Someone Didn’t Care for One of My Reviews

This guy didn’t think much of my review of The Way of Kings (and a bunch of others). He makes some good points, some that I can agree with and some that I don’t. But, it sucked me into another one of those recurring discussions in the blogosphere about blogging. If you’re curious, join in, if not, I don’t blame you.

Sam Sykes Answers Questions Five

Sam Sykes is a young debut author who has hit the SFF scene hard – right in the balls (sorry to be crass, but this is a Sam Sykes interview and it’s not for the faint of heart – or someone overly sensitive to language). And to add a bit of trivial info to this introduction – Sykes is actually a pen name that Sam uses in part to distinguish himself from his mother, writer Diana Gabaldon. Sam’s debut novel is Tome of the Undergates, the first book in the Aeon’s Gate Trilogy (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound, my review). Book 2, Black Halo (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound) should hit the shelves in 2011. Sam’s distinctive public persona is a breath of foul air in the world of SFF (and I mean this in the best way possible).

Thanks again to Sam for submitting himself to Questions Five (and for producing arguably the most entertaining entry in this interview series)!

Joe Hill, a magical pug, a Mexican, Joe Arpaio, and Lou Anders go on adventure seeking the Tome of the Underpants. How do things go?

“Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god,” Joe whines. Tears are in his eyes, blood is on his hands. It’s getting hard to keep track of the fluids.

“Shut up, just shut the fuck up,” Lou says. He’s wanting to rub his head, wanting that brief clarity of mind that only comes from hand-to-head-sans-hair contact. But he can’t take his hands off the wheel, not until they reach Mexico, not with a dead body in the trunk.

“Jesus fuck, Lou,” Joe says, “I killed him. I killed that guy.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“The fuck it wasn’t my fault! I said I was just going to talk to him!”

“Look, man, it’s not like you did too bad. It’s Joe Arpaio. He provoked you. You…you know…you’re kind of blameless.”

“Then why the fuck are we going to Mexico, huh? Why the fuck is he in the trunk?”

“I don’t know, dumbshit! Why the fuck did you kill him for having the same first name?”

“You don’t know what it’s like, man! You’re not a Joe. You don’t. Fucking. Know.”

“Gentlemen, please,” a voice, deep and bass, speaks up from the backseat.

Neither of them look back. Neither of them want to see the pug in the tuxedo. Neither of them want to believe it can talk, just like neither of them want to believe that those pills they took at the gas station were anything more than aspirin. But they look into the rear view window and the pug is still there, still talking, and it’s getting harder to believe anything else.

“Do I look like a young lady?” the pug asks. “Do I have curly golden hair? Do I wear a pretty little dress and dream of vampires instead of wearing this fine Armani and long for a day when I can put you both far behind me?”

“I guess not,” Joe says.

“Man, don’t fucking talk to it,” Lou snaps.

“No,” the pug says. “Because I am not a fucking little girl. I’m fucking more man than either of you little pieces of shit, so when I say to do something, you fucking do it like a man told you to, comprende?”

“Fuck is…is he Mexican?”

“Well, what the fuck do we do, then?” Lou asks. “You’re a fucking talking dog, what the hell do we do?”

A pug can’t smile. This is fact. But as they look up into the rear view, neither of them wants to believe that they see a pair of canine lips curling up into a broad grin.

“Have either of you heard, by chance…of the Tome of the Underpants?”

If Tome of the Undergates were a fortune cookie, what would its fortune be?

“Your god is deaf. Your heaven is a lie. Go to the water. Drink deeply. We will meet you there and we will all go to a world of endless blue and oblivion. Together.”

How would you interpret this fortune if it were your own?

Well, I guess I’d go drown myself. I mean, I’m not dumb. I’m not going to piss off a fortune cookie.

Please describe one reason Tome of the Undergates would inspire a reader to strip naked and run screaming into the forest?

If that reader is a fantasy reader: they would do so because the sheer amount of imagination would cause them to realize that nothing in life could possibly be as cool as a dragonman fighting a ten-foot-tall emaciated demon and the only way to live life to the fullest would be to go to that world and, going by the Terminator principle, one needs to strip naked and run around and hope for the best.

If that reader is a romance reader: they would realize that Tome of the Undergates’ awkward, often violent romance between two people who love and hate each other at the same time is probably closer to reality than anything read in a book and, not wanting to live in such a world, would go in search of the nearest bear and hope for an end to the misery.

If that reader is a horror reader: they would be moved by the idea of horrific beasts that view mankind as a pitiful thing in need of release from an uncaring world and view drowning as the quickest way toward a caring deity and, out of gratitude, would strip naked and run through a forest directly to my house to thank me.

If that reader is a guy named Stephen: you fucking owe me twelve bucks, you shit. If I catch you naked, I’m going to be pissed.

Why should Tome of the Undergates be the next thing that everyone reads?

Because it’s a new way of thinking: hateful people bound together by self-loathing instead of heroism, hateful people learning to overcome that and be bound together by something more…but not heroism, villains who are possibly more kind and loving than anything else on earth, character development taken in a way that can be sometimes hard to digest, but ultimately rewarding and engrossing.

Also, crotch-stomping. Oh, lord, the crotch-stomping.

Bonus question for inclusion in The SFF Literary Pub Crawl:

Please recommend a favorite pub or similar establishment – it doesn’t have to be local to you, but that is encouraged and if you can’t limit to just one, recommend more, but try to keep it to 3 or less. And don’t forget to say why it’s so great.

I love The Wine Loft in downtown Flagstaff. My hearing isn’t so great and I’m a man who hates the sight of other people having fun, so a bar with good beer, good wine and an atmosphere that doesn’t involve a bunch of people dancing to loud music is one I enjoy.

Also, the owner seems to like my dogs, so he must be a good person.

[For what it’s worth, this is my favorite place for drinks in Flagstaff as well]

Related Posts: Review of Tome of the Undergates

Review: Tome of the Undergates by Sam Sykes

Tome of the Undergates (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound) is the debut novel from Sam Sykes, a relatively young writer with a rather distinctive public persona. This tome combines classic Sword & Sorcery with a bit of epic fantasy while inverting the noble band of adventurers as is the first book of the Aeon’s Gate Trilogy. It’s violent, witty, foul-mouthed, and unpleasant – and depending on one’s perception, it’s either perfect or horribly wrong.

Tome of the Undergates could read like the standard Sword and Sorcery adventure quest – there is wizard, a priestess, a shict (elf equivalent), a dragonman (troll/orc/ogre equivalent), and a talented man all following an inspirational leader. That’s where it ends because this merry band of adventures hate one another – not in the we don’t really get a long way, but in the I want you to die a brutal death as I carve out your heart with a spoon kind of way. Most of the characters are morally reprehensible, all are greatly flawed with mysterious pasts full of violence, pain and punishment, and it’s really hard to figure out how they haven’t already killed each other. Under the leadership of Lenk, who is slowly going batshit insane, the band is bonded not by noble mission or even the desire for a big paycheck – the band is bound by their own self-loathing. The only thing the hate more than each other is probably themselves, so the company, however unpleasant, is actually better than the alternative of being alone. And at least together they seem to get the chance to kill a lot.

All of this is told in the distinctive, dark wit of Sykes’ writing. It’s funny, it’s snarky, it’s sarcastic, and it’s over the top. The only thing more over the top is probably the violence – typically described in visceral detail. The violence is in your face from the beginning – not quite gratuitous, but so close it becomes semantic. Let’s be honest – in this, Tome of the Undergates is something a 14 year old boy would love. Or someone with a sick sense of humor. Or someone who wants to read an extended Dungeons & Dragons campaign. But it would be a mistake to dismiss this book simply because one of those doesn’t apply to you.

Sykes displays strong potential with his writing. Under all of the over-the-top humor and violence, there is some real talent. The adventure is one that I couldn’t help but follow – I needed to see it through. I became strangely devoted to the characters in spite of their questionable morality, rampant racism (err….speciesism?), reprehensible ideas, repeated blasphemy, and awful love stories. I wanted them to live, I wanted them to win, I wanted to see them kill some more creepy beasts. And I wanted to know more about their pasts – why are they so devoted to Lenk, why don’t the kill each other even though they really want to, why do they hate themselves, why don’t they kill themselves. And in the moments when Sykes provides glimpses into their pasts, he excels. Sykes underscores this as the real point by continuing the story well past the climactic battle with his most impressive bit of writing, particularly the section from Gariath.

Unfortunately, the writing has a few more downs than ups. This is Sykes’ first book and as a relatively young writer (only 25 at publication) his youth and inexperience show through. The pacing is off – the battles are too drawn out, a bit too clever, and the dialogue can be equally drawn out and overly clever. The points of view tend to shift both gradually and abruptly without warning or break in the text (this is one of my biggest pet peeves). Many will feel the violence is too much, the language too coarse, and the characters too nasty (in fairness, I think a good many people will consider this a positive). He keeps his characters a bit too mysterious, unrealistically so. And this nearly 500-page book could be much shorter without losing anything. But ultimately, these issues diminished in the face of a fun story.

Some books aren’t for everyone, and that is certainly the case for Tome of the Undergates. However, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t for some people – it succeeds well within its goals. It’s a book full of violence, adventurers with questionable morals, nasty creatures, with an interesting out-right inversion of the noble quest. And really, that 14 year old boy who doesn’t like books (but likes comics and/or video games) just may think this is the coolest thing ever. I liked it – with reservations – but overall I think it’s a great start for a promising young writer (and in spite of what my wife may claim, I’m no 14 year old boy and I think this book will appeal to a wider, if still limited audience). 7/10

Related Posts: Sam Sykes Answers Questions Five

Full Disclosure: Sam Sykes lives in the same city I do and I have met him on a few occasions, including one in which he bought me a beer and introduced me to George R.R. Martin as we gossiped about writing, publishing and blogging.

Review of The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

My review of The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound) is live over at The SF and Fantasy Masterworks Reading Project. Below is a short excerpt.

So, does The Left Hand of Darkness stand up 40+ years later – emphatically, YES! This novel has a timeless feel about it and a wonderful subtly wrapped in important thoughts that are inherent to our society and species. We will always be a gendered society, but just what do these gender roles mean? And the dichotomies within can apply where they weren’t necessarily aimed – the Cold War of the planet Winter now reads much more like an interesting take on the differences between Democrats and Republicans in the US – and I’m sure that those from other places will find their own modern analogs if they wish. This book earns its write to be at or near the top of any ‘best of’ list and easily belongs in a series of Masterworks.

Full Review

Something Completely Different

Well, I'm slowly getting caught up after a week-long conference last week and being single dad this week while my wife was away at a conference. I still owe a review to the SFF Masterworks Reading Project for The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound) that I hope to write soon and I'm enjoying Tome of the Undergates by Sam Sykes (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound), though this book is not for everyone. I'm also trying to weasel my way into early copies of some the great up-coming releases that so many of fans are anticipating - Towers of Midnight by Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound), The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound), The Crippled God by Steven Erikson (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound), The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound), etc. I have hopes, even if those are books that all of us bloggers will be reading (the thing is that most of us are fans first).

Anyway, on to photo - only in the U.S.!

Fatherly Advice

My son is still fairly young (he turns 3 in about 2 weeks) and I can't say how much fun he is. But of course there are some things I'm really looking forward to when he gets older. One of those things would be bestowing him the wisdom contained in this book, which I just received in the mail today.

Young Wizards Handbook: How to Trap a Zombie, Track a Vampire, and other Hands-On Activities for Monster Hunters by A.R. Rotruck (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound)

Room With a View: Charleston

As I started here, I am continuing my new (and 100% original) tradition of posting pictures from my hotel room while traveling. Below is the view from my room in Charleston, South Carolina. I wish all hotel rooms had such a great view (the picture really doesn't do it justice).

Back to schmoozing (and generally having a great time) at my conference.

Something Completely Different

Next week I'm off to Charleston, SC for a conference. I imagine it'll be quite around here, but who knows. Anyway...

So, are only Reservoir Dogs allowed in this Men's Room? (Romania)

Review: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound) is about many things, one of which is that classic science fiction time-travel trope of paradox and time loops. Therefore I find it rather ironic that I entered my own self-fulfilling time loop prior to reading this book. I rarely read any reviews about books I plan to read, and I often avoid even reading the synopsis on the back cover. But prior to picking up How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, I read this short commentary by Jeff VanderMeer. Thus I entered my own time loop, one in which I knew that I was going to like this book, that I would see it as a touching story about a dysfunctional relationship between a father and son, that it would be humorous and clever. I knew my own future?

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu is a book about a young man named Charles Yu who writes a book called How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe. Is it fiction? Is it autobiography? Is it both? Is it neither? Is it an instruction manual? Yes, no, I don’t know. It is a young man’s search for an absent father. It is his coming to know his depressed mother. It is his coming to know himself. It is a very literary novel. It is also an incredibly clever and amusing piece of science fiction. Charles is accompanied by a loyal retconned dog that doesn’t actually exist but shows love for Charles regardless – does the love exist, the smell of dog seems to. It’s an adventure through time and space in a slightly incomplete universe where Charles encounters the son of Luke Skywalker and several other people attempting to change the past.

How does one really characterize a book that swirls in and out of paradox, digs deep into the science fiction of time travel, that gets a little depressive, a little existential, that delves deep into the relationships of father-son, mother-son, self-self, and defines the metaphysics of time travel in the terms of literary narrative? In my case, I attempt to relay the first half (or so) of the book through out of context excerpts.

When it happens, this is what happens: I shoot myself.

…

I’ve never met Linus Skywalker before, but I’ve heard stories from other techs, so I feel like I have a good idea what to expect.

…

But the reason I have job security is that people have no idea how to make themselves happy. Even with a time machine. I have job security because what a customer wants, when you get right down to it, is to relive his very worst moment, over and over and over
again. Willing to pay a lot of money to do it, too.

…

Reality represents 13 percent of the total surface area and 17 percent of the total volume of Minor Universe 31.

…

Chronodiegetics is the branch of science fictional science focusing on the physical and metaphysical properties of time given a finite and bounded diegesis. It is currently the best theory of the nature and function of time within a narrative space.

…

Once upon a time, I am ten years old and my dad is driving me home from the park.

…

Read this book. Then write it. Your life depends on it.

…

No, this woman standing in front of me is something else, she is the one and only Woman My Mother Should Have Been, and I have found her. Looking for my father, I have found this woman, I have traveled, chronogrammatically, out of the ordinary tense axes and into this place, the subjunctive mode.

…

“So why am I being retconned?”

The style Yu uses in How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe varies widely and may be a barrier to some readers. The book is largely told from first person, sometimes told with excerpts from the book How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universal, and is sometimes both at once. The writing ranges from short, clipped phrases to long, run-on sentences spaced out with numerous commas. It can very dense, very technical speak about the mechanics of time machines and metaphysics of time travel. It can also be touching, if sad, reminiscing about a father and son working long hours in a garage. It has one foot in the literary world and one in a science fiction world, meeting in a space that can be equal parts brilliant and unappealing to both.

For the most part I flew through this book. Eagerly reading, digesting and laughing. Unfortunately, once the time loop is entered, the book slows down. The first portion of this time loop is one of the better parts of the book, but it’s the tail end that drags. I can see what Yu is doing – he is defining the past relationship between father and son, he bringing the son to a self-realization, he is setting up the end play. But it’s too often rather boring, and simply depressing as hell. It works because it achieves its goals, but it doesn’t work because it far too unappealing. Perhaps this is the SFF fan in me reacting to one of the more literary sections of the story. Perhaps I’m just uncomfortable seeing such a gloomy portrayal of a father and son’s relationship. Perhaps it was just too sad and boring.

So, was my own time loop self-realized? Did I like How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe because I knew I would? Did I like it because of its own merit? Did I break the loop by only liking it with a few reservations? Will this paradox send me into a parallel universe very similar yet strikingly different from this one? A blogger could get confused trying to be this clever (especially one with a relative lack of pedigree in the realm of hard science fiction). But I do know that How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe is a fun, entertaining, depressing, and uplifting story of father and son, a mother and son, and a son and himself wrapped in a bunch of interesting science fictional ideas, full of clever homage and sarcastic, yet touching humor. The book is a paradox, literary and genre, and at least for me, a self-fulfilling time-loop – sort of like review blogging in the SFF world, though that is a different discussion that I’ll try not to have another day. 8/10

Brandon Sanderson: Post Modern Fantasist…Really?

Over the weekend I saw this Big Idea post by Brandon Sanderson over on John Scalzi’s Whatever. He goes on to discuss deconstructionism and post modernism and how his Mistborn series (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound, my review) is intentionally post modern and that his latest book, The Way of Kings (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound, my review), is intentionally not post modern. He also discusses it a bit more briefly in this interview.

After reading that post I sat up a bit more strait and exclaimed something like ‘Huhhhh….’ I like Brandon Sanderson’s fiction – I've reviewed it rather favorably and I had a wonderful time when I met him (you will not meet a nicer, more humble person). But in no way do I consider any of what I’ve read of Sanderson to be post modern. Frankly, it’s almost laughable. Subverting a trope or two does not equal post modernism.

I won’t claim that I have the pedigree to call out Sanderson on this, even though for the past two days I’ve really, really wanted to. Thankfully, Jeff VanderMeer has stepped in. He does have the pedigree and is an author in the SFF world that I do consider to be post modern (at least some of the time). Thanks Jeff, I needed that.

What Twitter is Good For

One great aspect of using Twitter is that I can follow the thoughts of interesting authors in the SFF world. And sometimes I even get in ‘conversations’ with them. To prove to the world just how interesting these conversations can be, I give a slightly censored Twitter direct message exchange that I had with Unnamed SFF Author* a month or two ago (note: the language used quickly becomes uncivilized, to say the least).

USFFA: Those guys are losers to the extreme, ranging from conceited twats or fat babies.

Me: I agree - I wonder if my response will create a mini shitstorm, or just blow away

USFFA: If it does, don't back down. Those assheads need to be called on it.

Me: Oh, I won't back down, though I may grow dissinterested, which could appear as such.

USFFA: Either way, when people complain that sci fi isn't taken seriously, ___ is the reason why.

Me: yeah it's a group who feel that by liking SFF they forfeit any rights to be intellectuals but they like it anyway and hate themselves for it

USFFA: I think it's more that they fill a stereotype and enjoy only what they feel that stereotype should like.

Me: yeah - I think we are pretty well in agreement here.

USFFA: They are jerks.

Me: Jerkwads

USFFA: assbutts

Me: fucktards....oh boy, this going nowhere fast.

USFFA: Right. We might have to end it there.

Me: yes we should, they are jerks, jerkwads, assbuts, fucktards

So apparently Twitter is great for calling people names behind their back. I can live with that.

*Before you ask, no I won’t reveal USFFA’s identity or who/what ___ refers to.**

**Unless USFFA reveals themselves and what we were discussing.

New Brandon Sanderson Interview

A new interview with Brandon Sanderson has been posted over at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist. Once again, I helped out by submitting a few questions, along with a few other bloggers including Larry from OF Blog of the Fallen and Adam from The Wertzone. It mostly covers The Way of Kings (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound, my review), but also hits on general writing and just barely touches The Wheel of Time.

It's another great interview, so go read it! And thanks to Brandon (and Peter, his assistant, who recorded and transcribed the interview...and of course Pat who arranged the interview).

Mini-Review: The Chamber of Ten by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon

I picked up The Chamber of Ten by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound) just before travelling to Europe for work. It is the latest book in Lebbon and Golden’s loose series of The Hidden Cities and is set in Venice where an archaeological team unearths something important and unexpected. At the same time an ancient dark magic is unearthed, plunging the archaeological team into chaos and threatening to destroy the city. Yes, the description reads a lot like a Dan Brown knock-off or a bad Hollywood thriller, but books like this often capture the setting very well, and this is what I was looking for. I was hoping that that an interesting portrayal of Venice would help excite me for my own upcoming European adventures.

Unfortunately I was rather disappointed. The Chamber of Ten jumps immediately into action without taking much time to introduce its characters, including the city of Venice, which fails to ever emerge as a character of its own. The result is even harder with the human characters that get thrown into seemingly dangerous scenarios before the reader cares enough about what could happen to them. This all results in a big disconnect between the reader and the story.

Thankfully the story itself emerges as something interesting enough to capture the imagination and attention. By about half-way through the book I started to get really sucked into the fast-paced supernatural thriller and I only quit reading late into the evening with reluctance. Foremost in my rejuvenated interest beyond the high-octane thriller pace, were tantalizing hints about the history of Venice. Unfortunately, these hints were never realized with revelation.

While The Chamber of Ten is a bit of a breath of fresh air in the world of urban fantasy – there’s not a werewolf or vampire in sight – but is suffers under the generic feel of feeling like a Dan Brown imitation. The prose is a bit better that Dan Brown, but the storytelling is not. I think traditional SFF fans won’t find it terribly interesting and traditional thriller fans won’t buy into the speculative aspects of the story. This seems to leave The Chamber of Ten without an audience. 5.5/10

Towers of Midnight Trailer

This past weekend at DragonCon, Tor released the book trailer for Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound).


As far as book trailers go it’s pretty decent. A bit overdramatic and a bit low budget, but not bad if a bit narrow in scope. As a long-time fan of The Wheel of Time I liked it (even though I’m one of those fans that wishes Moiraine were dead and gone).

Of course after the book trailer you inevitably come to the cover art.


Ouch!

Something Completely Different

I'm home and life is threatening to overwhelm me. So, an image from just up the road (I love where I live).

Mohave Point, South Rim, Grand Canyon, Arizona