Michal Wojcik's Blog, page 10
July 28, 2017
All that’s Left is Truth and Fear, Part II
Michal: Higgins is very clear that the introduction of nuclear weapons represents a cosmic-scale shift in humankind’s relationship with the supernatural. Up until this point, the citizens of the Vlast conceptualized power almost entirely through the stone angels. The remnants of their bodies are literally the source of the Vlast’s strength, experimenting with those remnants the primary driver of industrial development. The living stone angel is the apex for mos...
July 25, 2017
All that’s Left is Truth and Fear, Part I
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Amidst the RuinsAs promised, I’m bringing back Alasdair Czyrnyj to continue our discussion of Peter Higgins’ Wolfhound Empire trilogy. This time, we’re taking on the middle volume, Truth and Fear.
Truth and Fear is in many ways a departure from Wolfhound Century while drawing on many of same themes and inspirations. While the first novel was mainly an atmospheric piece, here we have a much greater focus on narrative and on relating the actions of the characters to the thrust of the story.
I...
July 12, 2017
Episode 33 – We are all Barbarians Now
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We take a break from civilized life and get our barbarian groove on with a discussion of Robert E. Howard’s character Conan, focusing on the 1936 serialized novel The Hour of the Dragon. Topics include the wide-ranging influence of these stories, reprehensible anthropological themes within them, the enduring appeal of the character, approaches to world-building, and Hobbes’ Leviathan.
https://ia601508.us.archive.org/17/items/OLSP32Weareallbarbarians/OLSP32-Weareallbarbarians.mp3 <![endif]--><!--[if lt IE 9]>July 9, 2017
On Light Novels
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A few posts back, I wrote that the closest antecedent to the classic western pulp market is East Asian “light novels”, not western e-publishing. Translations of these books are becoming more frequent, but there’s still a huge amount that’s yet to be licensed or officially translated and probably never will be. The insanely short release schedules and sheer volume of work, coupled with the general disinterest of western readers and publishers in tackling translations in the first place, dicta...
July 7, 2017
Episode 32 – Heaven is (No Longer) for Real
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What does heaven look like? We find out by reading Steven Brust’s novel To Reign in Hell (1984).
https://ia601501.us.archive.org/12/items/OLSP32ToReigninHell/OLSP32-ToReigninHell.mp3Download the Podcast (archive.org page)
July 1, 2017
The Wolf Returns
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I always feel some trepidation when an author returns to a series after many years with a new installment—even when the book is good, it tends to miss something from the original, some spark that drove that series along. So, the news that Isuna Hasekura would release more Spice and Wolf came with some mixed feelings; Spice and Wolf was very much the comfort read I needed at the time I discovered it, but with seventeen books and a satisfying conclusion do we really need more?
I’m happy to say...
June 24, 2017
Episode 31 – Cartoons that Happen to come from Japan
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Japan makes lots of cartoons, so our planned cartoon episode ended up being all about anime junk: Kill la Kill, Neon Genesis Evangelion, The Vision of Escaflowne, and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.
https://ia601503.us.archive.org/27/items/OLSP31Cartoons/OLSP31_Cartoons.mp3Download the Podcast (archive.org page)
June 22, 2017
Surviving the Wolfhound Century, Part II
Alasdair: The point you make about authoritarian regimes narrowing the scope of possibility for the future is an important one. Indeed, all of the major antagonists of the Wolfhound Empire trilogy are concerned with remaking the Vlast according to a singular vision.
Now, we’ve already discussed the trapped angel in some detail. It wishes to consume and escape the planet, and as such views the possibilities of the Pollandore as an existential threat. However, while it ha...
June 20, 2017
Surviving the Wolfhound Century, Part I
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Lost in LeningradI read Peter Higgins’s Wolfhound Century after a strong recommendation from fellow blogger Alasdair Czyrnyj. He’ll join me in the next series of posts as we air our thoughts on the Wolfhound Empire trilogy one book at a time.
First, some background. Wolfhound Century takes place in the Vlast, a country bearing the heavy mark of the Soviet Union, manifested particularly in the city of Mirgorod, a swampy cement-covered place that evokes St. Petersburg back when it was called...
May 7, 2017
Wasted Youth
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If you haven’t noticed, I have a soft spot for DOS-era gaming. I’m supposed to be of the video game generation, but the only console I ever owned was an NES and I was never very good at playing it. My real interest in computer games didn’t come until high school, where I wasted a huge amount of time playing old DOS games that were largely older than I was (more about that here). I wish I could say that I had some sort of affinity with the early computer game scene and was drawn to the elegan...
