing approximately 10 hours a week, and my hourly “wage” for writing has been:
2011: $9.812012: $0.022013: $02014: $02015: $13.932016: $6.132017: $15.452018: $17.23
Though that’s not quite accurate, since the times I got paid I typically ended up working much more than 10 hours a week on those books. And of course, when you take into account the fact that I started writing in 2000, my average hourly wage over the entire time I’ve been writing comes to a grand total of $3.23. (And remember: that’s before any expenses are taken out at all. Self-employment taxes are significantly more than normal salary taxes . . .)
But hey–the trajectory is definitely upwards, so I’ll take it.
The second data point I wanted to share was total travel for church. I spend a lot of time on the road these days, much of it church-related. How much time? Well, considering all that mileage might be tax deductible, I’ve kept track.
This year, I drove 4,280 miles for church-related service. How much is that?
I could drive down to Disney World and then back to Maine, change my mind when I got back to Maine, and drive back to Disney World, though I’d be just shy of making it there.I could drive to Disneyland and still have over 1,000 miles to drive somewhere else.But let’s not worry about Disney. Let’s go international. I could go to Costa Rica if I drove that far south. I could go to Anchorage if I headed north.
That’s a lot of driving.
Why do I drive so much for church? I’m on the high council, which means I drive to Waterville (64 miles, round trip) or Bangor (180 miles, roundtrip) once a month. I also drive to speak at a congregation somewhere in the region about every other month. Some of those drives can be 180 miles roundtrip (or more), as well. Add those trips up and throw in some things that are more local, and it all snowballs pretty easily.
Anyway. Those are my two “gee whiz” facts of the day. Have a good one.
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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve been posting my book ICHABOD in installments, as well as chapters from UTOPIA. Check it out.
If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.
March 18, 2019
March Madness Time!
The time has come, friends. To find out what we’re each really worth, in the bigger picture. Who’s better at picking the best* teams?
I’m running the yearly blog challenge, and as usual, the winner gets to have a cameo in my current work in progress. (A steampunk western at the moment, code name SILVERADO.) Who wouldn’t want a cool steampunk character named after them?
And if I win, I’ll still let the runner up have the prize. (How’s that for courtesy?)
So come on over and make your picks, and may the best pick picker win!
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Group: Bryce’s Ramblings
Password: vodnik
*For values of “best” that don’t include BYU this year. At all.
March 15, 2019
Yes, I’ve Seen Russian Doll
As a staunch Groundhog Day fan, I think I had at least three different people recommend Russian Doll to me the moment it came out on Netflix. For those of you who might not have heard about it, it’s a time-loop series. A woman starts off at a party and then keeps coming back to that same party over and over and over again.
Post Groundhog Day, this is actually a plot that’s been coming up more and more in movies and television, and I have a soft spot for them. It’s always interesting to me to see how each different story handles it. How they put their individual spin on it. So it’s no real surprise that people thought of me as soon as they hear about the show. And so as soon as I finished The Americans, I turned to Russian Doll.
First, a disclaimer. It’s a foul mouthed show. F bombs are as plentiful as pronouns at times. So this is most definitely Not a Show for Everyone.
Which is a real shame, because it’s a fascinating show with a great mystery at its heart. Great acting and writing. Complex characters that start off as insanely unlikable and somehow turn into people we’re really honestly rooting for. And the language adds literally nothing to anything. Yes, you could argue it helps define who the main character is, but there are so many ways you can show someone’s gruff and uncaring without having them spew profanity with each breath. It’s a sloppy, weak crutch in my book, and I think the show would have been much better without it. Or at least without as much of it. I like salt as much as the next guy, but I don’t throw the whole shaker in.
If you can get past that, as I say, there’s a lot in the show that will appeal to you. Overall, it’s put together well, and the ending doesn’t disappoint. I don’t want to say too much about it, since so much of the show runs on mystery. Just don’t go in expecting answers right away. You’re supposed to be confused and asking yourself a lot of questions. That’s okay. They do eventually get answered. (It’s always nice to know that going in, just so you can have some faith in the show.)
Is it my favorite time loop movie (other than Groundhog Day)? Well, no. Edge of Tomorrow, Looper, FAQ about Time Travel, and Primer come to mind right off. (I have yet to see Happy Death Day. It’s on my list, though!) But this is one of the better ones. Overall, I gave it an 8/10. I just wish I could recommend it more widely than I can . . .
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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve been posting my book ICHABOD in installments, as well as chapters from UTOPIA. Check it out.
If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.
March 14, 2019
I Probably Can’t Remember What You Look Like
Not for people I know well, obviously. But if I’ve only met you once or twice, chances are I have a really hard time remembering what you look like, even if we sat and talked for a while.
True story: during my freshman year at BYU, I went on a blind date with a girl. We had a great time. Really hit it off, and I liked her right away. The only problem? I couldn’t for the life of me remember what she looked like after that first date. I had her name and her phone number. I knew what building she lived in. But if I tried to remember what she looked like?
Nada.
She was short and blonde and cute, and that was all I could remember.
In my defense, the date had been dinner and a movie, and it’s not like you’re staring at a person’s face throughout a whole movie. It was also at night, and dark in the restaurant. (We went to a rib place. It was tasty. I can remember that now, over 20 years later. I’ve forgotten what movie we saw, however.) I called her up and asked her to go on a second date, and she agreed, but the whole time between when I asked her out again and actually picked her up, I went around BYU being extra nice to any short, cute, blonde girls I saw. (Not particularly difficult to do, I’ll grant you.)
I developed this sort of non-committal, friendly smile that I still use to this day. You sort of tuck your lips in and pull them back in a way that might be a smile and might be you just getting ready to face the day. I teach a bunch of students here at UMF. I interact with many different professors. I can’t honestly remember all their faces, so I’m right back at the same place I was after that first blind date: worried I’ll inadvertently give someone I know the cold shoulder.
You’ll be relieved to hear that I eventually did go out on a second date with the girl. (Though I couldn’t remember what she looked like even when I was standing in her lobby waiting for her to come down. That was a bit touch and go, but I got through it.) We even became a couple for a while, and I’m still Facebook friends with her today. (Yes, I can now remember what she looks like, even without double checking on Facebook.)
But if I haven’t met you more than three or four times, there’s a high chance I can’t remember your face. I remember we met. I remember what happened. But that’s about it. It’s not personal, I swear. But it makes things like family reunions awkward, as a stream of people I rarely see all remember exactly who I am, while I’m scrambling to remember which family member they are and hoping they’re not one I should know really well. Or when a student or faculty member comes to the desk and seems like they might know me. Or they might not . . .
Does anyone else have this problem, or is it just me?
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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve been posting my book ICHABOD in installments, as well as chapters from UTOPIA. Check it out.
If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.
March 13, 2019
Heavy Meta #20: The New Commons Project
Kelly and I are joined by Kristen Case and Stephen Grandchamp of the New Commons Project to talk about what the project is. You’ve heard me talk about the New Commons before, and I was really excited to have the two of them on the show to discuss all the awesome things they’ve been doing. This month the focus turns to the FEDCO Seed Catalog, and they’ll be screening a free showing of SEED tomorrow night on campus.
If you have no idea what I’m talking about, then you should give the show a listen. If you already know all about it, then I guarantee you’ll find the podcast an interesting one anyway. (Plus, I got Kristen to commit on tape that she’ll bring the Coen Bros to Farmington if one of their works is a selection for the next round of New Commons works. Let the campaigning begin!)
March 12, 2019
The Danger of Easy Information
When I was on my way to work this morning, I was listening to a story NPR had done on the recent pair of Boeing airline crashes that both involved the same model of plane. They were interviewing passengers in airports to find out what they thought of them and to see if they felt safe on those planes. One interview in particular stood out to me, where a woman said she was going to go do a bunch of research before she made up her mind.
On the one hand, part of me wants to applaud the sentiment. Yay for wanting to research things out to come to a well-reasoned opinion. As a librarian, that’s what I want, isn’t it? But at the same time, I couldn’t help but cringe inside when I heard the quote.
These days, you can find just about anything you want to online. If there’s an opinion you have that you want to confirm is right, you can and will find someone saying just how right you are, whether it’s if the earth is round or flat, what vaccines do, or what really happened on 9/11. Access to tons of information is all fine and good, but I’ve noticed more and more many people struggling to sift through that information to be able to tell what’s worthwhile and what isn’t.
Let’s call it MCSP: Medical Cancer Search Phenomenon. Whenever I get sick, I start looking up symptoms to see what it is I might have. Typically, those symptoms end up describing any number of things. Most of them are lethal forms of cancer. So why in the world do I still bother trying to Google my way to a cure for my sniffles? Why can’t I learn that it takes a trained physician to be able to look at a person, evaluate their condition, and come up with a likely prognosis.
The same thing happened with my car battery a few months ago. (No, not cancer, but me searching for a solution to a problem I was noticing.) The car had trouble starting a couple of times, so I turned to Google. I became convinced the car battery was dying and that I needed to replace it. I blamed this for dip in my gas mileage as well, as some internet sleuths had found a connection and talked about it on a message board.
My mechanic thought I was crazy. He took a look at things and told me I shouldn’t worry for now, but I insisted he check the battery. It was fine. All my Googling had done nothing by alarm me.
Will an internet search tell this woman whether Boeing planes are safe or not? I highly doubt it, though I’m sure it will leave her with the impression that she’s well informed about the matter, regardless of whether that’s true or not. In some cases, I suppose that’s worth something by itself. You can sleep easy at night, feeling like you found The Answer.
But in cases of measles outbreaks, where someone’s random internet conspiracy ends up endangering the lives of thousands? That same “I’ll Google the answer” tendency can become deadly. And don’t get me started on climate change, a thing that might once have been debatable but which now has become almost incontrovertible as more evidence has piled up, regardless of what politicians and pundits might wish to believe.
I’m still going to search the internet for questions I have. I don’t think it’s possible for me to resist the urge. But I’ll also try to keep in mind that my fifteen minutes of internet searching might feel quite “thorough” to me, but it doesn’t make my results have the same weight as someone who’s an actual trained expert.
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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve been posting my book ICHABOD in installments, as well as chapters from UTOPIA. Check it out.
If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.
March 11, 2019
Daddy/Daughter Dance: 2019
Hard to believe this was my seventh year going to the Daddy/Daughter dance. This means DC was 4 the first time I took her. (You can read that blog entry over here. Checking it out, I was surprised to remember DC was so skeptical of going the first time we went. It’s become such a tradition that we just don’t question it these days. MC never needed coaxing, because she’d seen DC get to go before and so automatically assumed it was Not To Be Missed.)
It was a smaller group this year, as friends have moved away or their daughters have grown too old to really want to go to a Daddy/Daughter Dance anymore. This time, DC was the oldest of the group. We went to dinner beforehand. MC got the traditional chicken fingers and french fries, but DC dwelled on the grownup menu for a while before landing on her choice of the evening: Chicken Parmesan. (I had this Steak Frites meal which was sort of like a glorified poutine. French fries, gravy, and steak. Tasty.)
The dance was a study in the way kids become more self conscious over the years. MC immediately headed to the dance floor and started dancing her heart out, not caring in the slightest what she was doing or how she might look. DC was more reserved, swaying side to side and watching what everyone else was doing. (The nice thing about being a Daddy at the dance is I no longer really care at all what I look like, so I could dance along with MC and not mind anything.) Eventually DC got the spirit of the dance going and it was fun times all around.
This was the first year dancing with DC felt much more like dancing with a grown up. Her hands aren’t tiny anymore. (Which makes sense, seeing as how she’s probably around 5′ 7″ now. Taller than some of the girls I dated back in high school and college.) She wore her favorite necklace and earrings (patterned after Arwen’s brooch in Lord of the Rings, of course).
The weather itself wasn’t too cold (only 20 degrees or so), though the snow piles and slush puddles were massive. (I see all these pictures of people with flowers blooming and actual grass in their yard, and I wonder if they’re in the same hemisphere. There is over two feet of snow in my front yard, and that was before the 5 inches or so we got last night.)
In any case, it was another fun filled evening. With each passing year, I get older, and the average group of the people at the dance stays the same. Some of those dads were in their low 20s. No wonder I don’t recognize nearly as many songs as I used to at dances. That’s okay: I still have another 9 or 10 dances in me to go before MC ages out of them as well. By the end, maybe I’ll bring a cane . . .
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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve been posting my book ICHABOD in installments, as well as chapters from UTOPIA. Check it out.
If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.
March 8, 2019
Television Review: The Americans
The concept is pretty straightforward: a Russian couple is trained to be super spies. They lose their accents, learn American ways, and move to the country in the late 1960s. Fast forward to the early 1980s. They’ve got a couple of kids, run a successful travel agency, and they’re still doing top secret missions for the Russians.
And then they get a new next door neighbor: an FBI agent who works in counterintelligence.
Honestly, the tack on neighbor was one item with the premise that I felt might be taking it all too far, jumping off into soap opera territory. But I’d heard good things about the show, and I wanted to give it a shot. We’re now in the sixth and final season, and I’m officially willing to give this show a full recommendation.
What’s good about it?
Well, the premise is pretty solid to begin with, but the show really uses it to its full extent. The kids of the spies, for example, are full Americans. They have no idea their parents are Russian. That generates drama, especially as the kids get older and start to wonder what exactly it is their parents do at a travel agency that necessitates them leaving in the middle of the night so often.The historical details of the show are well executed, as well. It’s not nearly as “in your face” as Stranger Things, but you get a really strong 80s vibe throughout the show, and I enjoy thatThe acting is really well done across the board. Eminently watchable.The plots are, for the most part, great. This is a show that was weaker at the beginning but grew into something very strong. The premise for this final season is absolutely fantastic (no spoilers), and it’s only possible because of how much we’ve already invested into the characters. If they nail the landing on this season, then the entire series will be elevated even higher in my book. (And from what I’ve heard, it does.)
What’s bad about it?
Like I said, the early seasons weren’t as good. The show was still trying to find its way somewhat. It’s not that they were bad, but I only gave them a 7/10, if that makes sense. I gave season 5 an 8.5.There’s occasional scenes of very brutal violence. Sometimes gory. Sometimes just plain disgusting. It’s also got a few sex scenes sprinkled throughout, and fairly frequent rear nudity. (Never frontal.) I don’t recall there being issues with bad language, however. (Just trying to cover the bases of what people might object to in the show.)Some episodes are more . . . deliberate than others. Sometimes the big plot streaks forward. Sometimes it plods.
But really, if you’re looking for espionage, the 80s, and family drama, or even just one of those, then this is a good show to check out. It’s been nominated for an Emmy for Best Drama twice, and the entire season is available to stream on Amazon Prime.
Already seen it? What did you think? Have any questions? Ask away.
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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve been posting my book ICHABOD in installments, as well as chapters from UTOPIA. Check it out.
If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.
March 7, 2019
A Need for National Humility
On a personal level, I think most people can identify when someone has a problem with self-esteem in either direction. There’s the people who are always down on themselves, no matter what. You want to pick them up and tell them everything’s going to be okay. That they should go easier on themselves. Chin up!
But then there’s the people who are so full of themselves, they have a hard time recognizing anything they do wrong. They’re so prideful it damages their relationships, and handling them is a big pain in the patootie.
As I was thinking about the (many) political issues we’re having as Americans these days, one thought drifted to the surface: many of those problems could be handled with more national humility. Excessive pride is seen by many as a character flaw on an individual level; why can’t we recognize it as a problem on a national level as well?
I don’t mean to say we can’t be “proud to be American,” and I’m sure that’s where many might want to take my argument as soon as they hear it. I love my country, and I think we have a lot of wonderful things we do. But I also think it’s important to be able to take a frank look at yourself and realize there are areas that need improvement. Change.
Trump’s “Make American Great Again” slogan has played entirely into this nationalistic pride vein, fanning the flames of pride to a point that’s not just delusional, it’s unsafe for the global political landscape. Yet I can understand why so many people fall for it. We have a tendency, as a country, to constantly tell ourselves how wonderful we are, even when we’re not. We’ll talk about how our health care is the best. Our education is the best. Our freedoms are the best. Our sports are the best. And never mind any actual data that might get in the way of our opinions.
When you think you’re the absolute best at something, you have no incentive to improve. There’s no need to look to anyone else for an example. No need to consider alternative solutions to a problem. You can just say “I’m the best,” and ignore the rest, which is something Trump has built his entire life around.
Not that this is a problem isolated to one man, though he’s certainly an outgrowth of it. A natural result of decades of an absence of humility on a national level. After all, our nation elected the man. Yes, the election was influenced in various ways, but to me that’s sort of like complaining about the end result of a football game because of some very questionable calls by the refs. You might have a wonderful point, but in the end, it’s not going to change the scoreboard. And if your team was so mighty to begin with, how did they get in a position where one or two boneheaded calls cost them the game?
Trump has already begun to lay the foundation for an argument if he loses the election in 2020. Essentially, he’s telling his adherents the only way he *can* lose is if the Democrats cheat. If they have millions of people vote illegally. And there’s a huge problem with this argument if people believe it. The next natural step is to say, “I don’t have to step down as President, because I actually won.” And if enough people believe that’s true, bad things happen. Civil wars. Just because it hasn’t happened in America in over a hundred years doesn’t mean it can’t happen again.
And the sad thing is I’m not sure the Republican party wouldn’t support his claim. They’ve already shown a readiness to embrace Trump’s rhetoric and ideologies as long as it gets them what they want. “The end justifies the means” seems to have become the rallying cry for many of my fair-minded Republican friends. “What what he does, not what he says” is another one.
But in the end, it’s not worth it to me. I will not support someone who says and acts like Trump, just because some of his professed beliefs or goals might overlap with mine.
My hope is that we can begin to have more national humility. That we can recognize our flaws and stop plugging our ears and shouting about how wonderful we are in every way. If we can do that, as Republicans and Democrats and Independents, then we have a chance of righting the ship and making America nice again. Compassionate again. And maybe even great again.
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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve been posting my book ICHABOD in installments, as well as chapters from UTOPIA. Check it out.
If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.
