John Hattaway » Authors

Generically or Generally or just Updating

smokingpen — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:15:59 +0000

Kim Harrison is, perhaps, one of my more favorite authors. The thing, though, isn’t that I enjoy her writing but I think she needs top expand what she is doing. With that said, I am somewhat excited that she is publishing a new book for YA’s. I look forward to reading it and now that I am employed… or will be working very soon (the company I wrote about finally called and offered me the job they did but didn’t offer me the other week) and with that might be able to purchase the books that are new that I collect and want to read. Of course, in the future I would like to purchase some DVD seasons of my more favorite TV shows.

Those are:

I also enjoy:

As for the things sitting around waiting for me to read, I have:

This list is not a list of the order things will be read.

I am currently reading: White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison. This is book seven in the series and I think I wouldn’t be upset to have Harrison take a break and leap into something else. I did find a panel from some convention in New York City where she talks about writing. I thought some of the comments were good. Not sure I agree with a lot of what is considered wisdom from writers, but will probably have to be published to start speaking my mind and having it listened to.

Speaking of books and work, my new job (and I hope it doesn’t last any longer than it has to) is good news for my family and interesting news for me. I will be working a 10 pm to 7 am shift stocking shelves. Fortunately, the store I will be working at isn’t 24/7 and will not (necessarily) have to deal with customer’s throughout 90% of the night. I am hoping it is one of those positions where they give an assignment, let me put on my iPod, and leave me alone until the next assignment comes along.

Anyway, I am trying to get done with the writing sample. Hope it is done this week and that I have applied. I have this little card of things I would like to acquire or earn. One of those items was a college degree. That’s out of the way and sitting in some papers on a shelf next to my desk. I took some pictures of the office/work area to post but it was pointed out to me that I didn’t straighten, didn’t clean, and didn’t close any of the drawers. That needs doing too. Then I will try to remember to post them.

That’s all for today.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Cassandra West

Real Heroes Fly

The Lawless Elite

smokingpen — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:24:11 +0000

Tobias Buckell updated his blog with a post dealing with the lawless elite. These are (often) the protagonists in action movies that get away with a lot. Think John McClane from Die Hard or Martin Riggs from Lethal Weapon or (more recently) Bryan Mills from Taken or a whole host of other characters from movies and television that seem to get away with a lot of death and carnage because what they are doing is morally correct or morally superior at the time they are doing it.

Buckell approaches his argument in light of this kind of character from the perspective of his own perpetual protagonist, Pepper. Pepper has the necessary moral ambiguity to kill when necessary, not worry about innocents dying, and move on. Pepper is a lot like Jack Bauer on 24 when he watches someone die that didn’t need to die but helped catch one of the bad guys: no emotion. Whether or not death or destruction affect Jack Bauer or Martin Riggs or John McClane or Bryan Mills or anyone else isn’t really the factor in the lawless elite character; rather, it is how they comport themselves and move forward.

What I think Buckell and others miss about these stories is that they are often snapshots of time. The audience is, very frequently, not included in what happened in the life of the protagonist (or anti-hero) prior to the events, nor do they get to see what happens to them after the events. Instead, the moral ambiguity that is seen and the lack of emotion that causes people to stand up and cheer, these things are small bits while the true psychological impact of what has happened or is happening doesn’t play out in a movie.

I can’t imagine seeing Martin Riggs in any of the Lethal Weapons stopping to consider consequences of his actions. It is because of this (and for the comedic effect) that you have the interplay with the staff psychologist who, in the earlier movies, is trying to help and in the last movie when Riggs is ready to talk can’t believe he actually wants her help. Where in the current season of 24 two things have happened, one is Jack taking responsibility for his actions not only in front of a Senate sub-committee, but also Jack telling other people that they have to take responsibility for their own actions. Part of the penance Jack Bauer has decided to go through began before the season started in a short movie where he is in the country of Sangala (sp) at a home for orphan boys trying to make good on all the bad he’s done. Part of Jack’s growth and penance happened in the face of his wife and girlfriend dying, people he cares for being killed, and his daughter refusing to have anything to do with him. Jack is a lone wolf.

John McClane in the Die Hard series, in the most recent one, tells Matt Ferrell that killing someone is a bad thing and he’d hoped that the moral ambiguity that allows him to do that was behind him at the same time as he’s been dragged back into an action role. Like Jack Bauer, John McClane has to deal with a divorce and children that want nothing to do with him. He has to deal with lost friends, lost relationships, and the consequences of his actions.

In later lawless elite action movies, in order to keep the characters interesting, a few minutes, maybe a dozen lines of dialogue, are given to the consequences and then the movie turns to action and we move forward. The audience is given a snapshot into the life of one member of the lawless elite.

Consider that it is not about a penchant for taking the law into one’s own hands that make these characters who they are, but rather a willingness to take the law into their hands that make them interesting for the scope of that single story or snapshot – we as an audience are not privy to consequences. You can set aside laws and leave yourself in the grasp of moral ambiguity and not worry about a whole host of things simply because circumstances dictate actions and action (in this context) is what the audience wants. This is the reason that, in a very limited capacity, a man with a gun can insist upon breakfast. It is under this premise that the audience feels they, too, under the right circumstances, might be able to do what the protagonist is doing and as a result this is the reason these movies become popular.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Cassandra West

Real Heroes Fly

Generally Speaking

smokingpen — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:03:58 +0000

I sat down yesterday and started to write a review of Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother. Truth told, I don’t think the book is worth the money. Definitely not from a hard bound, pay out the nose, expense. It came across as too perfect and too much a community project for me to really enjoy and on top of that I think that Doctorow decided to ignore a lot of things, including technology and security concerns, that he wrote about which were out of date before he wrote this book AND implied that we’d hit a static point in development sometime around 1999. Of course, since Doctorow is an advocate of the Open Source software movement, not necessarily a fan of Microsoft, and decided to imagine a world where Microsoft would give away XBox’s rather than just subsidize them (marketing professionals will tell you not to give away the cow and hope people will pay for the milk) makes the story rather implausible in my mind and difficult to read. With all of that said, Doctorow wrote an amazingly tight book about some rather pertinent things, but did so in a way that demonized organizations and people in a way that, quite honestly, extends the realm of believability too far. More, he set his story in San Francisco and made terrorists attack structure’s that had no significance or meaning to the entire country, further negating the plausibility of argument.

Long point short (e.g. less than the 3000 words I wrote last night), I think, even in light of the many and varied positive reviews Doctorow has received, this book will disappear into the aether of oblivion within the next couple of years and only people like me who remember odd titles like this will remember what Doctorow wrote. All-in-all, Little Brother is a completly, and rightfully so, forgettable book and should be avoided. And, if this is the kind of things I can expect to read from author’s who all seem to rotate in the same literary circles, I may need to find other literary circles to read about and explore.

The only positive thing I can or will say about this book is I am glad I didn’t pay for it.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Cassandra West

Real Heroes Fly

Cycler by Lauren McLaughlin :: review

smokingpen — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 01:16:49 +0000

Since finishing college I’ve spent a lot of time a) reading and b) applying for jobs. The job front had some positive movement over the past few days, and more positive movement this morning. However, on the reading front I’ve gone through John Zakour’s The Flaxen Femme Fatale, Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, Ally Carter’s I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You, Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, and now Lauren McLaughlin’s Cycler. Of the previous books, I reviewed Zakour’s Flaxen Femme Fatale. I still need to sit down and do something with the other books; though, admittedly, I am waiting on Gaiman’s book until I’ve read The Jungle Books so that I have a better understanding of where Gaiman got his inspiration. However, I don’t have to wait very long to write the review of Cycler and will do so presently.

First off, I ordered the book because several authors on a variety of blogs gave positive reviews of the book. Scott Westerfeld, author of Uglies, Pretties, and Specials, has this blurb on the back of the book:

“Artfully fractured and wickedly smart. A brilliant screwball comedy about love, self-knowledge, and the secret identities inside all of us.”

With that blurb out of the way, author Lauren McLaughlin writes a book about a 17 year old girl who, once a month for four days, coincidentally through her menstrual cycle, turns into a boy. The girl’s name is Jill, the boys name is Jack. The combination of Jack and Jill makes me wonder if the initial conceptualizing of the book was not more in answer to the question, “What if Jack and Jill were the same person?” However, in reading early author reviews and with the idea behind the book (e.g. what happens when a girl becomes a boy and how does she cope?) I was a little excited to read it. In my mind, the author would’ve meticlously looked into the psychology of boys, gotten some inside scoop on how 17 year old boys think and feel, talked to her husband and friends, run the book by men (especially the Jack chapters as the book is divided into Jack and Jill chapters) and then written something that, though not perfect, was a better approximation of what it means to be a girl that becomes a boy. To me, interesting in concept. However, disappointing in execution.

For starters, the book begins with Jill turning back into herself from Jack and the pain that is involved in that transformation. Incidentally, the book (pretty much) ends with the same transformation. However, once Jill becomes Jill again she goes through a meditative and self-hypnosis cycle to block out any of the memories that happened while she was in Jack form. This is an interesting conceit in the book, Jack knows all about Jill and uses it to his advantage, while Jill blocks out any knowledge Jack may have acquired and all of Jack’s memories and experiences. This is called Plan B.

Plan A, by the way, was to erase Jack altogether. Get rid of the transforming. And to move on as though Jill never became Jack. Plan B is Jill forgetting Jack for approximately 28 days and then locking herself into her room while in Jack form. On top of this, Jack is a pervert. What does that mean? Well, according to one of the conceits in the book, all men and boys look at porn. And in Jack’s case, he continually asks for porn, magazines and DVD’s to entertain himself while he remains reclusive in Jill’s room. However, what Jack has discovered, and as the inciting incident of the principal plotline, is that he is in love (or more accurately lust) with Jill’s best friend Ramie. Have to admit, I have no idea how to pronounce that name and here McLaughlin does what a lot of authors are encouraged not to do. She describes an attractive girl with an odd name and an odd personality and then expects her audience to believe that this person could be real. And here we find ourselves deviating from real into unreal. Well, the entire book sits in the realm of unreal and it is the author’s job to make sure it is grounded in enough reality to be believable. McLaughlin pretty much fails at every step.

Now, I can get behind the unlikely plot point of Jill becoming Jack. It is, after-all, one of the reasons I decided to buy the book. What I cannot get behind is a lot of other things. For starters, Ramie is unbelievable. The dialogue is awkward and doesn’t follow conventions of speach for teenagers. And, the gay-slash-straight meaning bi-sexual love interest of Jill’s, in the form of Tommy, isn’t a compassionate or believable character. On top of which, Daria, as a best friend and confidant, is introduced into the book as though we should trust she is already this and yet the reader never gets the sense that Daria is more than a foil meant to allow parts of the story to move forward and to offer comic relief (that wasn’t funny) at other points in the story.

Starting with Ramie. It doesn’t take a PhD in psychology to know two things. First, teenagers don’t have the capacity for what teenagers do in most young adult novels, or in that spirit, in most movies, TV shows, or in anything that is meant to be popular media. Instead, teenagers are often adults of about 26 written as teeangers. As a result, you get teens with more ability than they should have, though that ability is only slightly outside of the realm of possibility. A teenager, a la Rorie Gilmore from Gilmore Girls fame, would be capable of writing a paper that a graduate student would envy complete with conclusions that graduate students aren’t in a position to draw, and that is believable, but only slightly so, because we want to believe that Rorie is someone who functions outside of her age group. In real life, she doesn’t exist. So, we deal with Ramie and she is one of those poeple who, somehow, functions outside of her age group. Secondly, Ramie is a dumb name. Where does it come from? How is it pronounced? And why did McLaughlin decide to go with a completely awkward name and then, on occasion, switch it up with the more familiar Rames? Makes me think that my initial decision that Ramie is pronounced with a soft “a” as in cat rather than a hard “a” as in hate and as a result every time I came across that name is confused me.

In short, Ramie is an awkward character that acts outside of what would be acceptable writing patterns for young adults in popular media and as a result remains unconvincing. Especially when Jill, as Jack, sneaks into her room and she allows it. At no point in the book has McLaughlin created a solid enough character to allow me, as a reader, to believe that Ramie is going to allow Jack into her room and then have sex with him. Every instinct tells me that Ramie is a fictional character, which makes sense since the book is fiction, and that she can’t be trusted when she speaks.

Next is the dialogue. For the most part dialogue is dialogue. People have a tendency to use it as a means of moving the story forward. As an aside, the book is told in the first person from Jill, and by extension Jack’s point of view. We don’t get to know what Ramie or Tommy or Daria think without having it filtered through Jill/Jack. More, the book is written as though this happened a few years ago and Jill/Jack is writing it as they remember it rather than it happening right now. As a result, I am not certain we can trust Jill/Jack as narrators and since we are expected to, I am also pretty certain that this is a drawback from the book. However, what McLaughlin does with this book is to create slang for her characters. Most noteably “mal” and “deeply”. My first problem is that I don’t know what I am supposed to derive “mal” from. Is it a derivative of malady, malaise, malevolent, or something else? As a result of my not understanding what is supposed to be meant by the use of the world, it comes across as awkward and difficult when I read it. With the outcome being that I was confused by it’s use. More, when “deeply” was thrown in as an adjective, it was actually easier to drop the word and read the sentence rather than trust that anyone actually speaks using deeply as a modifier in a sentence. It would’ve been easier, for me, to throw some other word in like, oh, I don’t know, “like”.

Sociologically, the word, “like,” is used among teenagers as a way of separating theselves from the event they are describing. This is pretty universal among English speaking teens. And as a result, when used in a conversation where the teen actively participated in something but wants to remain separate from it, the word, “like,” is the functional separator verbally. Teens also drop the word when they don’t want to separate themselves. All of this is a functional part of language and, when creating replacement words, have to follow similar rules to work. McLaughlin does not make this work.

The reason I shared Scott Westerfeld’s comment earlier is because he is the author of several books, many teen novels, specifically the Uglies series of books. This is a distopian future where his female teenage protagonist has enough knowledge and ability to assist the Smoke in taking on the establishment. As a result of that, he creates a slang dialogue for his characters and then has them use it as they converse. This dialogue was done correctly and followed appropriate patterns. The problem, though, may be that Westerfeld does not understand the rules of dialogue sufficiently to know when they are not being used appropriately. For him, this may be instinctual and if so, he does it well. McLaughlin, however, decided that her characters would not be typical teens with typical speaking patterns and attempted to created new patterns and failed in the process.

Now, it has become, let’s say . . . popular for author’s to write a book with a gay or homosexual leaning male character in it. Sometimes these are supporting charactes, at other times they are primary characters. In either case, the gay character, whether male or female, seems to be a neccessary role in books. What makes this interesting to me is that, like red heads, there aren’t enough gay or lesbian people, let alone teenagers, to account for the number of characters in books or to statistically support the idea that someone like Jill would even crush on someone like Tommy and then have Tommy be gay or bi or anything but heterosexual is, honestly, a statistical anomally. The truth of the matter is that Tommy, like Ramie, is not believable or real. People in their teens don’t due what Tommy does. As a result, Tommy as a bi- is not believable which means that either (as an author) McLaughlin is lying to her readers or Jill/Jack as narrator is lying. Since I don’t believe Jill/Jack and since the feeling of the book is “this all happened in the past” the outcome is quite literally that as narrator, Jill/Jack are not telling things as they really happened. What’s more, people aren’t strictly bi-. They lean in a specific direction. For Tommy to state that he doesn’t she men or women and only sees people doesn’t work either. Again, as a teenager, he wouldn’t think that way. His explanation would have to be different and since McLaughlin DID bother to find out what gay first encounters are like and then to write them very accurately, the idea that a 24 year old hitting on a teenager as a positive thing (entirely removing gender) is disgusting. We as a society do not allow relationships between adults and minors and have laws that protect the minor. The problem is that Tommy becomes unreliable as a character because of this experience and because this experience clouds all other experiences. The reader cannot trust that Tommy only sees people. This is further evidenced by Tommy telling Jill that he is a gay virgin but he’s had sex with girls. Can this change? Yes. McLaughin didn’t bother to finish telling her story under the misguided guise that she was creating a cliff-hanger. Honestly, there is nothing to hang off of since the story she was telling has nothing to do with the reason she left her audience hanging.

The problem with Daria is that the audience is never given enough about her to understand why she was included in the story other than to be a foil for the obnoxious things Jill and Ramie are doing. Daria is the reason the school knows Tommy is bisexual. Daria was the lookout when they decided to encounter Tommy on the ski slopes. Daria is an idiot and Daria doesn’t add anything to the story. And yet, Daria is (after the first quarter) everywhere.

Along with all of that, Jill’s dad, a successful lawyer, decides to practice meditation and, about the time Jill starts turning into a boy, disapears into the basement. Since it is through her dad that we find out that all men love porn, all men look at porn, and women should just get over the fact that men look at porn, one would think that Jill’s dad would have more of a role than Daria. In reality, he doesn’t. In general, someone doesn’t become a successful lawyer by being a wuss. And yet, this man is described this way. He is submissive to Jill’s mother and has been cowed into the basement, made into a fool, and not considered by anyone who matters as a viable individual who can do or accomplish anything.

Since pornography and sex are the two central themes of the book, and since this is a story meant for teenagers, and since we are meant to believe that this book is supposed to relate to teens, the outcome is that it is not a teen novel. McLaughlin would’ve done a better job had she just written an adult novel with gender swapping as the central theme. And at no time does her conclussions or assertions ring true in my ears or, for that matter, most other people’s. The outcome is that she is writing another book that I will never read. This one wasn’t worth it and she missed her target audience in so many ways I can’t believe RandomHouse published her. Missing the guy side is understandable, but her problem is bigge: she missed the girl side as well.

Utlimately, if you are looking for a well written but badly executed piece of Y/A fiction that misses its audience, this is the book for you. Otherwise, don’t waste your time. There is nothing to be gained in the book. And if you want a frank discussion on sex and pornography, go find Dr. Drew or watch MTV, you will get more out of it and it will probably be better geared for the intended age group. As for me, I am listing this book for sale and praying I don’t get caught up in author hype on another book like this again.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Cassandra West

Real Heroes Fly

Generally Themeless

smokingpen — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:05:11 +0000

Well, it is January 5, 2009 and I am still jobless. I did finish reading Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book last night and started I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter. The first book was amazing and I could see someone making a movie out of it because it’s just that kind of a book. While Carter’s book has started off interestingly, but I am not sure it can carry what she is setting up. I say that with full knowledge that this book sat on the New York Times Best Seller list for, like, forever. And yet, I am curious as to how Carter will sustain her energy in this one. There is a second one (I don’t recall the title and you’d think an Amazon book search would fix that…) is out and has also done relatively well on the New York Times list, from what I understand. The point in this, though, is not that I am reading Y/A chicklit (that is what the second book amounts to) but that I am reading Y/A and books oriented toward children and young adults. There are reasons for this.

Living in Massachusetts has been interesting. I’ve started looking for lore for the area I am in. Mostly online. I think it would help if I went to some local historical society and talked to people about the lore and superstitions and history of the area. I was a little perplexed by a website (I didn’t bother to bookmark it or remember how I got to it) that shared New England Vampire lore. I have to tell you, New England Vampire anything is going to be a rip-off of England lore which is an adaptation of European lore. The author thought (at least in the way it was presented) that he/she was presented new and interesting information when in reality the way he/she was describing vampires as being killed after they are burried is pretty typical for traditional vampire stories. Granted, Hollywood and modern vampire writers (Anne Rice anyone???) have done an interesting disservice to the lore, not that I care much for it – other than what Kim Harrison has written about in her series of books, and maybe a little of how Christopher Moore approached the subject in his book Bloodsucking Fiends, but beyond that I am not all that interested – but to see something so pedestrian being shared as something important and unique to a region of the world where it is not unique is a bit awkward. More, I would’ve been more impressed with a scholarly or an attempted scholarly approach to vampires from a Native American perspective. Interestingly enough, the Native American’s, at least some tribes, do believe in shape shifters, people who can morph into animals and more specifically into wolves or coyotes, and that connects Native American’s to the werewolf phenomenon. Though, in my estimation, it is an interesting if not weak connection.

Regardless… and moving on.

I have, apparently, become a fan of Facebook and have a profile there. What makes this medium interesting (at the very least to me) is the re-connections with high school friends and acquaintances. I’ve been able to get back in touch with different people from way back when as a result of the social networking website. I’ve also gotten back in touch with people I fell out of touch with for various reasons (sometimes intentional) and have found the application to be very interesting especially when people that fell out of touch with me (meaning they initiated it) reconnect to me through the app. I know that at least one of my brothers claims he is on it all the time and updates more there than anywhere else. I guess that’s true as his primary website is no longer active, but still, I don’t think he is as active anywhere as he thinks he is. But, what do I know. Erin is on Facebook as well and is the reason I joined up so she could have her status as being married in the application. It’s taken a bit over a year for me to get the number of friends I’ve got. However, as a result of the social networking site I’ve remembered and found different people that, some months ago, I was trying to remember names and dates and couldn’t, for the life of me, remember any of them. So, you know, life is sweet.

It sounds like Erin and I will be starting an excercise program we can do out of the basement. I discovered, in recent weeks, that I am not happy with the way my body looks and as a result would like to see things change. And I am hoping the 13 week program allows us to feel better, in general, and allows me to feel better about myself. I keep having the thought that stress causes the body to retain fat and makes it harder to lose weight, in general, and that the last six-plus months have been insanely stressful to me (not that job searching isn’t a stressful activity either) and as a result, I’ve let things get too far out of whack. Plus, come the New England thaw I would like to be in a physically fit enough position to purchase and use a road bike for this area. Very green, humid, hilly, and gorgeous.

Tomorrow I turn 35. I share this because I will (probably, though not definintely) become hard for most people to get a hold of. Would be great if some local numbers (e.g. jobs) decided to call me. Beyond that I intend to spend the day with my wife and child. We were, at one point, going to go to the temple down in Manhattan, but medical issues are keeping us closer to home. I am considering going to some temp agencies and seeing what kind of job opportunities they have going on around these parts and then seeing if there is a local office for whatever Massachusetts calls their workforce services. Regardless, I am sure tomorrow will be more of the same and less of the more and I don’t intend to update. Or be on Facebook. Though, as implied, that could be completely bullocks or rubbish on my part and I will update and get on anyway.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Cassandra West

Real Heroes Fly

The Flaxen Femme Fatale – book review

smokingpen — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 01:26:15 +0000

So, a little over a month ago I walked into Borders and purchased a copy of John Zakour’s The Flaxen Femme Fatale. Unfortunately, my priority at the time was to finishing up coursework at school and as a result it got set aside with the highest post-college-course-work reading priority of all the books I have to read. As a result, when I was done with college and had my family moved all the way across the country, I was able to pick up the book and start reading it. For those that don’t know, or haven’t been introduced to my opinion of this series of books, I really enjoy them. They are, effectively, cotton candy in the reading category (for me) and as a result, I have a tendency to run out and purchase Zakour’s books when they are released. One of the reasons for this is because I know that many publishing companies base future books off of initial and early sales and as a result, in order to keep my favorite authors publishing what I like to read I have to buy their books. This is also the reason I purchased many of the other books on my To Be Read list and why they are on a shelf to be read. In short, I like what I like and want it to continue and in some cases change and improve.

With all of that out of the way, I decided that Zakour’s The Flaxen Femme Fatale would be my first post college read. I was excited for the book. I am excited for the next book and if you are interested in some of Zakour’s thoughts on the process, you can go over to his website and read about it.

However, I would like to state that there were inherent problems with the book. Not in the story telling, but more in the proofing of the book. In many cases, much of the syntactical structure of the story was reversed or completely left out. I read slowly because I enjoy the taste of the words on my brain and in my mind and as a result I notice when adjectives and adverbs and connectors are reversed or out of order. The reason this is important is that the book, in theory, should’ve been proofed by several different people and as a result I think the publishing errors were egregious enough to have been caught and corrected before publication. Because Robert Jordan was one of the first authors I really tried to follow online (though the current Wheel of Time communities were never of much interest to me as I don’t care for the discussion among fans in relation to where they want the story to lead), I found myself interested in his comments about finding mistakes and having them fixed and what printings have what fixed. With all of that said, I think that later runs of the book (most likely combined with another of Zakour’s books) will have most of the problems fixed. Even with that said, it was a distraction for me.

Other than publishing mistakes, I enjoyed the story though I don’t necessarily feel that it rose to the level of writing that Zakour had with his writing partner Lawrence Ganem. Even with that said, I also think that Zakour has taken his protagonist, Zachary Nixon Johnson, in a direction that increases the depth of the storytelling while keeping the nature of the series of books light and easy to read. In this installment, as the story opens, Zach Johnson is visited (in his dreams) by a flaxen haired woman (Natasha) who tells him not to get involved in finding her. From that point throughout the book, Zach is left chasing her from one tourist trap to another starting in Las Vegas and ending in space. The outcome is… well, pure Zakour. It is a kind of mix between optimistic idealism and plainly unrealistic. I am not sure which one, but it felt good.

Feeling good is one of the elements of these books that I really like. In this book, Zach discovers more of the truth behind HARV, his cybernetic assistant as well as the role he plays in the safety of the world. Why this is important is because it marks a distinctive shift in the focus and direction of the books, on top of which Zakour appears to be taking the character and storylines in a new direction. More specifically, he has built a sub-plot of conspiracy and governmental control as a means of advancing his story and as the principle reason his characters are doing what they are doing. I bring this up not to share what you can expect with the story, but more to illustrate that Zakour as sole writer wrote a book that is a sudden and (impossibly) subtle shift away from where it has been going. The basic plot of most of the books has Zach Johnson being approached by someone to help them (often a hot woman) save the world from some other (often hot woman) person who is bent on taking over the world or destroying it. To help him, other than HARV, he has Randy, HARV’s creator, his assistant (and one of the most powerful psi’s on the planet) Carol, his fiance Electra, and GUS (his gun). In most books, Zakour has a cast of supporting characters (often hot women) who step in to help out in their odd and disturbed ways because, as hot women they are also very powerful. In most cases, this book is no different from his other books in that the world is being saved from a hot powerful woman who was cloned from (though slightly altered) Carol as the most powerful psi in creation. Because she is so powerful, no one can do anything to stop her. This does not stop other characters from other books from trying to step in and assist in this and as a result of that assistance several familiar people end up dying.

What’s more, Electra’s mother, a politician, is interested in gaining more power. A General Wall (female, powerful, not necessarily attractive though also not unattractive) has enlisted Zach’s help and does a lot more to advance not only the agenda of her employers (e.g. the World Council), but also her own agenda. We are led to believe that she is a mastermind, though admittedly, I am not certain Zakour effectively introduces the idea of genius into this work to allow the reader to sufficiently follow the logical progression of Zach behing hired to Zach taking down the bad guy. On top of which, there are a sufficient number of red herrings to distract the reader from the principle plot line (e.g. Zach is public enemy number one, Zach goes to Comic-Con, to Zach spends time with his fiance). Eventually, Zach realizes everything he’s not supposed to realize, helps the victim, and then returns home to end yet another adventure

What I think, other than a course change, weighed this story down were a couple of things: first, this was the second book Zakour has done about psi’s and their power. Granted The Blue Haired Bombshell was more overtly about psi’s and the psi ability (and the moon); but this one was designed to set up conflict (me thinks) in the future where the changes that are forced upon the psi’s of Earth and the Moon will play out. More, it seems that almost every villain babe and villain hero have psi power and this book is no different. More, Carol is set up to be very powerful and I think that Zakour is planning something there with her, especially since she’s been growing in importance with every story. Second, Zakour constantly referred to the basic premise of the book, Zach saves the world, and continually points out that the UNIVERSE, about once a year and at about the same time, steps in and places the world back in peril and make it up to Zach to save everything. As a result, this self-recognition of the basic premise of the series felt completely wasted on the audience and drags the basic story down as the audience, in general, doesn’t need to know this information. If a new reader is picking up the book, then the tongue in cheek action will illustrate what is happening and references to other cases as a result of other characters showing up is sufficient to illustrate that Zach has been in this position a few times before; and for established readers (I would like to think I am one of those), there is no reason to re-establish the basic premise since the established reader has been reading for quite a while.

I think the story was well written and since I know that Zakour outlines the entire book before he writes the first page, and since I know that his first chapters are meant to establish a well written book, my only conclusion to the entirety of the story and the way it felt to read was that Zakour was a bit rushed in the writing process. The structure of a really good story exists, but I think that even with the standard elements his execution felt a bit lacking. It feels rushed. I am not sure what Zakour’s process in this book was or what kind of a time frame he had in writing it, but the outcome didn’t feel like past books and even though he has written another good addition to the Zach Johnson universe, the outcome is that I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I have in the past. Truth told, I am now waiting for his next book, Sapphire Sirens, to come out to see what he is doing.

Two things happened in recent months, though. First, my father-in-law told me he really enjoyed The Plutonium Blonde (first book) and borrowed The Doomsday Brunette to read because he liked that kind of book, which, in turn, helps me understand what he likes for when I suggest things to read. Second, Erin picked up The Flaxen Femme Fatale and started reading it. She enjoys the chapter length and (against odds) has been enjoying the book. She might even pick up and read some of the earlier books. As a result, I feel confident in suggeting these books as fun and light reading.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Cassandra West

Real Heroes Fly

Shameful Plug

smokingpen — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:34:29 +0000

For those that have never read my reviews of John Zakour’s books (Plutonium Blonde, Doomsday Brunette, Radioactive Redhead, Frost-Haired Vixen, and Blue-Haired Bombshell). Heck, I even interviewed the author. This is a writer I actually enjoy reading and even though I have (as yet) not gotten back to Frost-Haired Vixen (I promised to give it a second chance) I still intend to read it and look forward to his forthcoming Zachary Nixon Johnson book, The Flaxen Femme Fatale, which I will probably race out and purchase the moment it is available and then add it to the stack of books (including Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book and Lauren Mclaughlin’s Cycler and others) and I will probably read right after The Graveyard Book and right before the next thing I decide to read and all after I am buttoning up my scores and grades and final semester at BYU.

The point to this is not to tell you what I already have to read, but more to tell you that you should head over to John’s writing blog: Tales of a “midlist” writer. He has written a couple of useful posts (me thinks). Recently he wrote about outlining. He also talks about ARC’s being sent out (how do I get on those lists people?) and early reviews for The Flaxen Femme Fatale and how this helps him continue writing the follow-up book. And, apparently, he is taking this series into comic book format. I actually, very much, enjoy this author and even though I doubt I would swim in the same circle (I don’t do conventions and he is published and I am not), I dig what the dude does. So, shamefully plugging him especially if you are interested in writing and want to see what his process is life (which is why he started this particular website).

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Cassandra West

Real Heroes Fly

Diaspora of Thoughts

smokingpen — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:47:43 +0000

According to this article Tony Hillerman died. Hillerman is the writer of a bunch of mystery books set on the Native American reservations. My parents really liked reading him, especially since they moved to southwestern Colorado near the Ute Reservation and working on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona with the LDS church. On the sad side, no more Hillerman. On the plus side, there is a very real possibility that his estate will be more willing to see his material used in movies, television, for republication and for other uses (as well as hiring writers to continue any books or series that Hillerman started and didn’t finish). That’s the sad part about people dying. Robert Jordan’s (pen name of James Oliver Rigney) widow has talked about the options on movies about The Wheel of Time series and the more real possibility of it becoming movies. Not guaranteed, but a more real possibility. Note that nothing happened with the Lord of the Rings, in a very real way, until after J.R.R. Tolkein’s death and until after his son Christopher started working with his dad’s material. Frank Herbert’s son Brian with a co-writer (Tolkein’s son also may have used a co-author) expanded on Frank Herbert’s vision of Dune. More than that, the estate of V.C. Andrews took her copious notes and had a ghost writer write novels in her name, posthumously, becoming one of the more proliferate horror and thriller writers on the planet.

I’ve decided that we, the people of the United States, should write a new Amendment to the Constitution that further defines the legal bounds of the courts. Specifically, to restrict the courts from legislating across the bench. The amendment should dictate that the court’s role is to determine the constitutional nature of a law and not to interpret the lack of constitutionality as a measure for then telling the people that if a law is unconstitutional then by definition the law that is unconstitutional must therefore be constitutional. As a result of changes in our laws enacted through the Supreme Court, supreme courts of the states, and various other federal and state courts, it is necessary to dictate what is and is not appropriate for the justices to do. Specifically, when groups decide that it is too hard to pass legislation they start lawsuits that are designed to change the laws through the courts. Rather, if a law is deemed unconstitutional it should be returned to the legislature for changes with notes on what can be changed.

On the positive side of stuff, Erin got a check in the mail today. This was unexpected and wasn’t very much money, probably enough to buy a couple of shirts. Since she started her blog she is a part of a network of bloggers called Blogher. This was exciting. It is far more money than I’ve ever seen for blogging. And I’ve been doing it for a lot longer. Since she’s a part of a network, this means Blogher will actually send people her way. And since she’s writing more about being a mommy and does so in a very open way, her blog has also been getting hit by people who are (literally) interested in the new mommy experience. Congrats Erin.

Which returns me to my parents who are in a place called Inscription House. They’ve been there for about a week. Have already taught some lessons. Sounds like a load of fun.

On the other side of things, neither Erin nor I have been to church in about five weeks… or is that six Sunday’s? Regardless, it’s interesting to note that between sleep and no sleep I’ve found myself (as has Erin) just trying to make it through the days let alone get to church. Our hometeachers showed up yesterday for a couple of seconds, on top of which I received a whole series of calls from a California number I didn’t recognize and didn’t feel like answering and since the individual calling did so relatively quickly after church and didn’t leave a message… well, I have spent more time on that than I intended to.

As for baby, codename: CAMPER (registration required) is doing well. We think he is not feeling well as he’s moved from sleeping and being a somewhat independent baby to needing lots of holding and cuddling. Erin is pretty convinced he’s not feeling well. Which very well may be the case, but he’s not been running a fever. On the sad part of everything, he’s also been a little stuffy which has also caused Erin to try to figure out ways to get the mucous out of his nose. There have been suggestions as well as my boycotting several of the more hair brained plans since she does not like boogers.

On a semi-related, but almost completely unrelated, topic… we are now in need of more Kleenex as we are nearly out around the house. I’m just saying. Get me blowing my nose eight-hundred-thousand-million times a day and then don’t supply me with the (comfortable) means of getting rid of the crusty hard boogers. Of course, I discovered one of those (very uncomfortable) in class today and then had to wait until I got out of class before I could go and try to remove it; and even then, it took a while because it was both hard and attached to the side of my nose up high. Gross.

Since today is Monday, and Monday means going back to school and completing a thousand different assignments (I have a one-page precis and a review of something cowboy like a book or movie and a reformatted journal into MLA, which seems weird to me since it’s a personal journal and was never announced as needing appropriate formatting) all due tomorrow. Which would’ve been nice to have remembered over the weekend… oh wait!!! I did and didn’t feel up to working on them over the weekend.

I did go to Locus Online as a result of being directed there by an interview on Ursula K. Le Guin and stumbled across the Links Portal that lists all sorts of science fiction publications for short fiction and links to websites and more. I can’t wait to go over what is there.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Cassandra West

Real Heroes Fly

Kim Harrison’s The Outlaw Demon Wails – a book review

smokingpen — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:00:09 +0000

Kim Harrison has been writing the Rachel Morgan series of books for a while now. At least, it feels like a while. When I read the first book, having come across a sample chapter a la Amazon.com and her website, I bought the book and read it, enjoying every last word on every last page. Truth told, I figured that this series, if that is what it would turn out to be, wasn’t really going to last nor hold my attention. That is, until I read the second, then the third, the fourth, fifth, and now the sixth books.

Book six is titled The Outlaw Demon Wails. It picks up a short time after the last book, For a Few Demons More where Rachel Morgan, the protagonist and view-point character met additional demons in her ongoing quest to a) get rid of Al, b) arrest Trent, c) save herself from the undead (e.g. actually dead vampires instead of the living vampires), and more.

The book begins with Rachel and her mother shopping for Halloween costumes. Rachel is going to go as the vampire star of some movie that requires tight leather and an inflated bustline. As a result, she needs charms to change her hair and her body. The reader is immediately tossed into the general premise of the story, specifically that Rachel’s mom will play a role, and that demon’s (most notably Al) are out to not only get but kill Rachel.

Rachel is given a couple of options, one is to swap summoning names with Al, an option she does not like nor want; with the outcome being that she sends off Minias, the demon attempting to help her by capturing Al, before heading home and realizing that she now has to spend her nighttimes (the witching hours people, when the mythical creatures: witches, vampires, werewolves, pixies, fairies, elves, trolls, and more, all come out to play and are most active.

Once the premise to the book has been established, keeping in mind that the some of the premises to the series are that Rachel is meant to save Ivy (her living vampire roommate) from the undead curse and help the elves (in hiding from mythical creatures and humans alike) heal from a curse that was placed upon them by the elves, this book does the amazing job of not only following the carefully plotted first section of the book to its awkward conclusion, but pushes the overarching story that Harrison is trying to tell forward as well.

What this reminds me of is when people would talk about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows where I was told that J.K. Rowling had taken aspects from all of her books and brought them back into this one story, tiny bits that seemed incongruous at the time turned out to have some significance and importance as the story was cascading to its inevitable conclusion. Harrison has shown some of her hand in this book drawing back into the story elements of earlier books, all the way from Dead Witch Walking (book 1 of the series), explaining how Rachel Morgan became and is the way she is.

Moreover, some of the mysteries surrounding the overarching story, especially the mystery concerning how Rachel’s dad died are brought to light as well as who Rachel’s biological father really is. The use of these elements to move the story forward has proved to be a rather amazing addition to how Harrison is choosing to tell her stories. Where before this book Rachel would have never consider some of the choices she makes by the end, and makes the choices as much out of an obligation to the people around her as well as a realization of her heritage, she moves the story forward in such a way as to allow the reader an enjoyable romp through her world and to feel they are a part of her characters lives.

Granted, I cannot suggest you go out and purchase The Outlaw Demon Wails on its own. Sure, you can read it and probably enjoy it; however, the elements in the story that make it truly remarkable are best appreciated once you’ve read the preceding five books and then discovered what Harrison chooses to uncover as a result of this book.

As a result of some of the author blogs and websites I visit, I’ve seen some praise heaped upon Kim Harrison and her writing and I think that praise is absolutely warranted given that she remains true to the characters she created, moves all of them forward through a series of choice and accountability, and finally allows them to grow and learn from the events that happen around them.

The exciting thing about this book to me is not that it was (approximately) 450 pages of enjoyable reading, but that I get to look forward to Harrison’s next installment of the Rachel Morgan series. I can say that if you have time and like to read about witches, vampires, werewolves, and other fantasy creatures in an urban setting than the Rachel Morgan series of books is probably a good series to pick up and read. AND you can buy the first five books in mass market paperback right now, saving loads of money on the hardcover format of the last two books.

Brandon Sanderson’s Elantris – book review

smokingpen — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:00:33 +0000

Brandon Sanderson is the current heir apparent, or at least the one who will finish, Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series of books. Before he was selected by the late Robert Jordan’s wife, Harriet, to write the books, Sanderson had been carrying on his own writing work creating The Mistborn series, Elantris, and other books (some specifically for children). As a result of his (now) relationship with The Wheel of Time I decided to go out and purchase some of his books. Two, to be exact. Elantris and book one of The Mistborn series. I have not, as yet, read the latter.

Elantris begins with the crown prince of Arelon, Prince Reardon, waking up hungry and discovering that his body had been taken by The Shaod – apparently a disease that infects people who can become Elantrians and causes dark spots, the stopping of a persons heart, and the body from healing itself. Essentially, the beloved prince of Arelon (and the central protagonist to the story) is damned and is cermoniously thrown into Elantris among the other victims of the Shaod. Once in Elantris, Reardon meets Galladon, a Domi.

At the same time, Princess Serene debarks a ship that brought her from her homeland Teod so she could marry Prince Reardon. Except, upon arrival she discovers that the Prince has passed away and her marriage (by contract) is being enforced. She is now a widow and a Princess of Arelon. Through Sarene we are introduced to the economic structure of Arelon and discover that the king, Reardon’s father, took the thrown as a result of the fall of Elantris and the Elantrians from the Shaod and because he was the most successful and wealthiest of the merchants at the time of the fall.

Along with Princess Serene, the reader is introduced to Hrathen, a gyorn to a rival religion than the one that was practiced in Arelon. Hrathen is in Arelon to convert the people before the destruction of Arelon by the armies of Wyrn, the leader of his religion. The readers learn that in three months Arelon will be destroyed if they do not convert and that Hrathen is there to convert them and to do so without a bloody revolution.

What does all of this mean? Three chapters and three principle characters. Reardon, afflicted with the Shaod, has to discover two things: 1. How the Shaod happened; and 2. How to heal those afflicted with the Shaod, and Elantris. As his guide he has Galladon.

Sarene, from her intro chapter, has to learn to use the economic nature of Arelon, her outspoken nature, and her desire for marriage (one of the reasons she agreed to marry Reardon) as weapons to make sure that King Iadon or anyone else does not destroy the land she has become a part of (through marriage), and to find, somehow, someone she can marry and love.

Hrathen has to explore his own religion and methods of preaching that religion, find a new successor to the leader of the congregation, and save the people of Arelon from destruction.

All three of these story (and plot) lines connect together to help Reardon fulfill what he is meant to do: fix Elantris. However, throughout the bulk of the book the storylines often seem to work at odds with each other as each individual has their own method of trying to save the same country. Where Reardon needs to find a way to get out of Elantris, he does and leads a would-be assassin right into his fathers bedroom. Instead of being loyal to her new father, King Iadon, Sarene chooses to follow in Reardon’s footsteps to find a way to force Iadon off of the thrown before he destroys Arelon. And Hrathen tries to convert the Arelonians before destruction falls upon them.

Each line not only seems to work in opposition to the other two, but at times you wonder whether or not the plot line you are currently reading (easily distinguished by chapter) is going to destroy the other plotline. At times, Hrathen gets the better of Sarene, Sarene gets the better (not knowing who Reardon is) of Reardon, and Reardon continues to study and seek for answers to the Shaod.

In the end, all three plotlines (and many sub-plots) come together to resolve the overriding question of the book: Will good triumph in the end? Hrathen, Reardon, and Sarene all work in concert to save Arelon and Reardon is able to restore Elantris.

Sanderson’s writing is actually pretty well done. He deserves (at least from this book) much of the praise that is heaped upon him as a teller of high fantasy. Reading the book was both fun and enjoyable. His narrative style is similar to that of Robert Jordan which allowed me to see why Harriet chose him to finish The Wheel of Time series of books.

At times, though, I found it a little difficult to continue reading, feeling that some parts of the book were more of a slogging through the story rather than discovering the next step in the puzzle. When Reardon was able to discover how to use the Aons (the magic of Elantris), I was interested, but the delay, not only in finding more of a solution – and even the resolution to the magic of Elantris, seemed to take too long and, when it came, arrived far too quickly.

Granted, having the magic restored was essential to the resolution of the story; however, having the magic restored and then having a tacit understanding or acceptance by the new Elantrians in how to use it seemed both awkward and a little rushed.

At times I thought the book should’ve been broken down into a series of three books with a slightly longer narrative style. There were mysteries that were brought up in the book that allowed for some resolution at the end, but it was a forced resolution more out of a need to explain away the minor plot points (e.g. Sarene’s uncle and his reasons for being in Arelon) and didn’t really fit into the conclusion of the book.

Finally, I found the epilogue to be a bit too Spartan for what Sanderson was trying to do. Granted, he wanted to show that Sarene and Reardon got married and that others were honored heroes, but the execution of the epilogue was more a “tell me” than a “show me.” Personally, I think the book ended just fine without having to share every detail that the few pages of the epilogue shared with the reader.

Sanderson’s Elantris was a good read, though, for me, it was not a fast read. I think I could’ve gotten through two or three other books in the same amount of time it took me to read that one. Still, the narrative style was well done, the story moved forward, the characters filled their roles, and the story is worth reading. Now, whether or not this is a great example of Sanderson’s work, I don’t know yet. But it is a book well worth reading.