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The Draw of RPGs

Clarification: When I discuss RPGs, I am referring to role-playing games and not rocket-propelled grenades. Except for the times when I am talking about rocket-propelled grenades but those are few and far between.

We here at somewherepostculture are fond of many things. Derek loves puns. Kait loves pulpy fantasy stories. I hate everything. If there is one thread of unity which binds the three of us together, it is the role-playing genre. Albeit, my sister is a neophyte when it comes to your traditional RPG goodness, she still expresses that kindred longing in every post-novel lapse where she fills her head with mighty adventures of her going through the wonderful worlds that she loves and adores. I know this, because every time I write a story she immediately makes a spin-off of it. Also, despite her reluctance and adamant denial, she has enjoyed the few times she’s played an RPG. She’d be totally hardcore if it were more convenient to her schedule.

Granted, this shouldn’t really be surprising. There’s a lot to love about RPGs. They are, in essence, the the age old entertainment from when we first were capable of language and cobbled our kin around the primordial fire and–bored–filled ears of any who would listen about people and places that weren’t this fire. Entertainment at its core is simply selfish empathy wherein we peek into the lives of another in order to vicariously experience their highs and lows without actually having to risk those highs and lows ourselves. Of course, to tickle those dopamine receptors to their max, the listener has had the proud and long standing tradition of heckling. It wasn’t until we got so adept at sharing our stories that we faced the immutable forms of the written word which can only bend to our personal whims through sheer force of mindful inattention.

Accessed from http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/b/bocklin/the_surf.html

The Surf by Arnold Böcklin (1883).

Then we had the wonderful role-playing game step in and restore that give and take between teller and listener once more. Dungeons and Dragons, of course, is the grand daddy of the modern role-playing genre for taking what, on reflection, is a very simple idea. What if we could have our tabletop war games but instead of mindlessly waging conflict between our two different players, we took all the mechanics and instead wrapped it in personal adventures and stories?

I have spoken at lengths about the merits of D&D, often around the time I sit down to create a character. It’s a fascinating topic for me to study since there are so many elements at play with the game that it truly does have widespread appeal. As I’ve stated, my personal bias is the narrative construction of the game and though I like to paint a universal portrait for the importance of story-telling in our day to day lives, the truth is there are equally valid components included that attract people that may not give a rat’s ass for the cultural mono-myth of our existence and lives. For these undeveloped plebeians, there are other worthwhile draws. Some of my most die-hard D&D fans are attracted to the system itself. This surprises no one as RPGs and math nerds are like espresso and overpriced tiny cups–you just can’t serve one without the other. For these fans, the enjoyment comes not from the back and forth experiences between the Dungeon Master and the player but taps into the old war game roots. For these players, there is an enemy and that is the stated foes listed in the monster supplementaries. Their goal is a simple one: master the system so thoroughly as to leave any battle not only alive but as the clear victor.

If I had to create a spectrum, however, I’d place these power games–for it is the power of the system which they seek to master–diametrically opposed to me, the role-player. But that is, perhaps, another discussion. All I know far too well is how these power gamers have a tendency to ruin the best portions of D&D by trying to stick their swords in pretty much any situation which extends too long without someone mindlessly throwing some dice on the table.

However, just like D&D’s atrocious alignment system, the breadth of the fans can not be properly placed into two camps. There are also the tourists, who enjoy investigating and navigating another world and see the game through the frame of a puzzle to be solved. They are the people who always wish to know more about their environment and visiting fantastical places. They can cast themselves off to these places which are not here and can imagine a world that is not their own. Whether they view this world through a lens of scientific intrigue or childhood wonder varies from person to person, of course. There are other elements as well, of course: co-operation amongst a group to overcome challenges, social interactions and living a character, shoes and bags of holding.

I make mention of this because I feel that D&D remains the undeniable king of the genre. With the advent of computer gaming, there is a plethora of attempts to bring the RPG genre to the digital landscape. However, despite the huge steps in technological advancement, I feel that the game will always be best represented at the table. There are just too many factors involved for a single game to capture them all. The biggest problem, of course, being that we still don’t have any computer which has the processing power of our own imaginations and rivaling that tech will probably never happen in my lifetime.

As a consequence, discussing computer role-playing games can be a difficult thing. Given the inherent complexity, sacrifices have to be made in order to see a game come to fruition. As such, most games will excel in one or two areas at the consequence of others. It’s why when asked what my favourite cRPG is, I have to give an incredibly varied list. It’s why Derek and I can have endless debates over the merits of Bethesda’s entries. Whether I like a cRPG is going to depend on which aspect the developers decided to place their focus. If its on an element for which I don’t truly care, then I’m not going to really jump into it.

Accessed from http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/b/bocklin/pirates.html

Attack by Pirates by Arnold Böcklin.

My favourite example to use, of course, is The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. Skyrim is kind of a big deal. It was released at a time when the most successful games on the market included heavy multi-player aspects. Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls series had always been a single player experience and people were begging at Oblivion’s release and after for a massive multiplayer online game. This would, of course, completely destroy what the Elder Scrolls are about (and coincidentally, people can see the difference given that The Elder Scrolls Online is a thing and has recently gone free to play–perhaps indicating it wasn’t as successful as Skyrim). Derek loathes Bethesda’s games and I can’t fault him for that irrational hatred. They lack a lot of what he really likes. Their mechanical systems have always been functional at best. Their characters are about as detailed as one can get when they have to create a thousand of them. Interactions between the player and the characters and plot on any meaningful basis is never going to happen.

And that’s because the Elder Scrolls are focused on exploration. They aren’t about epic narratives or compelling characters. They’re about stepping over that ridge and stumbling across a dungeon, delving inside to find strange grottos or hidden pirate lairs. You are invited to live in the world and play the part of a tourist. Take a look around the scenery and follow these exciting short dramas that are created within it. As a cohesive whole, the Elder Scrolls leaves a lot to be desired. But the only other game that gives you that “discover a new world” feel is procedurally generated Minecraft.

We’ve recently finished Divinity: Original Sin (expect a review shortly) and its world is probably one of its more laughable qualities. Whereas both share set pieces in their design, to be sure, you just can’t compare the two. I mean, The Elder Scrolls is designed from a first person perspective which, I would argue, is the strongest one for creating immersion. D:OS, however, is an isometric top down perspective that makes you feel more like you’re moving pieces across a chessboard than an individual exploring a world.

However, D:OS makes Skyrim’s combat a joke. The amount of interactions between abilities as well as the complexity of even the most basic encounters with zombies is truly astounding. Every time you draw your weapon, you have a calculating strategy battle that demands you position and chain your abilities properly in order to rival your foes. Otherwise they will (especially on hard) murder you. It’s the sort of combat that would be impossible in Skyrim, partly because of its reliance on a party and partly because the creation of Skyrim’s breathtaking world has to drop all the data for interaction between items and abilities. And neither of these are touching on my favourite elements: character and narrative.

In a sense, it’s a shame. My “dream game” would basically combine all the best qualities and recreate Dungeons and Dragons for a digital space. However, there is some joy in exploring titles and seeing the refinement of a specific element that might otherwise be ignored. There’s some exploration within the genre itself and it means that there is still things that can be pleasant surprises. My only word of caution would be in blindly trying to sell the games more than what they are. I can’t take anyone seriously that argues D:OS has terrific writing, an engaging world or gripping characters. It doesn’t, especially not compared to the games that actually focus on those elements. If I were to solely compare D:OS to Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines on those fronts, there isn’t even a debate to be had over which is better. Bloodlines would take D:OS to the cleaners. But turn the tables and start discussing combat systems and suddenly things aren’t so bleak for D:OS.

Accessed from http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/b/bocklin/isle2.html

The Isle of the Dead by Arnold Böcklin (1883).

So there’s an aspect of finding what you like and looking into the titles that do those the best. But there’s value to be had in looking at those that extol the virtues of elements that may not be the favourites either. Dark Souls is another game that emphasizes combat and boss encounters and I loved it for that.

There’s lots of reasons for loving RPGs. The quest for you is to find your own.

Happy Holidays

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Yes, it’s been quiet around here lately and yes, I’m certain many people aren’t coming over because of all the work that has yet to be done. And if you are coming over, why haven’t you finished all the work that has yet to be done! Oh, you’ve finished and have better time management skills? Do you do coaching?

We here at somewherepostculture–if you haven’t noticed–are not the best at juggling multiple obligations at the best of times. Through in the Christmas season and you’ve got a frantic recipe for disaster. As usual, I blame Derek. I mean, really, when was the last time he posted?

Anyway, today’s update is to confirm that we are now on holidays and will be taking a hiatus from the site while we enjoy time with family, friends and imaginary family and friends. It is our wish to you that your holiday season is filled with mirth, good cheer and fantastic presents. Perchance we could even convince you to join us in our futile attempts to resurrected that age old tradition of wassailing. Unlike caroling, this one ends with beer!

From all of us here, we wish you the merriest Christmas, the most festive holidays and the bestest New Year! See you all in 2015!

Accessed from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Adolph_Tidemand_Norsk_juleskik.jpg

Norsk Juleskik by Adolph Tidemand (1846).

The Power of Speculation

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I had not heard the term “speculative fiction” until the last two years when Derek decided he was going to be incredibly educated in an incredibly niche field. For me, all that stuff had been “fantasy.” It was the sort of hushed about genre. I come from a family of readers but when I was growing up, mystery was the king of the household. As a wee little lad, I had the romping adventures of the Hardy Boys to spark my imagination. My sister, naturally, had Nancy Drew. My mom read pretty much any detective fiction that was ever printed. There was also a series of books we read which followed two kids as they solved mysterious across Canada. I want to say they were Eric Wilson’s Tom and Liz Austen series?

However, this was not to last. When I was in Grade 4 I got very sick with appendicitis. While bemoaning my imminent death, I was bed bound for a few weeks at home. A child is apt to get bored during that time and no doubt I complained incessantly about there being nothing to do. My mom eventually returned with the entire Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. These were on video since it was far easier to put them on and let me drift off and on in sleep as I recovered.

I found these films absolutely fascinating. Perhaps it was the drugs but the bewitching idea of being transported through an old wardrobe (did not understand what they were for the longest time) into a magical land was incredibly appealing. I learned quite a lot of useless information from those books. Information that did not translate well into my own world. Primary among them is that Turkish Delight, despite its appearance, is not tasty at all.

Accessed from http://www.wga.hu/framex-e.html?file=html/i/ibbetson/balloon.html

George Biggin’s Ascent in Lunardi Balloon by Julius Caesar Ibbetson (1785).

Regardless, the fantasy world was revealed and I dove in enthusiastically. I was far more prolific in my reading when I was younger and it, no doubt, prompted my desire to write. On the heels of Narnia came the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings as well as my nostalgic Thieves’ World anthology. Even into high school I was chewing through the fantasy genres and I had a couple of friends who suggested their own favourite series for me to read.

It took about five years but I eventually discovered that I don’t particularly like fantasy anymore. It’s primary focus is on escapism and epic battles between ultimate forces. It was all… incredibly samey. Each series was just like the last, sometimes blatantly so. The genre certainly became very rigid in its portrayal and as it grew more and more entrenched, I found myself drifting further and further away.

Now, I hadn’t entirely ignored science fiction. Both genres had been smashed rather inelegantly together in every library and book store I visited. I picked up a few, read a couple more that were recommended. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy certainly had the greatest lasting appeal but even the Left Hand of Darkness is something I look back on with ever growing respect. My first novel is a fantasy and though I feel it deviates from the norm, I’m not entirely convinced it does it to any remarkable manner. When I started my short stories, I was hesitant to start into the science fiction genre. I didn’t feel I was properly equipped to write within it. I haven’t read a lot of the seminal works nor am I particularly familiar with its most prominent tropes.

Accessed from http://www.wga.hu/framex-e.html?file=html/g/gautier/backfema.html

Back of Female by Jacques-Fabien Gautier-Dagoty (1746).

However, I find I am enjoying it more and more as I write. There seems a far greater avenue to write on topics which are relevant to the present without needing tireless research into fields which I am uneducated. There is also a kind of perverse pleasure in thinking about current scientific theory and inquiry and imagining the future implications of them. There’s something very… sharp about science fiction. And my short stories certainly take a greater and greater focus on the present now than they did when I was writing purely for pleasure.

Not that entertainment is a terrible thing. There are just less rules to follow in science fiction and that freedom is both liberating and daunting. You don’t have key great works to point at and say definitively “this is what science fiction is.” Aasimov, Le Guin, Herbert and Gibson are about as varied as the topics they cover. Even now, I’m puzzling out the ramifications of modern American capitalism and the possibilities of what corporatehood would be when taken to its greatest extremes. My last short story looked at the existential question of what constitutes individuality and the relationship between mind and body.

There’s a fleeting sensation of being the Oracle of Delphi when tossing your mind against the future and the direction society could take in its endless march. Most of the time, it’s incoherent and drug induced rambling but every now and then I feel I stumble upon a genuinely though provoking idea. For all our learning and understanding, there’s so much we don’t know and even less than we can predict. I will never have the impact of Gibson or create a world that hits as many realities as his but I don’t need to either. All my speculative worlds essentially examine questions we struggle with now or will struggle with in the future. How will body modification affect as both on an individual and societal level? What will it mean to be human when we are able to replace large portions of our body with plastic and steel? These are certainly not the first time the questions been raised but that we have no right answer means that there is room for novel results.

Future earth worlds are also infinitely easier to create than fantasy worlds as well which is also a large plus.

NaNo Post Mortum

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Sure, this is a bit delayed but the world required me to complain about teenage fiction!

Anyway, today I want to natter about my NaNo experience. In case anyone doesn’t know what NaNo is yet (and how can you not?) it’s National Novel Writing Month. It’s exactly what it says on the tin. I’ve decided to make two NaNo events official times in my life. November is my standard writing experiment while April is my “Double NaNo” marathon. Thus, April I write the first draft of something I expect to get published as it’s around 90,000 words. That leaves November as my experimental month to try something new.

My first NaNo really set the tone. I wrote it at the start of the superhero craze which is dominating popular media at the moment. I wanted to do my own Watchmen story which focused more on the real world implications and outcomes of people getting super powers. I hadn’t seen Heroes at the time but the comparison would probably work. I don’t know a lot about Heroes but in my story, a group of random individuals develop super powers after experiencing a horrific subway accident which occurs beneath a biomedical research centre. The story follows three high schoolers (because comic book idealism really only works for a teenage audience) and how developing the powers of telekinesis and regeneration wouldn’t solve all their problems.

Accessed from http://www.wga.hu/framex-e.html?file=html/a/andrea/castagno/3_1450s/06julian.html

St. Julian and the Redeemer by Andrea Del Castagno (1453).

It didn’t even turn them into crime fighting celebrities. Course, complications arose when one of their group never gained superpowers and his jealousy sort of developed into an increasing issue for the others. The kids tried to hide from these doubling real world problems by falling more and more into the personas, culminating in a confrontation with one of the survivors who was abusing her powers in a pseudo-villainous manner. That fight, however, made the primary character realize that comic book idealism just isn’t realistic and he ultimately turned himself and his friend over to the biomedical company who was gathering survivors and whisking them away to distant, isolated research labs to examine what exactly went wrong as well to contain a small group of people with abilities well beyond the average individual.

My second NaNo came about after a lengthy discussion with my sister while hiking. She is a huge fantasy buff and she made me realize that, while I do write in the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre, I don’t generally hold to the standard format or setting. The closest work I’ve done are the D&D stories which I’ve posted on this blog before. But those were always just short little throw-away stories I wrote between projects. Essentially, the writing equivalent of doodles.

So, NaNo took became a traditional fantasy. Once again “realism” was brought to the forefront as I examined genre tropes and tried to apply them to a setting that focused more on hyper-realism. So, no, there were no wizards, fireballs and pointy eared elves. It was a wandering monk and outcast knight trying to navigate medieval society as they searched for evidence of the mythical and otherworldly at the behest of a bored aristocratic lord. Ultimately, the pair rubbed brashly against the established norms of the numerous Dark Ages communes which they stumbled across. Some where enlightening while others did not appreciate how neither fit their rigid definition of proper social order. This story necessitated a lot of research into medieval society itself which was highly illuminating for me.

But don’t ask my to tell you anything I learned.

This brings me to this year’s NaNo. Once again I set off to write something outside my comfort zone. This time, I was going to tackle the horror genre. I’m not a big fan of it though I do like King and Lovecraft. As with the others, I wanted to take a standard genre set-up and try and navigate it with my own voice. This story was slightly different than the other two: I had tried to write it before. I did the “Novel in a Weekend” challenge and a version of this story was the product of those efforts. Of course, due to its time frame, it was only 25,000 words and well away from anything I had hoped to construct. A full year of rumination had focused more of the narrative I wanted to tell and the story became about a young man working part of a family run ‘medium and exorcism’ business arriving at a supposedly haunted house under renovations. The story examined the relationship between the boy, his mother and the owners with very few of them actually believing in ghosts.

Course, that changed by the end of the story. I feel I learned a lot but more than anything I still feel confident in my prior assessment: horror is dead.

Accessed from http://www.wga.hu/framex-e.html?file=html/a/altichie/1/3george2.html

St. George Slays the Dragon by Altichiero da Zevio (1378-84)

Granted, I am not the best person to make this proclamation. My story was, in my mind, an abject failure. Granted, all my NaNo’s are bad so in that sense, the ghost story is hardly outstanding on that front. However, I still struggled with the essence of the genre itself. As I mentioned in my analysis of Elder Signs, the hardest hurdle for the horror genre to cross is rationality. Basically, in order for my story to work, I had to systematically strip the grounded foundation in which the story was set. For the most part, my characters were too smart for the genre they inhabited. I had to subvert their cozy view of the world but the rationality for that subversion wasn’t any greater than ‘just because.’

In preparation for my novel, I read a number of blogs and articles by horror authors. I have to agree with their assessment that horror is good people making bad decisions. More than that, horror needs to press forth a world view which I inherently disagree. The way horror works is by feeding on ignorance. The primary struggle is of the protagonist standing in the dark while all manner of who-knows-what prowls around them. The hero tries to navigate the darkness with their flashlight, but that light is always on the brink of burning out. They can never truly shine the light on the noises which haunt them or else you banish the horrors which plague them.

The Horror genre ultimately plays on one of the basic, most primal emotions: fear. It and lust are the two fundamentals for an organisms survival and it does not surprise me that they can be found in equal measure in the genre. It is a body of work explicitly devoted to “the feels” and instilling in the reader those primal sensations, attempting to override the fight mechanism and send them into outright flight.

Unfortunately, I feel that we’re progressing beyond that. The human condition is far more than these primordial directives. Our lives consist more than living long enough to continue the next generation. The very act of reading a book demonstrates that. So successful have we been in an evolutionary capacity that we’re capable of more than those two extreme expressions. Hell, we’re capable of holding the flashlight in the first place. Thus, horror is trying to drag the advancement of human development back to those early roots where ignorance and bewilderment dominated decision-making. The author has to cheat in order to tear away the systematic conquering of our environment in order to reach there. It’s why supernatural opponents continue to abound in horror writing despite them never making logical sense within their own world.

For example, if ghosts were both a common phenomenon and as dangerous as they are required to be in order to induce the fear of a horror story, then people wouldn’t be surprised or shocked when they came across them. And, because of our capabilities of passing on survival instincts and information to others, we would readily pass on how to properly avoid if not outright deal with ghosts so they aren’t an issue. As the author, to knock that flashlight out, I have to heavily cheat my character in order to do so.

And this is where horror falls apart for me. It’s that the creator must rely on his “supernatural prowess” (read: the fact that the author is god and is creating a world) in order to get the story to work. So much of Lovecraft’s stories get silly with how predominant cults and dark magic is but yet every new protagonist that stumbles over it is shocked that such things were capable of existing.

Personally, I feel that within humanity at large there’s enough inherent curiosity that no new threat can remain an enigma long enough to function as a continual source of dread. There are enough people that will return to the dark with bigger and better flashlights until the entire darkness is shone away.

Now, Derek loves horror and he enjoys the breakdown of the neat and orderly world which people like me are so inclined to erect. I can understand and respect that even if I can’t share in it. Unfortunately, if I don’t find the topic sincere I don’t think I’m capable of properly doing it justice.

This isn’t to say that all horror fails for me. I think there is still enough unknown for us to be worried or concerned. Lovecraft, at his best, was in driving his characters mad. I also enjoy Sci-Fi horror and coming across alien horrors. There’s a lot out in that starry void that will be bizarre enough that I can see dread returning to our comfortable world. But for Earth and the world we live in now, we’ve driven the darkness so far back that there’s very few corners left for it to linger. We’re no longer cavemen walking out from our shelter to look on the terrifying world of wonders around us. We’ve documented, studied, built and tamed so much of it now.

Accessed from http://www.wga.hu/framex-e.html?file=html/b/baldung/1/061death.html

Death and the Maiden by Hans Baldung Grien (1518-20)

And with that understanding, horror loses its grip. I don’t know, maybe there will be a way to get it to work but for now I’ll go back to my other speculative fiction. There is, of course, one deep well which I think can always be plumbed for good horror inspiration. While the world itself may become less mysterious, there is almost no end to the actions we will commit against ourselves. No matter how philosophically or ethically we advance, we will never stop being animals. It is so easy to dismiss papers and documents and fall back to those primal instincts, letting disorderly cruelty rule than refined rationality.

That, truly, is a terrifying thought for me.

Novelber… Nanovember…

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I can’t really come up with a witty title here.

You may notice things awfully quiet on the somewherepostculture front. It is November and for many, that means growing a moustache in support of prostate cancer. Most of us here already have one, however, and sadly it’s not for charitable reasons but because we’re dirty, unwashed swines. Except swines can’t grow beards. Hm…

Accessed from http://cavalierhousebooks.com/nanowrimo

NaNoWriMo advisory. You can follow, join and support NaNoWriMo by visiting their site: http://nanowrimo.org/dashboard

Anyway, November for us means lots and lots of writing as it’s National Novel Writing Month (also affectionately called NaNoWriMo). All of us are busy pounding away at keyboards to get words into documents that, unfortunately, don’t really get posted up here for your amusement. I would have liked to have some articles saved up to post in lieu of actually focusing on the site but, alas, I was ill-prepared for this annual event.

However, Kait and Derek were equally ill-prepared so at least the blame is diffused amongst the three of us.

And yes, this is a long winded way of saying there’s probably not going to be any updates for the next two weeks until we get some loads off our plates. For that, I apologize on behalf of all the somewherepostculture website.

See you in cold, blistery, wintery, snowy December!

Reading, Writing and Reviewing

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As work becomes less intensive I feel I ought to contribute something to the blog. I have read and enjoyed several books of late. Unfortunately none of them inspired me with the burning need to write full length reviews. Instead I will gather them all in one post – into a mass reviewing of books.

Book cover from the interwebs.

Free Agent by J.C. Nelson was a fun, fast-paced romp through a fantastical urban setting drawing heavily on fairy tale imagery. The protagonist works for the local Fairy Godfather, who will help you find your Happily-Ever-After for a reasonable fee. When working on assignment, Marissa mistakes a blacksmith for a prince things start to unravel around her. She is suspended from the job she loves and hates. She causes her crush to be targeted by a dangerous curse. She ends up in the hospital on more than one occasion from near death experiences. But things turn really dangerous when her boss is targeted by a rival Fairy Godmother. Sorting out all the tangles and surviving to work another day is not an easy task. The writing is fun and imaginative. The story is high energy and fun. I will be adding the (yet unpublished) sequel to my book-list.

Book cover from the interwebs.

Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan is the third and conclusive book in the Lynburn Legacy novels. I really enjoy the character development in Brennan’s writing. Yes, it is a young adult novel. So yes, it follows around a bunch of hormonal teenagers. However, Brennan doesn’t write dialogue like teenagers speak. Her characters are far more engaging. They have distinct voices that are often filled with lively banter and cleverly crafted phrases. With the author’s awareness of classic tropes, she handily makes fun of many of the clichéd moments in the story. Even the main character is able to reflect on how easy life would be if she was an orphaned heroine, rather than burdened with a family she cares about. I really appreciate the variety of relationships built (or broken) in the story. The inclusion and prominent use of family in the story helps to build a world that is real. While we might not be facing an army of murderous wizards, we can all relate to family feuds that disrupt our lives. It is the characters that drive the story and create the interesting world of Sorry-in-the-Vale. I really did love this series.

Book cover from the interwebs.

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas is the third book in the Throne of Glass series. I have really enjoyed following the saga of Celeana – world’s best assassin. It is a richly developed world with multiple locations and people all interacting at various points. Though the story revolves around Adarlan and its recent abolishment of magic and all those associated with it. It is a kingdom set to conquer the world – seemingly at any cost. Despite the inclusion of the fey, the world is interesting. Celeana is a fascinating character. She is not the most verbose of leads, but her actions are loud and energetic. There is something engaging about her struggles in a world that has become increasingly grim. My biggest complaint of the book that followed not only Celeana, but Captain Westfall, Prince Dorian and the Heir of the Blackteeth clan was the lack of conclusion. For whatever reason, I had it in my mind this series was only three books in length. I was a little surprised and disappointed to reach the end of the book and not have a conclusion to the story. On the other hand I have another book to look forward to. It is a fun, if somewhat violent, young adult fantasy setting. Still I enjoyed it.

Book cover from the interwebs.

Royal Airs by Sharon Shinn is the sequel to Trubled Waters. The story is nice (if somewhat predictable), the characters are nice, and the pacing is a tad on the slow side. What draws me to this series is the world. I love the description of the capital city with its temples, plaza of women and men, the potentially dangerous river, and the mix of modern elements. There are a number of more ‘modern’ elements mixed with more traditional fantasy; from the trousers and tunics worn my most people to the automobiles clogging the city streets. Yet this is a world where the sword (or knife) is the deadliest weapon. Magic is both overt with the primes and their ability to move the elements and subtle when mixed with the spiritual religion. While I appreciate the author’s reorganization of the calendar into five seasons, each eight weeks long with a changeday between them. Each week is nine days. I like the neat organization of the calendar. But I love the religion and its focus on blessings. There are eight blessings (things like wealth, change, joy, etc) for each ‘element’ (wood, water, earth, air, and fire). At the temples you pull your blessings three at a time. They can offer guidance or reflection for where you are in life. I like that while you are typically born into an element it does not depend on your parents and is more a reflection of your personality. There is something about this setting that I find lovely. It is more for the setting that I read this series and will continue to read this series.

Book cover from the interwebs.

Tin Swift by Devon Monk is book two in her rough and tumble new world western frontier setting. It is an age of steam and mechanism, with rail lines crossing the land and airships sailing above. It is a land where the gods can curse a man. Where the fey are dark and hungry, the thing of shadows and nightmares. Witches are few and clustered together in covens. Man is restless as he seeks his fortune (whether that is power, safety or freedom). It is a rough world filled with violence, death and mysterious dark forces. But there are also glimmers of hope mingled in the mixing of magic and machine. There is something intriguing about the gritty world Monk has created. The writing itself is also well-constructed.

TV Review – Scorpion

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It is fall and that means there is a new crop of TV shows assaulting the airways. One of the shows that caught my eye (for reasons I cannot entirely explain), is called Scorpion. It is supposedly about a group of geniuses who form a special unit in the US government to solve crimes and right wrongs and hunt bad-guys. The standard sort of fare.

Not my image. Title image of TV series on CBS.

I was not expecting much, though the first episode proved splendidly awful. It was tripe, clichéd and illogical. It was Flash Gordon bad – so bad it was kind of good. It was funny, when it was trying to be serious – or at least intense. All the emotional, concluding moments were far too contrived to take seriously and the plot was over the top to say the least.

Bored, I watched the second episode. I was expecting another ridiculous romp. Unfortunately it was so glaringly bad that I could not loose myself in the outrageous plot line. In fact, it was almost offensively stupid and illogical.

Where to start my actual complaints?

While I would rewrite everything, I don’t think it is so entirely without potential. However, the main character makes zero sense. He cannot be emotional disconnected and the leader of a team of misfits that all need special handling. No person is that conveniently inept. He also cannot be a genius at everything if he still needs a team of secondary characters. So, one of the first things I would do (besides recasting the flat and poorly acted parts) is to redefine the group members, their roles and more importantly their limitations.

The ‘Human calculator’ and ‘Mechanical superstar’ should be rolled into one character; ‘the Engineer’. The lead should be brilliant at computers and software and average at other things. The amazing psychologist should be the team leader – he has the skills for this position. This is the character who should be responsible for interacting between the group of misfits and the rest of society. I would then add someone with a different expertise, something in either physics or biological sciences.

The main caste of the Team of Misfits – missing only the surly Government Official that put the team together.

Further, when faced with a problem the characters should play to their strengths, fall apart with their weakness. Their dialogue should also reflect their roles in the group. This would help with character development and consistency. For problems completely outside their purview, they should fail. Or at the very least call in guest characters to help/lead them threw that challenge.

Finally, we need to address the idea of genius. What is a genius? According to this show, those who are good with math and incompetent at social interactions are geniuses. I am not certain that you have exhibit characteristics of autism to be classified as super-duper brilliant – but then I didn’t spend a lot of time studying this concept. Also, everyone understands that the IQ test is not the be-all end-all of intelligence testing right? The test is largely based on cultural knowledge. Besides, how do you define intelligence? Everything has to be learned so what are we really measuring? This however is a question best left to other people (like my brother who has actually some background in this area).

Anyway, I just want to say that while I don’t hate everything, Scorpion is a terrible show. Atrocious writing, terrible acting, zero chemistry and absurd plots make for poor TV – except for the numerous viewers who have no discerning taste.

The Wellspring of Ideas

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“Where do you get your ideas” no one ever asked me. But I have read a number of interviews with successful authors and that is a frequently recurring inquiry. Some day, I would like someone to ask me it. But until that day comes, I’ll just pose it to myself and pretend it was someone else that was interesting.

Accessed from http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/m/memling/2middle3/15allego.html.

Allegory with a Virgin by Hans Memling (1479-1480).

The fun thing about ideas is that they sort of spring from nowhere. The process of writing and creating is an exciting adventure which I’m never one hundred percent sure where it will go. There may be some writers who know exactly every detail of their story, development of their character and exacting quirk of their locations before ever putting word to processor or pen to paper. I am not one of those people. I very much fly by the seat of my pants. That first draft is much like the first read. It’s thrilling and mysterious. There are twists and turns and unexpected surprises. Characters say and do things I would not have predicted. Betrayals are committed and more questions than answers arise.

However, I don’t want to paint a picture of absolute chaos and anarchy. It would be completely misleading to say that I didn’t have some grasp of the narratives that I create. Generally speaking, there is a core idea or theme which I want to explore. Often, this means I know how the story is going to end and much of the journey is dragging my characters, kicking and screaming, to that final point. But this final destination isn’t the seed of my idea. Usually it’s the result of preliminary research, rumination and organization. I’m thinking of my stories well before I’m actually working on them.

So that’s three paragraphs of skirting the question, “Where do you get your ideas?” My most recently completed short story is thematically exploring the concepts of self and the existential question of what makes us individuals. Course, when you read it, it’s not likely to come across as some heavy handed philosophical musing. For the most part, it’s presented as a silly cop drama. The theme was the plant which germinated from the seed. And the seed itself which I planted for Buddha, was I wanted a person to discuss his host’s umbrella stand made from a human leg.

That’s it. That’s really the starting point for that short story. The idea for it was drawn when perusing the contents of Ingrid Newkirk’s will. She’s the president of P.E.T.A and desires to have her body, upon expiration, to be chopped up and dispensed in a manner that continues to bring awareness to her viewed cruelty and exploitation of animals. In particular, she wanted to send India an umbrella stand made from her foot. When reading that, I got the thought “What would it be like for someone to walk into an office and see a foot just lying there on the ground, ready for an umbrella.” It was this absurd picture of a person faced with a seemingly atrocious display of human cruelty that was treated so nonchalantly that got my wheels turning. My mind, honed on lateral and logical explanations for inexplicable situations that arose from improvisation, began churning through a long chain of events that could make this stupid conversation about a token foot possible.

And a story was born.

Accessed from http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/bio/b/bosch/biograph.html.

Triptych of Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymous Bosch (1500).

Thus, ideas for stories come from unexpected places. If anyone had passed my Ingrid’s will and said, “Read this! It will give you a great idea!” I would have laughed at them. Likewise, the idea for the Clockwork Caterpillar came from a rather unassuming angle. While Derek was living in Ottawa and on my many visits, he had a tradition of taking me to one of the many museums located in the nation’s capital. One time we went to the science and transportation museum with Felicia in tow. She had never been before, you see, and was excited to cross off the last of the major museums from her to-do list. It was cold and wintery and I was mostly happy to be inside though this museum was no R.O.M or Science Centre. They had some rather maudlin exhibits covering dry topics like the creation of morse codes or telegraphy or the Canada-arm but nothing that really grabbed my interest.

That was until we headed up the old transportation wing. We entered a rather large warehouse which was basically a storage room for old trains. I thought nothing of them, I’ve seen trains before. My brother even had a toy train set when he was little that I’d play with when he wasn’t around. But Felicia, she just lit up at the sight of the enormous engines. She was laughing and crawling all over them like a child in a candy store. I laughed at her: not for her exuberance but because my sister also has a silly thing for trains. I’m sure Kait’s appreciation of them is partly based on a long running joke but to see two unrelated women overjoyed for an outmoded vehicle amused me. It got me thinking and wondering what it was about trains that they appreciated that I didn’t. I thought perhaps it was a sense of freedom and exploration coupled with an older time full of charm and simplicity.

Suddenly, the gears were working again. I could see a woman back in colonial times looking up at the enormous machines and pondering the direction of the future which they would chart. I imagined the allure of such a machine and the power and wonder that she who lived on it would experience. Slowly, the Red Sabre was taking shape.

It’s a similar kind of story for some of my other creations. Some of them were more theme focussed. I knew with Eternal September and Pasithea Reassembled that there were two sorts of phenomenon I wished to criticize. With Pasithea, it was the hollowness of the club scene which strives for some emotional connection on shallow and superficial levels with individuals. I wondered how that institute would change as our technology and cultures changed. On some level, I felt they wouldn’t. No matter our progress, we’d still have judgmental opinions and biases against strangers. We’d still show insensitivity and cruelty. And thus, I envisioned a scene between two women in a dank and grungy bathroom where one was going to steal the dress right off the other.

Accessed from http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/e/eyck_van/jan/02page/26barbar.html.

St. Barbara by Jan van Eyck (1437).

As for Eternal September, it originally brewed up from my disappointment with the world building of another work. There was a video game that was designing a space exploration experience filled with various alien races. Unfortunately, one of those races I found really lack luster. Their design seemed mostly to be “Let’s take Japanese culture and make the people fish!” It frustrated me because science-fiction is so good at exploring different ideas and for an organism so vastly different from our own to develop to our technological level would have a very different perspective to society than we would. These aliens did not. And so my mind began to wonder “What would they look like? How would this impact their vision of the world and the development of their culture.” Eternal September was the product of those musings. Course, as I was writing a short story, I dropped the alien physiology and so that change alone necessitated a whole slew of other changes to the story structure. However, the initial ideal–that these people worshiped Essentialism–was maintained and the consequences of a society based around those views was formed.

There’s really a story behind all my stories as I’m sure there is for every other writer. It’s a curious process of spontaneous happenstance and self-reflective musing that culminates in these exacting pieces of work. I love the process, I wouldn’t trade it for anything else. And though no one else is really interested, I always enjoy the journey it took for ideas to come to life.

First Impressions

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Accessed from http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/d/durer/1/01/04self22.html

Self Portrait at 22 by Albrecht Dürer (1493).

My posting is a bit erratic and for that I apologize. It’s been a busy month of writing and editing as I try to make this deadline which is an issue that sort of crops up every other month. Alas. In theory, somewherepostculture has two other contributors to pick up the slack when someone gets bogged down with work. Derek, however, continues his unending quest of dying and with the start of the new school year, both he and Kait are busy with those duties as well.

In positive news, I’ve seen Kait reading a batch of new books so there should be some reviews on the horizon. Also, next month is rather dead for me (right before the incredibly busy November) so hopefully I can be a bit more consistent in my posts then too. Also, I came across a short little topic I wanted to discuss while I was editing.

Specifically, I want to spend some time on first sentences.

Pretty much every writing advice source will say that the initial sentence is very important. It’s the first impression you, as an author, get to make to your fans. Its your one chance to hook them into your book and keeping them going from line to line until the very last pages.

And it’s a bit of a lie.

I’m not saying that first sentences aren’t important for they really are. But it’s not truly the first impression you make on your reader. Common knowledge teaches that first impressions are important as they form the lasting associations a person has for that work (or individual or whatever). Anecdotal evidence abounds to collaborate this position and there are even psychological studies which delve into it. I won’t dwell on this fact further but I do want to say that, as a writer, you are making an impression even before someone opens up and reads that line.

In this day and age, book covers are the first window into your work. Unfortunately, for the vast majority of writers, what makes that book cover is well out of your hands. But there is one component of the cover which you have some control over. Well before we had lavish artistic pieces adorning the protective sheafs, we had first line of contact between creator and audience: the title.

I hate coming up with titles. Unless I have an idea for a title before the work, I can almost never come up with anything I like. They are really hard to make and it’s for the same reason that writers struggle for that first line on the page. The title is supremely important. It sets expectations in your reader as well as being your largest chance to get a potential reader to pause in the bookstore and pick up your book. It needs to be eye-catching. It needs to be inviting and entice the fantasies of idle passer-bys. It’s a lot riding on what amounts to, on average, three to six words.

Accessed from http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/d/durer/1/03/1self28.html

Self Portrait at 26 by Albrecht Dürer (1498).

I make this comment because I’m going to call out my sister. She is finishing a short story tentatively called Sacrifice. I understand what she was going for but the issue with that title is that it’s too generic. It tells the reader nothing. I’m certain there are droves of stories through history all called Sacrifice. There’s nothing in the word itself which entices me to look into the story. It’s the equivalent of Sister Marjorie Brushes her Teeth.

Writing is a strange little art. It’s less like sculpture and more like performance. With a painting, it takes seconds for the audience to really consume the piece. I don’t have to truly sell the idea of the painting, I can sell the painting itself. Show it off and people can decide whether they like it or not. The first impression is almost the only impression it gives. Obviously, there is more complexity to paintings and sculpture and longer viewings can reveal more about the piece but what you see is really what you get.

A novel, however, is not the same. A writer is more of a showman. You need to entice your audience to step through the curtain and purview the wonders you’ve locked away in the dark and behind curtains. Each step needs to be teased. At any point, your reader can simply duck out the tent’s flap and never return. You may have the most wonderful scenes, poignant character development and thrilling action but if you can get them to take that first leap into your arms the reader is never going to see it. You need to dress up, throw on some glitter and mystery if you ever want to compete with all the authors doing the same.

There are, essentially, three important teases: the title, the first sentence and the first chapter. The title gets the reader to open the book. The first sentence locks them to your page and the first chapter should insure that they’ll never put it down.

Of course, there are plenty of examples where poor titles or lackluster opening sentences have not held a book back. ‘Twilight’ is not a particularly inspiring title. ‘My name is Kvothe, pronounced nearly the same as “quothe.”‘ is about as dry as they come. But both Twilight and Name of the Wind managed to be hugely successful despite these flaws. So, there is some silver lining to all this unnecessary drama I’m wrapping around this first impression spiel. But why give your work that risk–that handicap–of a weak appearance? You wouldn’t let your child head out to his first formal dance with his fly undone or shoes untied. Sure, he may still impress his date and she may even find a certain charm in his inept demeanor. Ultimately, however, it’ll be his personality that wins her heart so you want that to be the first thing she sees when he arrives on her door.

I will end on a positive note. The reason I wrote this post wasn’t because of my sister’s bland title but because I absolutely love the first sentence of my new short story. I didn’t even write it: Kait did. It’s important to learn from our weaknesses, I think, but to also celebrate our successes. My favourite kind of first impression is one that leaves me immediately unbalanced. It intrigues me to be left a puzzle that can only be solved by continuing on. I’ll always step through that curtain if there’s a sense that what lies beyond will make some sense of the bizarre and strange greeting you give me.

So here we go:

“With stooped shoulders, gangly walk and a morose disposition, you would not think Ed was the Buddha.”

Self Portrait in a Fur-Collared Robe by Albrecht Dürer (1500).

Silver Mirrors

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So it has been a while since I reviewed a book. It has been a while since I have read a book. So, here I am with a very short book review.

Silver Mirrors is A. A. Aguirre’s sequel to Bronze Gods. It is described as a steampunk noir by the author. While I don’t get the noir part, it is clearly steampunk set in a magical world.

The land of Hy Breasil is a series of Islands; including the Summer and Winter Isles. There are allusions to some distant land, the original source of Humans in Hy Breasil. The original peoples were the Ferishers who had magical abilities. With mention of the Iron War and a great barrier separating the islands from elsewhere, it seems to me these books are set in a parallel world; the mysterious Fey land often mentioned in British mythology.

Janus Mikani and Celeste Ritsuko are two members of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Dorstaad police. In Bronze Gods they stop a conspiracy to tear down the veil separating the islands from elsewhere. Silver Mirrors follows directly after those events and looks at some of the consequences.

Book cover – image from the internet.

I liked the way the book did not spend one chapter summarizing the first book in the series. It doled out the information in bits and pieces throughout the novel and provided just enough mention of Bronze Gods to remind me of the key points (even though I had forgotten most of the plot).

My biggest complaint with the story was the lack of investigation. It seemed a bit of a stretch to send two CID from the capital city of Dorstaad to the distant Winter Islands to figure out why weird things are happening (weird things including: screaming mirrors and wailing trains). That aside, the two leads are moved from one location to the next in sequence. Things happen. Information is fed to them, but there is no real sense of mystery or investigation. It never felt they were in charge of their actions. It very much felt like they when from one place to the next because that was what had to happen for the plot to progress.

Over all, the book was fine. It will not make my top ten list (still working on that one), but it is not terrible either. I will happily read the next in the series – something I am guessing will happen.