I have been writing some on Jaws of Empire in the last few days. Today I did 1500+ words. I was trying to think of as a NaNoWriMo day. When you are just starting out on a story you can make up essentially whatever you want and just make a note to explain it later. Once you have several chapters down and the characters are starting to interact with the story elements you’ve left hanging you can’t get away with that anymore.
That’s the point I am getting to in this story. I think I need to take some time to work out the political structure of each Empire – at least a sketch of them. I also need a chronology. What day is this all happening? Does Jundah have enough time to get from where he was in the last chapter to be in on this meeting I am writing? I can just decide, “yes, yes he does,” but that will effect the timing of other events I have planned! Ga!
On the other hand I am rather happy with the slow reveal of the mystery and the scene I wrote today has a lot of different characters bringing different points of view to piece things together. I like it as of right now.
14 May 2010
12 May 2010
A Review: Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World – Jack Weatherford
4.5 / 5 Stars
A highly readable account of the life, death and legacy of Temujin. This book should have been called “A Short History of the Mongol Empire,” because that is what Weatherford presents. From background on the Mongol cultural milieu to Temujin’s early family struggles, to his conquests of China, Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe to the rapid dismembering of the Empire under his heirs this history is fast-paced and precise. Information is drawn primarily from the less well-known (in English) Secret History, written by the Mongols themselves, but Persian, Chinese, Russian and Franciscan sources are also used. Weatherford adds details from his own experiences in modern Mongolia. This book does an excellent job describing just how Temujin came to think like the Great Khan he is remembered as. This is also a great look at the military techniques that made the Mongols so successful across 5,000 miles of Eurasia. This is not a book about how everything good was invented by the Mongols or how their policies are still in use today, but it is a persuasive argument that they deserve more credit for laying the groundwork of the 1500s (in East and West) than they currently receive. Fans of history generally and of Asian history especially should give it a read.
A highly readable account of the life, death and legacy of Temujin. This book should have been called “A Short History of the Mongol Empire,” because that is what Weatherford presents. From background on the Mongol cultural milieu to Temujin’s early family struggles, to his conquests of China, Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe to the rapid dismembering of the Empire under his heirs this history is fast-paced and precise. Information is drawn primarily from the less well-known (in English) Secret History, written by the Mongols themselves, but Persian, Chinese, Russian and Franciscan sources are also used. Weatherford adds details from his own experiences in modern Mongolia. This book does an excellent job describing just how Temujin came to think like the Great Khan he is remembered as. This is also a great look at the military techniques that made the Mongols so successful across 5,000 miles of Eurasia. This is not a book about how everything good was invented by the Mongols or how their policies are still in use today, but it is a persuasive argument that they deserve more credit for laying the groundwork of the 1500s (in East and West) than they currently receive. Fans of history generally and of Asian history especially should give it a read.
10 May 2010
A Review: Souls in the Great Machine - Sean McMullen
4 / 5 Stars
A post-apocalyptic tale with more twisting than a ‘50s dance hall. McMullen has created the most fully-realized and most unique post-apocalyptic story world I have ever come across. Nearly everything in this tale is presented in stages so I can’t say much without spoiling the reveals. Suffice it to say that in Australia thousands of years after Greatwinter human power (both muscle and brain) is used for just about everything. Everything. This is actually a combination of two shorter novels and that really shows. The first half of the book is tightly focused on a small group of characters in Libris, the central and most powerful library in the Southern Alliance, and their struggles to create a machine called the Calculor. The story then expands dramatically to a sprawling (almost rambling) story about the continent-spanning adventures of this same group (along with a host of others) and their interactions with the mysterious Mirrorsun. This second half is almost as interesting as the first, but there are so many threads to follow that they all loose their potency. The motivations of certain parties become impossible to follow. McMullen’s tendency to skip six weeks between paragraphs and as much as ten years between chapters does not help to keep things in focus. I can’t decide if this is book about relationships that plays out against a background of technology and politics or a book about technology and politics with a heavy focus on relationships. Either way there is a lot of interplay between the two. It makes for a great read as you can see how people’s choices are going to play out on the international stage, except for all those times that you can’t follow the motivations and things end up all deus ex machina. I’ve wanted to read this for a long time and had really built it up in my mind. It’s not quite as good as I’d hoped, but it is good. It’s the first in a trilogy and I’ll be reading the others soon.
A post-apocalyptic tale with more twisting than a ‘50s dance hall. McMullen has created the most fully-realized and most unique post-apocalyptic story world I have ever come across. Nearly everything in this tale is presented in stages so I can’t say much without spoiling the reveals. Suffice it to say that in Australia thousands of years after Greatwinter human power (both muscle and brain) is used for just about everything. Everything. This is actually a combination of two shorter novels and that really shows. The first half of the book is tightly focused on a small group of characters in Libris, the central and most powerful library in the Southern Alliance, and their struggles to create a machine called the Calculor. The story then expands dramatically to a sprawling (almost rambling) story about the continent-spanning adventures of this same group (along with a host of others) and their interactions with the mysterious Mirrorsun. This second half is almost as interesting as the first, but there are so many threads to follow that they all loose their potency. The motivations of certain parties become impossible to follow. McMullen’s tendency to skip six weeks between paragraphs and as much as ten years between chapters does not help to keep things in focus. I can’t decide if this is book about relationships that plays out against a background of technology and politics or a book about technology and politics with a heavy focus on relationships. Either way there is a lot of interplay between the two. It makes for a great read as you can see how people’s choices are going to play out on the international stage, except for all those times that you can’t follow the motivations and things end up all deus ex machina. I’ve wanted to read this for a long time and had really built it up in my mind. It’s not quite as good as I’d hoped, but it is good. It’s the first in a trilogy and I’ll be reading the others soon.
08 May 2010
A Review: Life Along the Silk Road – Susan Whitfield
3 / 5 Stars
A bit of a gimmick that almost works perfectly. Taking the form of a series of biographical vignettes, Whitfield presents a wealth of information about Central Asian culture and politics between the years 700 and 1000 CE. The diverse points of view bring to light the less-well known aspects of this particular time and place. The first chapter is the Merchant’s Tale and this is perhaps the best place to start because the Silk Road is most famous as a commercial highway. However, Central Asia was also a place of conflict (the Soldier, the Horseman), skillful political and legal machinations (the Princess, the Widow, the Official), religious fervor (the Monk, the Nun), and cultural flowering (the Artist, the Courtesan). Much of the stories told by Whitfield are true. The paper ephemera of administration and letter-writing recorded glimpses of these ancient lives. The paper was then re-used for religious purposes and stored away in vaults full of sacred scrolls. The cool, dry climate has preserved all of it for modern scholars to sift through and bring to us. And yet it doesn’t quite all come off perfectly. The characters are in no way fully-realized and compelling all on their own so those seeking something more like historical fiction will be disappointed. For the more scholarly-inclined, the jumps in time and place and all the asides about politics, cosmetics, geography and animal husbandry make the book feel rather unfocused. It is a window into that world, but not a history, that is, no over-all meaning is assigned to the events related in the tales. In trying to bridge the gap between the scholarly and the popular literature I think this book succeeds but makes for a rickety river crossing.
A bit of a gimmick that almost works perfectly. Taking the form of a series of biographical vignettes, Whitfield presents a wealth of information about Central Asian culture and politics between the years 700 and 1000 CE. The diverse points of view bring to light the less-well known aspects of this particular time and place. The first chapter is the Merchant’s Tale and this is perhaps the best place to start because the Silk Road is most famous as a commercial highway. However, Central Asia was also a place of conflict (the Soldier, the Horseman), skillful political and legal machinations (the Princess, the Widow, the Official), religious fervor (the Monk, the Nun), and cultural flowering (the Artist, the Courtesan). Much of the stories told by Whitfield are true. The paper ephemera of administration and letter-writing recorded glimpses of these ancient lives. The paper was then re-used for religious purposes and stored away in vaults full of sacred scrolls. The cool, dry climate has preserved all of it for modern scholars to sift through and bring to us. And yet it doesn’t quite all come off perfectly. The characters are in no way fully-realized and compelling all on their own so those seeking something more like historical fiction will be disappointed. For the more scholarly-inclined, the jumps in time and place and all the asides about politics, cosmetics, geography and animal husbandry make the book feel rather unfocused. It is a window into that world, but not a history, that is, no over-all meaning is assigned to the events related in the tales. In trying to bridge the gap between the scholarly and the popular literature I think this book succeeds but makes for a rickety river crossing.
06 May 2010
A Review: Past Worlds: Collins Atlas of Archeology
3.5 / 5 Stars
A survey of world history as told by the artifacts. After a section illustrating the methods used by archeologists this book gives excellent two-page spreads covering nearly every time and place up to the industrial revolution: "Europe after the Ice," "Minoan Crete," "The Aztecs and their Ancestors," "The Trading Kingdoms of East Africa," and so on. As a general survey whole epochs are summed up in a single paragraph. This sparsity is fine because all kinds of archaeological remains are the main focus. Plans of palaces, elevations of temples, maps of mining areas and photos of everything from Peking Man to the Callanish stone circle to Persian rhytons to the Gundestrup cauldron to Maori patus to Custer's shell casings. The point is made over and over again that what scholars know of the past comes from what past people have left behind. Kings and empires are mentioned in passing but this is not a political history. It is, if anything, an economic history. Artifacts are always the focus and so goods made for export and moved by trade routes are most commonly discussed. At this point, the book is rather dated. It's most recent sources are from the mid 1980s. This is not a major issue for me as Scythian tattoos and Ottoman plates are the same now as then. However, if you can't stand the use of "AD" or references to the Soviet Union, stay away. Also, the material sort of abruptly ends in the 1800s without any real conclusion or final thoughts. On the plus side, the pages are matte finish and so there's no risk of getting fingerprints in the middle of your map of Ming Peking. A worthy "shallow but wide" supplement to any collection of the "deep and narrow."
A survey of world history as told by the artifacts. After a section illustrating the methods used by archeologists this book gives excellent two-page spreads covering nearly every time and place up to the industrial revolution: "Europe after the Ice," "Minoan Crete," "The Aztecs and their Ancestors," "The Trading Kingdoms of East Africa," and so on. As a general survey whole epochs are summed up in a single paragraph. This sparsity is fine because all kinds of archaeological remains are the main focus. Plans of palaces, elevations of temples, maps of mining areas and photos of everything from Peking Man to the Callanish stone circle to Persian rhytons to the Gundestrup cauldron to Maori patus to Custer's shell casings. The point is made over and over again that what scholars know of the past comes from what past people have left behind. Kings and empires are mentioned in passing but this is not a political history. It is, if anything, an economic history. Artifacts are always the focus and so goods made for export and moved by trade routes are most commonly discussed. At this point, the book is rather dated. It's most recent sources are from the mid 1980s. This is not a major issue for me as Scythian tattoos and Ottoman plates are the same now as then. However, if you can't stand the use of "AD" or references to the Soviet Union, stay away. Also, the material sort of abruptly ends in the 1800s without any real conclusion or final thoughts. On the plus side, the pages are matte finish and so there's no risk of getting fingerprints in the middle of your map of Ming Peking. A worthy "shallow but wide" supplement to any collection of the "deep and narrow."
04 May 2010
A Review: The Nomad of Time – Michael Moorcock
Since I feel compelled to write them, I am going to start posting my (usually short) book reviews here. Everything I read, I review. And you’ll hear about it all here. Enjoy!
3 / 5 Stars
A one-two punch of steampunk and pastiche. Actually, it's a bit more complicated than that because this is a foundational work in those genres. Perhaps it's better to call it retro-pulp adventure. In addition to the airship battles and the polemics from various warlords, much of the subject matter deals with different perspectives on colonialism and war. The stories’ strongest points always come from the way that the Twentieth Century as we know it is juxtaposed to the alternate worlds Bastable visits. The 1960s and 1970s is when Britons first came to grips with the reality that their Empire was over and I think these books grow out of that to some extent. The main character is from Edwardian England (as in “the sun never set on”) and comes with all the turn-of-the-century conventions of that time. However, the author is writing in post-WWII England and cannot help but include references to the war, imperialism, racism and decolonization. Throughout the series there is a resonance (almost, but not quite, a dialogue) between these two perspectives. It’s Gilded Age optimism versus Post-Modern pessimism. As Captain Bastable says, "...perhaps I had been selected by providence to be involved in a countless series of what might be called alternate versions of the Apocalypse - that I was doomed to witness the end of the world over and over again and doomed, too, to search for a world where man had learned to control the impulses which led to such suicidal conflicts, perhaps never to find it.” Enjoyable as a genre romp with a few hints of deeper things. This omnibus edition collects:
The Warlord of the Air
Captain Bastable, soldier of the British Raj in 1902, finds himself in a 1973 where the Great Powers are all about to go to war over China. Yet a capable Chinese nationalist has other plans for his country.
The Land Leviathan
A singular genius creates the technology to achieve a world utopia at the start of the Twentieth Century. Instead, the world ends up plague-ravaged and destitute. Then “The Black Attila” begins empire-building in Africa with the last of the fighting machines.
The Steel Tsar
In 1941 Japan bombs Singapore sparking a war with Russia. On a remote island Bastable makes the acquaintance of a mysterious airship captain. This captain is somehow connected to the war and to a revolution raging on the Russia steppes.
3 / 5 Stars
A one-two punch of steampunk and pastiche. Actually, it's a bit more complicated than that because this is a foundational work in those genres. Perhaps it's better to call it retro-pulp adventure. In addition to the airship battles and the polemics from various warlords, much of the subject matter deals with different perspectives on colonialism and war. The stories’ strongest points always come from the way that the Twentieth Century as we know it is juxtaposed to the alternate worlds Bastable visits. The 1960s and 1970s is when Britons first came to grips with the reality that their Empire was over and I think these books grow out of that to some extent. The main character is from Edwardian England (as in “the sun never set on”) and comes with all the turn-of-the-century conventions of that time. However, the author is writing in post-WWII England and cannot help but include references to the war, imperialism, racism and decolonization. Throughout the series there is a resonance (almost, but not quite, a dialogue) between these two perspectives. It’s Gilded Age optimism versus Post-Modern pessimism. As Captain Bastable says, "...perhaps I had been selected by providence to be involved in a countless series of what might be called alternate versions of the Apocalypse - that I was doomed to witness the end of the world over and over again and doomed, too, to search for a world where man had learned to control the impulses which led to such suicidal conflicts, perhaps never to find it.” Enjoyable as a genre romp with a few hints of deeper things. This omnibus edition collects:The Warlord of the Air
Captain Bastable, soldier of the British Raj in 1902, finds himself in a 1973 where the Great Powers are all about to go to war over China. Yet a capable Chinese nationalist has other plans for his country.
The Land Leviathan
A singular genius creates the technology to achieve a world utopia at the start of the Twentieth Century. Instead, the world ends up plague-ravaged and destitute. Then “The Black Attila” begins empire-building in Africa with the last of the fighting machines.
The Steel Tsar
In 1941 Japan bombs Singapore sparking a war with Russia. On a remote island Bastable makes the acquaintance of a mysterious airship captain. This captain is somehow connected to the war and to a revolution raging on the Russia steppes.
03 May 2010
Published!
I have been published. A friend of mine (and now an official writing buddy) and I published some supplemental material for one of our favorite role-playing games. Palladium publishes a quarterly sourcebook with additional and alternate rules for its many games. This is mosly fan-submitted material which is a great way to draw in new talent and it gives us fans a chance to contribute to "the Megaverse." It’s a pretty nerdy achievement but still an achievement. Palladium Books is a small (-ish) company but has a big reputation in the industry. You can support them by picking up a copy. Hopefully, this is the first of many such announcements.
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