Fantasist's Scroll

I finished Pattern Recognition last night.

Classic William Gibson. Though, it is a bit odd in that it doesn’t have any really science-fictional elements to it at all. Pattern Recognition is set in, basically, modern day Europe, Russia and Japan. Basically, the book is about the search for meaning in mysterious loops of film footage of an unknown source. The chief “footage head”, as they’re known, is Cayce Pollard, who is the main character. Cayce is a “cool hunter”, courted for her innate ability to sense the “coolness” of brands and branding. She’s hired by a somewhat slimey advertising executive to find the Source of the Footage. What ensues is a classic Gibson tale filled with twists, technology and, as always, a gritty reality that makes you wonder how many of these places actually exist.
It’s a bit of a departure for the Father of Cyberspace and the Cyberpunk movement, though he shuns both titles. There really isn’t any science-fiction in this story at all. It’s all pretty much the real thing, so if that bothers you, stay away. On the other hand, if you just love Gibson’s writing style and his skill with words and narrative, dive right in. Personally, I loved it so much I started reading a book about marketing/cool-hunting when I was done!

I finished The Genius of China this weekend.

Wow. This is an incredible book! Like many readers of popular modern science, I constantly underestimate the inventiveness and technology of ancient man. This book really highlights that. Also, it’s an amazing inventory of creativity and inventiveness that the current China seems to be regaining. Imagine very modern inventions like glow-in-the-dark paint and natural gas mining being invented before the First Century AD!
I read this as a way to get familiar with the technology of one of the most inventive people and times in history so that I could use it in conworld creation. I was NOT disappointed! The idea that they had movable type and spill-proof lanterns were revelations to me. Not to mention the quality of their ceramics and lacquer.
However, you’ve really got to want this information to read this book. I found the author’s style to be quite dry and academic. In some cases, it even seemed rather biased in favor of the Chinese, but, as my wife pointed out, that’s to be expected considering the subject matter.
All in all, though, the author’s writing skills are not enough to keep me from heartily recommending this book to anyone interested in the technology of the ancient world.

I finished Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn last week.

It was good, but light. For one thing, the author, who uses a pseudonym, claims she was trying to represent a fantasy world that was Japan-like without actually referring to the classes of people involved by their Japanese names and titles. So, while it was obvious that she was referring to ninja and samurai, she never used those terms, but instead used vague descriptions or descriptive words. To me, it seemed a little forced sometimes. Also, I felt as if the book was written for someone in about the 8th Grade. Of course, USA Today is written at that level, so maybe I’m just biased towards the more well read.
In any case, those two small issues aside, it was a good book. The story focuses on an orphan who is taken in first by a great lord in exile or disgrace, depending on your point of view, and, later, by a clan of enigmatic mystics who are basically ninja. There are numerous plot twists of varying degree, though none are too surprising to the well-read. The themes are classically Japanese and the author is unabashedly enamored with Japanese culture. In fact, on her website, she cites a trip to Japan as the inspiration for the novel. Well, series, actually. This is the first book in the Tales of the Otori series and the last has just recently been published.
As a fantasy book goes, Across the Nightingale Floor is rather similar to any of a number of others, but as a novel about a fantasy Japan, which is not historical fiction, it stands virtually alone. In fact, I haven’t seen a book similar since I read Barry Hughart’s Bridge of Birds, which is about an Ancient China that never really was. And, though I have to admit Lian Hearn could have done more with her work, I still liked the first book enough to buy, and read, the rest of the series.

It’s nice to have a quality journal to write in.

I may not be an Oscar Wilde, who was famously in love with his own journal, but I do occasionally like to write in one. And, I have to tell you, I’ve scribbled in everything from cheap, spiral-notebooks to heavy, leather-esque tomes, but the best that I’ve ever seen is Moleskine. My mother got me one for Christmas one year and it was so beautiful that I was afraid to write in it. It’s bound with real leather and the paper feels, well, creamy. It takes ink like a dream from any pen. And, they have a built in book mark to mark where you stopped! Not to mention the elastic band to hold it closed and the pocket for small papers in the back cover. Really, these are superior journals. And, no, I don’t get a commission off this.
If you like writing in journals, you owe it to yourself to at least look at these. (You can buy them here.)

This weekend I finished the High School Earth Science Review.

That may seem odd, but it’s not, really. See, I want to create more realistic worlds for my fantasy and science-fiction settings, so, I need to know the basics. And, in my opinion, the basics include earth science. So, falling back on my memories of High School, I thought it would be good to simply review the things I hadn’t caught in science class. See? It realy does make sense!

Anyway, the book was actually fairly good. It gave a decent overview of the subject and used pretty simple language. After all, it is meant for High School students who are having trouble with Earth Science! But, it does hit all the highlights: plate tectonics, water movement and erosion, weather and climate, and so on. There are questions at the end of each section meant to test your knowlege alone the way, but I didn’t really pay attention to them. I wasn’t trying to pass a test, after all. It did give me several ideas for interesting things in regards to planetary processes that might turn up in some of my writing. And, of course, I hope it will improve the realism of my maps. Knowing that rain falls on the windward, and oceanward, side of the mountains, for instance, really effects a lot on a map.

Anyway, if you’re looking at world-building, there are far worse places to start than a review of High School earth science. And, this book is a fairly good review.

I finished The Hiram Key: Pharoahs, Freemasons and the Discovery of the Secret Scrolls of Jesus last week.

It was, er, well…. “Interesting”, to say the least. I’m not sure I agree with everything they claim, but it sure made me question what I thought I knew about my own faith and Freemasonry. In a nutshell, the authors claim that Freemasonry is the repository of the “secret” teachings of Joshua ben Joseph (aka Jesus Christ), by way of the Knights Templar. Now, the idea that Freemasonry is derived from the suppressed Knights Templar is not new, and, frankly, one I believe. Too much just fits together too well for that part to not be true. Where it starts to get a little sketchy for me is that they claim the Knights Templar got ahold of some secret, forgotten scrolls that were hidden under the Temple in Jersualem at it’s building. And, that the knowlege in those scrolls goes back to ancient Egyptian kingship rites which themselves may be derived from ancient Sumerian religious beliefs. It’s all a kind of a stretch to me, but the authors make it seem frighteningly plausable.

It’s an interesting book, but probably not the best place to start if you’re interested in Masonic history. But, since this book got me so interested in the history of Freemasonry again, I’ve set myself the goal of reading at least one Masonic book a year. So, keep an eye out for other reviews!

(And, yes, this review first appeared on my other blog.)

Yes, this is a fun book!

Okay, first off, .How to Keep Dinosaurs is NOT in any way a serious book. It’s a fun, little quasi-“coffee-table” book about keeping dinosaurs as pets. It breaks the possibilities down into several groups, ranging from dinosaurs for beginners to dinosaurs for safari parks. Each dinosaur entry is accompanied by picutres of the creature in a modern setting, usually with people. These photographs are so good, they look like they’re almost real. And, of course, each entry has notes about what the dino likes to eat and any special care notes that might be usefull. It’s a very funny book, but well crafted and informative. It’s really a load of fun and well worth picking up if you’re a dinosaur enthusiast, or if you’re looking for something that will add a bit of surreal reality to your fantasy life. Very cool.

Another great Lawrence Watt-Evans book!

I just finished reading Touched By The Gods by Lawrence Watt-Evans last night. It was, of course, up to his usual wonderful work. Though, I have to admit I had some issues with the names he used. They were occasionally hard to pronounce and that interrupted the “flow” of the story for me sometimes. But, that’s really my only complaint.
It’s a fairly straight-forward theme, really, a champion who is chosen by the gods during a time of peace is suddenly thrust into a war that could destroy civilization as he knows it. Standard heroic fantasy stuff. Of course, Lawrence Watt-Evans manages to bring those “stock” characters to life and make them real with an expert stroke of the brush. Malledd, who is the god’s chosen champion, is born into a smithing family and takes up the trade at his father’s anvil. He grows to enourmous size, even for a smith, but settles into a peacefull life with his wife and children. But, it’s not meant to last, and it would have made a boring book if it had! An enemy of the empire in the far East has found a dark magic that he hopes will allow him to avenge himself against his people’s conquerers. And, along the way on his quest for vengence, he discovers that the gods can favor more than one champion…
I won’t tell any more than that, though, lest I give something away. Let me say only that Touched By The Gods has some interesting takes on destiny and duty. In fact, they’re themes throughout the book as Malledd struggles with the internal conflict between staying home with his family and doing his duty to his empire. An enjoyable read and a bit of a break for Lawrence Watt-Evans who is well known for his Ethshar series of books. I really can’t say enough about his fantastic fiction. And, yes, I meant that as a play on words! So, what are you waiting for? Go get this book and read it!!