Simultronics’ DragonRealms (henceforth referred to lovingly as DR) wasn’t the first online game I played. That honor goes to, if memory serves, Federation by ibGames, which may end up with a post all its own one day, but probably not. DR was, however, the first game I was addicted to.

It’s important to note a couple things at the outset… First and foremost, when the average person today hears the term “computer game,” they do not think of a game like DR. And when your average computer gamer thinks of an online computer game, they don’t think of a game like DR either. They are thinking about games like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy. If they are a little older, they may even think about games like Ultima Online or Everquest. They certainly don’t think about DragonRealms. And here’s why:

DR is a MUD (multi-user dungeon) with no graphics, so it’s no wonder that today’s gamers probably don’t even know games like this still exist. But they should. Those games they play today and will end up playing tomorrow owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Simultronics and similar companies for games like DragonRealms. They were the precursors to the mega-blockbusters from Blizzard and Origin and Sony and all the rest. Aging gamer-geeks like myself can track advances in technology and graphics through online worlds the way a US Marshall tracks a fugitive:

Federation > Modus Operandi > Gemstone > DragonRealms > EverQuest > Asheron’s Call > Dark Age of Camelot > Anarchy Online > Star Wars Galaxies > EverQuest 2 > World of Warcraft

That list dates back some fifteen years or more. Back then, Federation, Gemstone, and DR were all on AOL and $400.00+ phone bills were commonplace because AOL charged by the hour (which eventually led to DR moving off AOL). I skipped over, of course, all the games I kept going back to while “transitioning” between games. EQ I returned to a couple times. AO as well, because they have (had?) a free version. Even WoW I went back to for a bit, although I have recently abandoned it yet again. DR though, I returned to time and time again. In between almost every change in games I returned to the first game that really and truly sucked me in.

And now I am back again. Usually I just reactivate my old account and pick up where I left off. But it’s probably been 10 years since I last played (hell, I didn’t even know if it was still around!) so this time I fired up a new character on a free, 30 day trial account. I figured there must have been a ton of changes (I was right) that would confuse me and send me packing by the end of the first week (I was wrong). By the end of my first play session, I was remembering all the reasons I got so hooked on the game 15 years ago.

First and foremost, I said it back in the 1900′s (ok, I’ve been waiting for 10 years to say that) and I believe it still holds true today, the various systems incorporated into DR are, without a doubt, the most complex systems available in gaming. Combat, magic, healing, weather, tradeskills, commerce, justice, character advancement, it just doesn’t matter. No graphic-based MMO can touch not only how each individual system works, but how they all work together. The mechanics of these systems are what brought me back this time. I can crunch numbers and try to determine the most effective way to increase my skills and “circles” (they have circles in DR as opposed to levels), or I can just go off exploring, sneaking through the woods, searching for wood to make a new bow or herbs to heal wounds. Either way, the skills I use all contribute to my “advancement” through the ranks because so many of them are connected to various systems. Perhaps most importantly (in my mind, anyway), character advancement is skill based (you need to raise your skills in order to raise your “circle”), as opposed to games like EQ and WoW which are experience/level based (you need to raise your level in order to raise your skill). In theory (and I’m sure that after 15+ years someone has done or at least tried this) you could never join a guild (e.g. declare your class… ranger, barbarian, thief, etc) and stay a commoner, thus never actually gain a single “circle” while maxing out several skills.

But while the systems are what brought me back, they’re not what may end up getting me hooked all over again. You see, I have thrown away the spreadsheet I started to track my progress (see? Spreadsheet = Gamer-geek). I hadn’t travelled more than 3 or 4 steps my first day in game, and I had another player come up and ask if I was lost. Not five minutes in game, and already I was roleplaying. I had my character sketched out before-hand… made his name similar to what my old character’s was in the event I saw anyone who might recognize it from the old days (no one has). She took me to a little courtyard where we sat and chatted about stories “my father told me” and how I was looking for him because he disappeared on his way home from the Gorbesh Wars (a huge, GM run event a long time ago that lasted… gads weeks I think). She introduced me to a couple of her friends, and we all spoke “in character” for over an hour. They gave me some advice on where I might find “my father” and even told me of some others who might actually remember him, though they are probably off in another part of the world my little character has no business even trying to get to.

That moment, and others like it, are the reasons I just may stay longer than the 30 day free trial. They are inherently creative and must share the spotlight with the game systems. They are what set DR apart from graphical MMO’s like WoW and EQ that force acceptance of someone else’s vision through animation and illustration. Yes, AO and Fallen Earth are stunning to look at, but it’s still someone else’s vision, someone else’s imagination. And the fact that there are people left here on the net that enjoy using their creativity and imagination is alluring. It’s not about owning the biggest, baddest house (which you can) or the most deadly bow in the game (player made). It’s not about maxing out your circles (currently… 90 I think? Not sure). Or, at least it’s not only about those things. It can be, I suppose, if that’s your thing. But the DR staff, which, at one point long ago I really wanted to be a part of, has taken great care to foster their little community, and it has paid off with a user base that, even 10 years ago, for the most part polices itself and maintains a roleplay environment.

Will I keep on going after my free month is up? I still have 2 weeks to decide, but I just might. At $15.00 a month, it’s a bit steep for a part-time teacher. Then again, I can’t even go to a 90 minute movie for $15 anymore, so who knows. I’m having a blast, though, and am very happy that DragonRealms is still around and kicking in an industry so overwhelmed by over-simplified eye-candy.

Title: Mistborn: The Well of Ascension
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Publisher: Tor
Date Published: 2007
Pages (Hardcover): 590

First Line: I write these words in steel, for anything not set in metal cannot be trusted.

After plowing through Mistborn: The Final Empire, the fist book in Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy, I couldn’t wait to get started on The Well of Ascension. That first book was fresh and exciting. It moved and flowed, constantly building momentum until the inevitable showdown. Indeed, the pacing was, perhaps, the single most accomplished aspect of the novel, and it hid, or lessened the impact of, some of the flaws. Characterization in particular, I think, is something that Sanderson wrestled with in the fist book, but his accomplished sense of urgency throughout the novel didn’t really give me time to worry about it too much.

Not so with The Well of Ascension.

The biggest issue for me was that this second book seemed… unfocused. The Final Empire had, if I recall, just two point-of-view characters: Vin and Kelsier. In TWoA, there are at least 6 (although I am sure to be forgetting someone), and while I didn’t have problems following their individual storylines, much of the cohesiveness of The Final Empire was lost. I was probably close to 200 pages in before I felt as if things were finally starting to come together. Some writers can pull off this kind of expansive, epic-style storytelling (George R.R. Martin leaps to mind), but Sanderson fell a bit short of the mark, I think.

Part of the problem is that this is a very, very different style of book than TFE. It is much broader in scope, and the narrative voice, unlike TFE, is focused not just on the crew from the first book, but also on their adversaries. Gone is the wonderful sense of not knowing what is going on with the crew’s primary targets. There is still mystery, to be sure, but because we are allowed inside the heads of characters on both sides of the conflict, it seems as though it is information the author is intentionally withholding, especially, for example, when the point of view character makes only vague references to the hidden secret only he knows… even when thinking to himself.

It’s important to point out, however, that even though I think Sanderson wrestles with characterization, something I specifically pointed out in The Final Empire write up, here in TWoA it is much, much stronger. Vin, especially, I found quite compelling this time around, especially in the scenes with OreSuer. There were moments that were quite touching, and the forging of that friendship takes on a new, special meaning in the final chapters. It was good to see Sanderson really let go and let us see a softer, unguarded side of Vin. Even though I figured out (guessed? whatever) “the big secret” long before it was revealed, I think that actually made those moments even more effective (and I wonder if we were supposed to figure it out before the characters in the book because of that).

Finally, The Well of Ascension is most definitely the middle novel in a trilogy. It even ends on a cliffhanger! Oh, the conflicts and storylines are all resolved, but there is absolutely a rather dissatisfied feeling when that final page is turned and a whole new problem is looming just beyond the printed page. Additionally, don’t make the mistake of reading this book before The Final Empire. It may take place a year after book 1 ends, but the majority of the novel not only references what has come before, but depends upon it. And the third book will, I imagine, be completely dependent on this one. I’ll let you know when I get there.

While not a stereotypical fanboy, I’ve been an Apple fan for well over a decade. Even after I switched from my Centris to a PC back when I was in game development, I still felt that Apple made, pound for pound, superior products when compared to their PC competitors. Where they have always struggled, however, is in the creation of peripherals.

When I switched my work computer last summer back to Apple (the 13” MacBook Pro), I went on a bit of a quest to find an appropriate keyboard and mouse setup for my needs. Because I often spend 8 or more hours at a stretch working on the computer, I knew I needed to place a fairly high emphasis on comfort and ergonomics. Unfortunately, Apple has long been criticized for putting form and style ahead of comfort and usability. Their Mighty Mouse sticks to this design priority and, as a result, is damn near unusable for extended sittings.

The Good
Apple did a lot right with its Mighty Mouse. Bluetooth setup is a breeze (after downloading the patch that allows the MacBook to see the device, anyway), and the configuration options are straightforward and provide a decent amount of customization, especially when combined with specific keyboard options. The multi-touch surface of the mouse is what drew me to it, though, and that’s where the Mighty Mouse really shines. While it’s far from perfect, being able to use the surface of the mouse similarly to the way in which the trackpad is used provides a kind of unity lacking in other mice. With only a few exceptions, the response is accurate and precise, and, from a purely functional point of view, I haven’t used many mice that are its equal. Additionally, because of its low profile and wireless capability, it’s a decent mouse for a laptop when traveling. It doesn’t come with a case, but I found that it fits perfectly well in a $6 generic, padded digital camera case.

The Bad
That low profile design, however, is the origin for all that is wrong with the Mighty Mouse. First and foremost, it is the single most uncomfortable mouse I have ever used. My hands aren’t terribly big (I can’t palm a basketball, for example), but still I find myself having to put my fingers in awkward positions just to even use it. In a nutshell, it’s too thin and too short. Sustained effort, however minor, must be used in order to move it across the desk. Because it’s thin, I need to continually pinch my fingers together in order to manipulate it in any direction. Because it’s vertical profile is so short – at its thickest it is just barely over ½ inch tall – I am constantly hovering my fingers and palm above the mouse’s surface. With all this flexing, however minimal it may be from moment to moment, within 30 to 40 minutes there is noticeable fatigue that begins at my wrist and slowly works its way up towards my elbow. I don’t care how superior a mouse’s functionality is (or keyboard’s, for that matter), if it’s painful to use, the product is crap.

The Final Verdict: 1.5 out of 5

It’s gorgeous. It’s precise. It’s painful. If you don’t have extended computer sessions where you use a mouse frequently, then you’ll undoubtedly disagree with me on my Final Verdict. But if, like me, you sit for hours at a stretch writing and researching, then I highly recommend you find a more ergonomical solution. I was under the impression that the low profile wouldn’t matter much as most of my time is spent typing, but that is not even remotely the case. I’ll be keeping the Mighty Mouse for use when I travel, but I’ll most definitely be switching back to Logitech for everyday usage. One of these days Apple is going to realize that, when it comes to input devices, form and function simply cannot outweigh ergonomics and comfort.

Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi

Title: Zoe’s Tale
Author: John Scalzi
Publisher: Tor
Date Published: 2008
First Line: I lifted up my dad’s PDA and counted off the seconds with the two thousand other people in the room.

As fate would have it, I found myself in a discussion recently where John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War universe came up. Talk about behind schedule, though… It’s been over a year since I read Zoe’s Tale. To be honest, I swear I reviewed it (and the other OMW books, for that matter) at some point, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere on the site or my own plethora of storage drives. So here I am… a bit fuzzy on plot details, perhaps, but I have the book propped open next to me and, if necessary, I’ll use it now and again as a bit of a refresher. Be that as it may, I think I’ll try something a bit new since so much time has passed. I’ll try to focus on the lasting impression the novel left me with.

I think every reviewer out there has probably mentioned the obvious Heinlein influences in Scalzi’s series. I’m not an expert on RH by any means, but from my own pedestrian point of view, I find Scalzi to be infinitely more “approachable” in his writing style. Yes, there are similarities to plot construction and thematics, but Scalzi’s isn’t simply mimicking the Grand Master. His voice is all his own, and he excels at creating nuanced, complex, and thoroughly enjoyable characters.

Zoe’s Tale is a “parallel novel” to The Last Colony in much the same way that Ender’s Shadow is a parallel novel to Ender’s Game, which, as it happens, I just finished teaching my college freshmen. Without going into too much summary, it retells the story of TLC from the perspective of teenage Zoe. And it’s the difference in those perspectives that makes ZT such a wonderful story. The Last Colony is a story about the settling of a new world and all the if-it-can-go-wrong-it-will adventures from the perspective of a married couple, he an ex-marine, she the equivalent of ex-special forces. Zoe’s Tale, on the other hand, is told from the perspective of their adopted teenage daughter.

Here’s the meat of it for me: Zoe is, without a doubt, the singular most impressively rendered character I have read in the last five, maybe even ten years, regardless of genre. She’s smart, witty, and sarcastic to a fault. She’s filled with love and angst, desire and rebellion. She’s coming of age in a new world she loathes and loves with adoptive parents she both adores and, at times, wants nothing to do with. Oh, and she’s the messiah for an alien species who have sworn to protect her from harm, even if it means destroying the rest of the human settlement. Most of all, though, Zoe is both charming and compelling, and her story went by far, far to quickly.

Scalzi’s character work with Zoe shouldn’t have surprised me. His characters are consistently strong and fresh, regardless of which of his books are being discussed. It is, I think, the primary reason I continually return to his work. With this is mind, Zoe’s Tale is, I think, the strongest of the books in the Old Man’s War series. And while it is a parallel novel, I don’t think it is necessarily a stand-alone novel. Scalzi, as I remember, does a fine job of filling in the important blanks for those new to the series, but his previous books lay an important foundation of backstory that is impossible to capture in any amount of detailed summary. And while the omitted bits and pieces aren’t necessarily essential information to the telling of Zoe’s Tale, they are, I think influential in how the recurring characters are perceived. But that’s the tricky bit of writing a series, and I’d be compelled to argue with anyone who thinks any part of a multi-novel universe with recurring characters and storylines can successfully “stand alone” within that universe.

Regardless, Zoe’s Tale, like the rest of the OMW series, is a fun, fast read that touches on some weighty subjects. I highly recommend not just Zoe’s Tale, but all the books in the Old Man’s War series.

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Title: Mistborn: The Final Empire
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Publisher: Tor
Date Published: 2006
Pages (Hardcover): 537

First Line: Sometimes, I worry that I’m not the hero everyone thinks I am.

Like, I hope, a lot of folks, when I heard that Brandon Sanderson was tapped to complete Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, my first thought was:

Who?

I say I hope a lot of folks said this because I don’t want to be the only idiot who has never heard of him. Thank goodness he finally landed on my radar, though, because, in a nutshell, Mistborn is a fun, fast, thoroughly entertaining read. It has some flaws, to be sure, but all in all I couldn’t wait to turn the page, and I tore through the story as fast as anything I have read in the last few years.

Much of what makes this such a quick, light read is the marvelous pacing Sanderson established from the very first scene. Mistborn is, at its core, a heist story. It’s like Ocean’s Eleven with with magic and a couple of fantasy tropes thrown in to complicate matters. The pace starts off slow, almost plodding, as the players are introduced, but it builds steadily, page after page, complication after complication. From a purely mechanics point of view, the work Sanderson has done with tension and plot is quite astounding. The pace of the action is easily what kept me reading well past my bedtime.

Another element that I enjoyed was the magic system Sanderson developed. There is great danger in creating a magic system, I think. In a world such as Sanderson’s, where so much depends upon the use of magic, a balance must be struck between revealing too much detail and not enough. Sanderson achieves this balance by having his protagonist, Vin, discover and train her abilities through the course of the novel. His system is unique, though. Rather than your standard wizard or warlock, in Sanderson’s world, some people, most often those of the upper class, are born as “mistings.” By ingesting a particular metal, they are able to tap its resources. This allows them to either enhance an ability they already have, such as heightening their senses or strength, or it grants them a more mystical ability, such as pushing metal objects with their mind or allowing them to see a few moments into the future. The ability all depends upon the metal ingested, and what their body is predisposed to “burn” or utilize. Someone who uses strength can only use strength, for example. Someone uses tin (sensory enhancement) can only use tin. Even rarer in Sanderson’s world, however, are the mistborn, who are able to use all eleven metals at the same time. There were times I thought that Sanderson was a bit repetitive in his explanation of his system, but overall I found it quite compelling. And because we learned about it as Vin did, Sanderson was able to spare the reader any long passages trying to get the basics of the system across.

But while the magic system and pacing were so good, there were some minor issues I had with the overall story. **Potential spoiler here. I’ll be as vague as I can, but if you absolutely don’t want any hint about the end of the book, skip to the next paragraph!** The biggest problem for me was the giant “ah-HA!” Sanderson pulled at the end of the book with a “FINALLY! The Truth Comes Out!” kind of moment. It wasn’t a tremendous let-down, and I think, perhaps, it may well be a technique used in heist stories, but I hate having huge, gigantic plot elements withheld from me. It’s one thing if the story is told in 1^st person PoV and the narrator makes the discovery right along with the reader, but Sanderson tells the story in 3^rd person, and one of the characters he focuses on knows everything from the very beginning. It was handled fairly well, all in all, but I still couldn’t help feeling a bit deceived.

Another issue for me, and more minor than the first, was that I just didn’t buy into some aspects of the growth of Vin. There were times I felt as if she had shed her past all too easily without any kind of justification. The intent, I think, was to create an inner conflict for her, but most often I felt it failed as it led to what seemed to be obvious contradictions in her motivations. These contradictions then complicated matters by making the characters around her appear foolish in their affection and trust of her.

Those points aside, though, there is a lot to like in Mistborn. It’s quite a refreshing take on the fantasy genre, and it brings loads of new and exciting possibilities for the remaining two books in the trilogy, which I plan on getting to just as soon as I possibly can.

rfdc reader Martin, currently reading the Dune series, sent me a note asking about Stephen King’s Dark Tower series and why the heck I don’t have a search function for old posts.

I used to have a search function, but for some reason, after I switched to the current implementation of the Thesis engine, it stopped functioning correctly. I disabled with with a note to look into getting it working again, and just never got around to it. I’ve made a (new) note and will try to get it up and running soon(ish).

As for The Dark Tower series, it remains one of my favorite series ever. Martin’s comment, however, was shared by a lot of people when the final book of the series wrapped the story up:

what Roland finds is a case of “what happens when a writer doesn’t know how to end a series”

It’s been a while since I read the series, and I have been meaning to do a re-read and series review like I did with the Dune and Harry Potter books, but there’s been too much on my plate (like the series review of Mistborn, thanks Nick and Brian for finally shoving my face in the first of the trilogy!) to take on another 7 (8? I forget exactly how many books are in The Dark Tower series) book read.

Suffice it to say this for now… I remember that I wasn’t all that irked by the ending of the final book. I understood what people were getting at, but it didn’t really bother me as much as it seemed to bother other folks. That said, the ending was also entirely forgettable, which I think is actually a bigger problem. I remember the criticism of the ending better than the ending itself. In fact, I had to do a bit of research to jog my aging brain as to what actually happened in those final pages.

And while that is a tremendous problem, it’s a problem that I think King has suffered from throughout his career, especially in his early years. Even Duma Key, one of his best and most recent books, has an ending that seems completely contradictory in tone and intent than the rest of the book.

Anyone familiar with King, I think, would not have been surprised how The Dark Tower series wound up. I know I wasn’t. Disappointed, perhaps, especially after the equivalent length of about 5 Lord of the Rings trilogies, but not surprised.

I hate the Oscars. Even when I was acting, I hated the Oscars. Not the award itself, mind you, but the ceremony. It is tedious, pretentious, and a bunch of other iouses I don’t even want to get into. Ten, fifteen, even twenty years ago I had a recurring dream every spring in which I won one of those 8 lb. golden statues. I’d arrive via taxi at a backstage door just in time to run onstage, thank Mom and Dad and Grandma, and Agent Al, and Director Dan, and Writer Wendy, and Caterer Kate, and the taxi driver still parked outside, and the wino in the alley for turning his head away just before he puked, and then the Musical Director would save me and I’d run back outside to the cab and be done with the whole mess. I’d take the statue back home and put it on the mantle where it would be surrounded by a dozen or so other (far less shiny) trophies, medals, and certificates earned for various events, publications, or productions I have to struggle to recall with any kind of clarity.

Thankfully, I no longer have that dream. I don’t even think about the Oscars much, because, mainly, I don’t really care. I can’t afford to go to the movies anymore, so why should I care? I can’t afford the time or the financial investment. I’d wager I’ve averaged maybe three films a year over the past decade. Maybe. This year, Avatar was one of those films.

And I liked it. I enjoyed the time I spent in the theatre, and when it was over, I left and never really thought about the film again.

Fast forward to a few days before the Oscars, and the hallways at school are buzzing with anticipation and prediction. I hadn’t been paying attention to nominations, and when my students told me Avatar was nominated for Best Picture, I laughed and asked if they were serious.

Fast forward yet again to the day after the award ceremony. I watched perhaps 15 minutes of it the night before as I was getting ready for bed, and not a single award was handed out in that fifteen minutes (there were, however, 7 minutes of commercials, which is worse, even, than a NASCAR race on Fox). I’m talking with a friend who happens to be a huge Science Fiction fan, and she was outraged, outraged I tell you! that Avatar was snubbed for best picture and best director.

“Really” I asked. “But… the movie… well, the story… it kinda sucked.”

She couldn’t even speak. Oh, she tried. Her mouth was open and sort of fluttered, as if she had suddenly forgotten the proper lip-tongue-teeth positions for her plosives and fricatives. But she’s a friend, and I wanted to help her, so I continued.

“Avatar is this decade’s Jurassic Park. It was gorgeous. It was stunning. The oh-my-god-did-you-SEE-THAT?? factor blew the roof off the theatre. And though I am far removed from the business these days, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there were some fundamental changes made to the landscape of cinematic production, so I suppose I could see Cameron winning Best Director for pulling all that technology together, but Best Movie? Not a chance.”

“But you like science fiction,” she managed to say.

“Yup, I do. Hell, ever since I first saw Star Wars and Blade Runner in the theatre, SF has been my single favorite genre of film. But that doesn’t mean I overlook crap when it hits the screen. And while Avatar isn’t crap by any stretch of the imagination, without the technology behind it, that story never gets made into a movie. Because not only have we heard that story  told before, we’ve heard it told better.”

My friend hasn’t talked to me since. She’ll come around. She’ll have to. I have her pen.

So there you have it… my review of Avatar and the Oscars all rolled into one little (ok, maybe not so little) package. To summarize:

Avatar: A good piece of eye-candy that neglects to focus on any of the myriad of potential themes it introduces, which leaves it ultimately flat and forgettable.

Oscar: I hope they move this to Pay-Per-View so I don’t have to miss another episode of Extreme Makeover.

It isn’t often that I start a book but not finish it. I’d much rather struggle through to the bitter end clinging to some vague hope that there will be a payoff in the end. In fact, I can only think of three books I abandoned partway through. Two I went back to and eventually finished, but the third I have tried and tried again, only to set it aside each time for something else. Three books over the course of 30-something years of rather voracious reading… not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

Imagine my surprise, then, to start this year off with not one, but two books I put down by page 100. I wasn’t even going to post on them, but I received them through the Library Thing Early Reviewer’s program, and while a review isn’t mandatory the folks over at LT ask so nicely that I hate to disappoint. The question becomes, then, is can I honestly review a book that I didn’t finish?

It happens all the time. Book reviewing is a business, after all. Critics are under deadlines and have both public and corporate expectations to meet as far as timeliness goes when it comes to new releases. Most often they will receive advanced reading copies direct from the publisher which allows them, hopefully, to publish their review on or shortly after the book’s release date.

That said, I don’t really think it’s appropriate for me, personally, to give a thumbs-up or down kind of review for a book I didn’t even get a third of the way through. Instead, I’ll touch briefly on the reasons why I put each book down. Reading is, after all, a personal experience. The act of reading itself is what I have always focused my reviews on, and that doesn’t necessarily correspond to the “literary quality” of the book being read. Moby Dick may well be one of the greatest books ever written, after all, but I’d never know it. I’ve put that sucker down three times.

So, without further babblage, here are the two books that didn’t last more than a hundred pages:

Title: Vilnius Poker
Author: Ricardas Gavelis
Translator: Elizabeth Novickas
Publisher: Open Letter Books
Year Published: 2009 (originally published in Lituanian as Vilniaus pokeris by Vaga in 1989)
Pages: 485
First Sentence: A narrow crack between two high-rises, a break in a wall encrusted with blind windows: a strange opening to another world; on the other side children and dogs scamper about, while on this side – only an empty street and tufts of dust chased by the wind.

To be, for once, succinct, I was not at all ready for this book. Vilnius Poker is a deep, difficult read that I will absolutely return to. For whatever reason, however, I couldn’t muster the focus the writing demands of the reader. Realizing this, I set it aside and will try again at some point down the road.

That said, even though I struggled with it, I knew I was reading, or trying to read, something very special. Gavelis’ writing is, in a word, stunning. It is also packed with big, huge, tremendous ideas as the main character, Vytautus Vargalis, struggles to maintain what little grasp of reality he has left after being imprisoned and tortured in a Soviet prison camp.

In some ways I shared that struggle, as I found myself, more often than not, confused as to what was happening to Vytuatus. I never felt as though I had a firm stance on where the story started out, what the baseline was, and that left me frustrated and continually flipping pages backwards and rereading in an effort to clear things up for myself. I do not think, however, that this is indicative of a flaw in the writing itself. It is a result of the perspective of Vytautus and, I think, extremely important to the overall tone of even the short bit I struggled through.

Vilnius Poker is not for the casual reader or the faint of heart, and, now that I better understand that, I’ll approach it much differently when I next pick it up and start at page 1.

Title: Brideshead Revisited
Author: Evelyn Waugh
Publisher: Knopf (Everyman’s Library)
Year Published: 1993 (originally published 1945 by Chapman & Hall)
Pages: 315
First Sentence: When I reached ‘C’ company lines, which were at the top of the hill, I paused and looked back at the camp, just coming into full view below me through the grey mist of early morning.

I stopped reading because I was bored. That sums it up, really. The book started out strong with a prologue that set up the plot (or what I thought was the plot) extremely well. It was both active and introspective and presented a situation that was rich with both internal and external conflict for the first-person pov protagonist. But then the prologue ended, and with it all the tension it built up, and chapter one takes the reader back in time.

I assume that the final chapter(s) return to the present-day that the prologue established, but I didn’t make it far enough to find out. I found the story plodding and slow, with far too much focus on “realistic” conversation that seemed endless and ultimately pointless. I cared nothing for any of the characters, therefore I cared nothing for what they were talking (and talking, and talking, and talking) about.

Brideshead Revisited is shelved and there it will stay until, one day, when I once again run out of shelf space, I donate it to the local library.

Film: Quantum of Solace
Director: Marc Forster
Screenwriters: Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis & Robert Wade
Primary Cast: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric

Review Summary: I still don’t like the new direction of the Bond franchise, and QoS is no where near as strong a movie as Casino Royale was.

I guess I didn’t review Casino Royale, so I’ll summarize my thoughts on it, as much of that initial review will apply to this one as well. First and foremost, I am not convinced that this was the right direction to take the Bond franchise. I understand the desire to rewind and start from scratch with a new generation of viewers, and the choice see the new, young, raw, vengeful Agent 007 transform into the smooth and suave James Bond that we all know and love is loaded with potential. But until that transformation begins – and so far, two films into the “new Bond” era, it hasn’t begun – until it begins the franchise is reduced to the “just another Hollywood action film” genre. And while Casino Royale was a decent Hollywood action film, it was a very poor Bond movie.

Quantum of Solace, on the other hand, wasn’t even a very good Hollywood action movie. The difference between the two falls on two serious shortcomings. The first stumbling block is the script. The only script element I didn’t care for was how heavily dependent it was upon Casino Royale, but make no mistake… this script is, from top to bottom, a classic Bond story. Extravagant chase scenes, evil masterminds hell-bent on world domination, you name it, the stuff that built Bond for 20 films is jam packed into QoS. But remember… they’ve rewound the franchise and started from scratch. You can’t just drop a new attitude on an old package and expect everything to fit. This would have been a terrific film for the Connery era Bond, or even the Dalton era. But with the changes in attitude of the franchise, it simply doesn’t work. At all.

And the reason it doesn’t work lies almost solely with the direction of Marc Forster. He’s a good director. I loved Monster’s Ball and Finding Neverland. But his lack of experience with action movies was evident from the very first scene. In fact, the action scenes continually caused me to flash back to the Jason Bourne franchise, and not in a good way. I found it disappointingly obvious that Forster set up QoS to emulate the style and rhythm of Bourne. And not only did he fail to pull it off, it’s a style that isn’t right for Bond, anyway. Bond isn’t reality. Never has been, and never should be. It’s over-the-top super-spy kind of stuff. It deals in extremes and stereotypes, not in nuance and idiosyncrasy.

And that is why, I think, this plan of transforming the franchise will ultimately fail. If they try to show some kind of character growth from film to film, they will need to explore the nuances of the Bond character. They will need to establish the why’s and wherefore’s that turned Bond into the cavorting, misogynistic playboy that we all, somehow, came to love. And I think that if those questions get answered in the current gritty, “realistic” style that they are pursuing, the character at the end of the transformation will appear to be more anti-hero than hero. And that, in my mind, just isn’t James Bond.

Title: Just After Sunset
Author: Stephen King
Publisher: Scribner
Year Published: 2008

Overview: 4 out of 5
A collection of mostly new short stories. Overall, not as strong as previous collections, but there are a couple of gems here. Most of the stories are new, but there is one, “The Cat From Hell” which is over 30 years old. It’s also my favorite in the collection, and seems in many ways to be very “Poe-esque.” I think I may have even seen the television version of it on Tales from the Darkside he mentions in the notes section at the end of the book, but I can’t be sure of anything further back than Tuesday’s breakfast.

Detail
I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating… I’ll read everything Stephen King writes. I may not like everything he writes, but I’ll certainly give him the benefit of the doubt. Such is the effect King’s prose has had on me over the years. And, with the exception of The Stand and The Dark Tower series, I prefer his short fiction over his longer work. That said, it was with great excitement I picked up his latest collection of short stories.

Just After Sunset is King getting back into his groove as far as I am concerned. For the most part, he cruises happily along with stories that do not disappoint, but also just don’t seem to have the same kind of ooomph that his older stories have. There are, however, a couple moments of brilliance.

“N.” is easily the strongest of the new batch of stories. Much of King’s recent longer work has focused on psychological and emotional explorations of his characters. Here he continues that exploration through, of all things, a psychologist’s report on patient “N.” King combines his new focus with his focus of old: the unexplainable and perhaps supernatural. It’s a wonderful tale of obsession and intrigue.

In “Willa,” the first story of the collection, King explores the afterlife. The subtlety of this particular piece is what sets it apart from the others. Rather than keep us locked out of the reality of the situation, this is a new kind of King, I think, one that starts with the door cracked open and lets us peek through at what is really going on with his characters. It’s touching, charming, and, I think, the most endearing piece I the book. It also contains my favorite quote: “Perception isn’t everything. But perception and expectation?”

If “Willa” is the new King, then “Stationary Bike” is a tribute to what first attracted me to King so very many years ago. There are no rules in a story like this. Reality and fantasy blend, and with them goes the “perception and expectation” of the story’s central character, Richard Sifkitz. It is this blending that captured my own imagination in his early collections. Everything about this story just screams vintage King.

In some cases, though, such as the final story, “A Very Tight Place,” King’s absence from the short form is painfully evident. To be completely honest, I was utterly repulsed by this story, and I think that is exactly what King intended. In my mind, it’s the kind of story I’d expect to receive in a freshman creative writing class. Granted the writing is technically superior to anything I’d receive at that level, but the story itself is, quite simply, needlessly gross. Moreover, to end the collection on such a note is to do a disservice to all the stories that preceded it.

Overall, if you enjoy Stephen King, I think you’ll enjoy the stories here. Or, conversely, if you can find the four good ones I mention (“The Cat From Hell,” “N.,” “Willa,” and “Stationary Bike” in other places, definitely pick them up, as they are King at close to his best.