Recent Book Acquisitions

Had a fun book-hunting expedition with a friend yesterday.  We hit four used book stores and the local comic/RPG shop.

Here's what I bought (all yesterday with the exception of the first item):

• Passport to Peril by Robert B. Parker (this month's Hard Case Crimes book, which I subscribe to).
• Three Perry Rhodan books [#2, 6, 9] (I have been curious about this long-running series for a long time, but haven't read any of them yet; still don't have #1 yet, darn it, but I'm guessing that it doesn't matter much).
• Three of Alan Burt Akers' Dray Prescott series [#6, 7, 20] (a planetary romance series I have been interested in for a long time; still missing #5, among others; once I get that, I have a long continuous run of the books an can start reading them).
• Lin Carter's The Immortal of World's End (still missing a couple from the series, but I've been slowly compiling them).
• James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007 by John Pearson (I am skeptical of this one, and didn't even know that it existed, but for $1.50, I couldn't pass it up).
• John P. Marquand's Your Turn, Mr. Moto (first of the Mr. Moto series; I have heard these are very good, and much darker than the old movies).
• Dorothy Gilman's The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax (first of the Mrs. Pollifax series, a "cozy espionage" series -- are there any more series like this? -- about an old lady who joins CIA).
• Matthew Woodring Stover's Heroes Die (new-ish SF novel that sounds like it has an interesting premise, reminiscent of Dream Park).
• Taylor Anderson's Into the Storm (fist of the alt history Destroyermen series, which sounds interesting, though the premise of John Birmingham's Axis of Time series and William Forstchen's Lost Regiment series).
• Katherine Neville's The Eight (an interesting re-release of an older book that's being heavily pushed by it's publisher; historical chess-related mystery/thriller; I suck at chess, but have always been fascinated by it).
• E.C. Tubb's Melome, #28 in the Dumarest of Terra series (none of which I've read yet, though I have a bunch of them).
• Edgar Rice Burroughs' The Oakdale Affair (this was probably the only real treasure in the bunch, as I had almost given up hope of finding it; just a handful of additional ERB books and I'll have a copy of everything he ever wrote).
• The first Planetes manga (a little bit of anime usually goes a long way with me, but this one has always looked interesting to me).
• Some RPG stuff: GURPS Traveller Behind the Claw (error-ridden, but it's one of the few GURPS Trav books I didn't already own); Jovian Chronicles main rulebook, the Space Equipment Handbook, and the Europa Incident (I have always been curious about this game and have been on an anime kick of late); and Fully Strapped, Always Packed gear book for Mayfair's old Underground RPG.

Nothing truly outstanding, but some good stuff overall.  A nice day, despite pulling a muscle in my lower back yesterday morning.

Review: Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry

This was a fun, fast read full of non-stop action that delivered exactly what it promised, no more and no less. A police detective is recruited by a secret government agency to stop an impending release of zombies by Islamic terrorists on an unsuspecting American public. The zombie scourge is caused by genetically-manipulated prions; these zombies are "fast movers," more akin to those in 28 Days Later than the George Romero kind. The action is fast and furious, with vivid, well-described combat sequences throughout the book. It would probably make a fun summer action movie. 

It's not entirely clear how the protagonist, Joe Ledger, a detective who has never been in combat becomes such a killing machine. We are told many times that he is simply hero material, so we just have to accept that, I guess. He generally deals better with trauma than most of the Special Forces troops placed under his command (which is an odd arrangement, but again, we are asked to accept that). This need to suspend disbelief is common in both technothrillers and horror novels, so it's not out of place, or any more egregious than in most novels of either genre. 

There are a few silly bits in the book, however: 

• It's typical of technothrillers, I suppose, but it's darn silly to provide makes and models of every piece of equipment mentioned, including gym bags and watches. It could be a subtle gibe at the genre, I supposes, but there's not enough evidence for that argument. 
• Everyone refers colloquially to the Department of Homeland Security as "Homeland." That's unrealistic. I worked for ten years in government service , including two there, and everyone, civilian, military, law enforcement, intelligence, refers to it as "DHS." Likewise, Maberry has named the "black ops" organization the Department of Military Sciences ("Science" on the back cover), which is also silly. "Department" has a very specific meaning in government parlance, and it doesn't work here. Also, "Homeland" is often used as a generic term for the U.S. intelligence community, as though DHS had the lead. That is almost never the case. DHS has a small intel shop of its own, but let's be honest: it's small, ineffectual, not particularly influential, and half the people working there are detailed from other agencies, either inside or outside the department. On matters like the ones depicted in the book, CIA and FBI would have the lead. I tended to mentally substitute "the IC" for "Homeland" because all those references really irked me.
• "Hooah" is (sadly) not just a Ranger term, it's widely used throughout the army (and I've heard it used by the other services s well).
• Perhaps the silliest bit of all: one of the major characters is a British woman who is purportedly a major in Britain's SAS who heads up one of DMS' field teams. Now, to the best of my knowledge, women are not permitted in the SAS, so her background doesn't make sense, and why would a British citizen be recruited into an elite, "black" combat unit? If she had been described as a liaison officer, I might accept it, but she's not. There's really no good reason for her to be a Brit in any case. It's a bit of an oddity.  

Little things like that. I hate to criticize a book for such niggling errors, but when a technothriller purports to depict the military and intelligence comunity realistically, I do think that the book must be evaluated on its own terms and flaws have to be pointed out.

The book ends with closure -- the current threat has been decisively ended -- but it is clearly set up as the first book of a series. I liked this one well enough that I plan to pick up the next. Yes, the action and twists and turns of the plot are eminently predictable, but that's not always a bad thing. It's a fun, light read, and I enjoyed it tremendously. If you like zombies and technothrillers, this is an obligatory purchase. 

The publisher has also made available a short story that elaborates on the opening scene of the novel, which you can sign up to receive here.

Review copyright 2009 J. Andrew Byers

15 June Writing Update

Today was productive, even though I only had time to work on one thing.  My wife is out of town for the next couple weeks, so I should have more time to devote to projects like this.

Writing accomplishments:

• Finished my two draft Carcosa hexes, along with some rumors, and a new monster.  Uploaded all that to our master Google doc.  One of my other collaborators will call dibs on a couple more hexes tomorrow he says, and I hope to hear back from the other soon as well.

Tomorrow my goal is to -- if I hear back from both -- lay claim to a couple more hexes and begin work on those as well as get started on a more detailed outline for the Assassins novel.  Need to finish brainstorming that, but that will come along with the more detailed outline.

14 June Writing Update

The last few days have been pretty productive, even if they haven't directly led to a vast amount of new wordcount.

Writing accomplishments:

• Had a great meeting on Thursday with my writing partner.  We traded comments on each other's new chapters.  I like where both novels are (we have 10-11k for each written so far, with a goal of 100k for each; each is therefore 10-11% completed).  I think this meeting and new verbiage -- after an extremely long hiatus -- is exactly what we needed to rejuvenate our interest in both projects.
• I have turned around my draft to him incorporating his comments and tonight I began brainstorming and initial research on my next chapter (for the other novel, since we trade off each time).  This next chapter I write is going to be a cool action chapter set mostly in a small castle on the Isle of Wight, and if it comes off well, will be something straight out of a James Bond movie.
• Wrote out one fairly complete Carcosa hex (the project has 18 total, though my two collaborators will do some of them) as well as a handful of rumors.

My goals for tomorrow are to continue researching, outlining, and brainstorming the novel chapter as well as complete a second Carcosa hex.

10 June Writing Update

Writing accomplishments today:

• Finished chapter two of the collaborative novel.  It's ok.  It's a little too workman-like, and first they did this, then this, then this, for my liking, but hey, it's done.  Commented on my partner's chapter four of the other novel.  That's good stuff.  I am liking what he put together there and looking forward to picking up where he left off.

Tomorrow (Thursday):

• Have my novel meeting, which should only inspire me on these projects.  Need to read up on the other two novel projects so we can brainstorm about those in greater detail.  It's been a loooong time since I've looked at or thought about those.
• Will hopefully put some words down on the Carcosa project.

9 June Writing Update

I haven't been updating this sucker as frequently as I would like, but then again, there hasn't been a great deal of progress on the writing front anyway.

Writing accomplishments of the last couple days:

• Nearly finished the draft of chapter two of one of the four (!) collaborative novels I am working on with a partner.  Only two of the four are actively being worked on.  The other two are just at the conceptual stage.  We had been working diligently on these last summer, but they have been on hold since August 2008 because of our school responsibilities.  We have restarted work on both and intend to put some wordcount in on each over the course of the next year, despite the fact that my partner will be in Germany doing research for a year.  Hopefully we can stick with them.  We trade off the two novels each month, each writing one chapter, so that both active books get a new chapter every month.  If we did this for a year, we'd probably be darn close to having two completed drafts.
• Put down a few words on my D&D setting/campaign.  Need to do more with that so I can run my wife through her first old school dungeon crawl before she heads off to California.

Tomorrow I plan to finish off chapter two of the collaborative novel I'm working on and send the draft off to my partner. If I still have some writing time left over, I need to put some words down on my joint Carcosa project.

28 May 2009 Writing Update

Haven't updated in the last few days because I've had very little of note to update. I have been continuing to read plenty of things (both academic and personal reading), just haven't been writing much.

Accomplishments/updates for the last few days:

• Received a few semi-cryptic comments back from my advisor on the dissertation chapter outline, but he commented on the first draft again rather than the second, which leads me to believe he mistakenly never read the second draft. Alas, I really did want some feedback on that. I'm going to shelve that for now and just press on, I don't want to get into the confusion with him.
• Made some progress on the Carcosa collaborative project. I have started a draft with all our ideas to date (not all that many thus far). We have decided to detail the Yathlogthotep Forest, a mostly unknown area of ten main hexes, though an additional eight hexes contain the fringes of the wood. We can't say all that much about eighteen hexes, as that is a pretty large area, but I think we can do some interesting things with it. My hope is that we can have something to submit -- assuming my two collaborators agree -- for the next issue of Fight On!. Submissions are due by June 27, so I think that gives us plenty of time.

My writing goals for tomorrow: work on Carcosa a bit and crack open those musty collaborative novel files and draft some additional wordcount on one of them.

24 May 2009 Writing Update

Had a pretty productive day today, writing-wise.

Today's writing accomplishments:

• Finished the second draft of my dissertation chapter outline/description (about 2200 words) and sent that off to my advisor. I am, as always, slightly apprehensive about how he will receive it.
• Extracted my notes from two books on elements I will want to add into the dissertation: one piece on linking sexuality with modernity and one on the Foucaultian notion of "discourse," both of which I think I'll want to include, probably in the first chapter.
  
• Put down a few words on Carcosa. I'll contact my new collaborators on Tuesday about my ideas.

My writing goals for tomorrow are minimal, as we have some friends coming over for a cookout at 3 PM (Memorial Day and all).

23 May 2009 Writing Update

Had a pretty productive day, and hey, this is the third day running I've updated this blog, which has to be a record.

Today's writing accomplishments:

• Finished the draft of the dissertation chapter outline. I haven't yet sent it off because I want to think about it a bit more tomorrow and do one final editing pass. We'll see how my advisor likes it. He's a tough critic.
• Have a second taker re: the Carcosa collaboration project. Told both I would get back to them in a day or two. Wrote up my initial thoughts on the project, and have a clear sense of what I'd like to propose to my collaborators, which is good. The more material I have in hand before talking with them, the better.
• Penned a few thoughts on Thoon, mainly on the deep history of the setting.

Tomorrow I hope to send off the dissertation chapter outline and write more on Carcosa. I still want to hit the collaborative novels, maybe I will open up those files and begin revisiting them.

22 May 2009 Writing Update

Not a vast amount of writing accomplished today, but some.

Today's writing accomplishments:

• Did some work on the dissertation chapter outline. One more good day of writing should finish out that draft, though I still need to answer some tough questions in my mind before I can put it to bed.
• Put a few words down on Thoon, though not as many as I'd like. Mainly some initial thoughts on its moons, which will give it a nice Flash Gordon vibe.
• Updated my personal writing wordcount tracker (spreadsheet) for 2009. I started doing this last year and its a nice record for posterity.
• Posted a note on the OD&D board asking if anyone would be interested in collaborating on a small Carcosa-related project: a joint hex/sandbox design. I have some ideas but would like a partner. Already had one taker (DuBeers), which is great. I have corresponded with him previously on my contribution to the free Carcosan Grimoire project.

Tomorrow I hope to finish the dissertation chapter outline draft and email that off, continue to get a few words on Thoon, and put some initial thoughts together on the Carcosa deal.

21 May 2009 Writing Update

This post isn't about books, instead it's about writing. I feel the need to start tracking my academic and personal writing output, and this is as good a place to do that as any. Not like anyone is reading this thing anyway.

Today's writing accomplishments:

• Began revising my dissertation chapter outline according to my advisor's comments from the other day. It was my impression that he just wanted some informal thoughts, but as with everything he reads, he asked a number of tough, hard-hitting questions that will cause me to do a fair amount of additional writing. Another day or (more likely) two of writing will put this second draft to bed.
• Completed and submitted my book review for On Point. If the one I did for them last year is any indication, I will receive no further information on the review. Presumably these suckers are published, because I've never actually seen a copy of the journal and my library doesn't stock it (nor do they provide electronic proofs).
• Put some initial thoughts down on Explorers of Thoon (c), the planetary romance setting I have been wanting to create for a while now. Think of it as a combination of E. R. Burroughs' John Carter of Mars series and Thundarr the Barbarian.
• A handful of discussion board posts on the Original D&D Discussion Board (my first on this board, though I have been lurking there for a while). The "Old School D&D Renaissance" has really caught my fancy of late. Too bad it took the deaths of E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson to bring old school D&D back to the front burner of everyone's attention.

So, all in all, not a bad day, writing-wise. Tomorrow I plan to do more work on the dissertation chapter outline, some more on Thoon, and maybe I'll even revisit the collaborative novels I am working on with JS.

Review: Endworld: Doomsday by David Robbins

A relatively action-packed prequel to a long-running men's adventure/post-apocalyptic survival series.

SPOILERS ABOUND: READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL.

The book begins with the world falling into chaos. Multiple wars involving nuclear weapons begin in the Middle East and elsewhere. Eventually, the missiles start landing in the United States, destroying a number of cities. (Technobabble is kept to a minimum here; frankly, I'd have liked to see a little more specificity on what was going on elsewhere in the world.)

Fortunately, an eccentric movie producer has constructed an underground compound in remote Minnesota and has recruited a hundred or so competent individuals to join him in rebuilding civilization. Just one problem: they're scattered all over the country and have to make their way to the relative safety of the compound. The first half of the book follows the adventures of a handful of these individuals as they make their way through an increasingly chaotic (and deadly) American society in the process of breaking down. The author manages to end each chapter on a cliffhanger, which lends a sense of urgency to the book. Characterization isn't bad, certainly well within the "standard parameters" of typical men's adventure series.

The second half of the book -- once everyone arrives at the compound -- is a little less interesting. Things become a little on the cheesy side when the producer begins describing his plan for the group's future, suggesting that they each take a title (Leader, Warrior, Tiller, etc.) and each of the Warriors takes on a codename (Thor, Solo, etc.) that they use exclusively from then on. Here's the silliest part: the character Thor is a nearly seven foot tall construction worker who (along with his family) worships the Norse gods and he manages to get a warhammer that can literally throw lightning bolts. Honestly, I wish these elements hadn't been included because they ramp up the silliness factor in an otherwise straight-forward adventure novel.

This book is a newly written sequel to a long-running (27 or so books) adventure series published from the mid-'80s through the early '90s. The first chapter of the first of these is included as a teaser and I was somewhat surprised at what I read there. That book is set a century after this one, with an entirely new cast of characters. Their access to technology appears to be somewhat more limited, understandably, and the landscape seems to be peopled by various mutants and strange phenomena. I'm intrigued by that premise -- it reminds me strongly of Sterling Lanier's Hiero's Journey and The Unforsaken Hiero as well as the old role-playing game Gamma World.

The book wasn't bad, as long as what you're looking for is a fun, light read. I have a few misgivings about reading a prequel to a series that will be set a century after this one with an entirely new cast of characters and setting, but I was intrigued enough by the book and the sample chapter for the first book in the series that I do plan to pick up the next book (entitled Endworld: The Fox Run).  

3.5 stars out of 5

Review copyright 2009 J. Andrew Byers

Review: Without Warning by John Birmingham

A fast-paced, fun piece of contemporary military fiction with heavy science-fiction (post-apocalyptic overtones).

SPOILERS ABOUND: READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL.

The book begins in 2003 with America poised to invade Iraq. For an entirely unrevealed reason, an energy field now covers nearly the entire continent of North America, killing every inhabitant and rendering the area impossible to enter. For all intents and purposes, the United States is now gone. All that remains of America is Alaska, Hawaii, part of Washington state, and the large numbers of military personnel and equipment in the Middle East. Needless to say, much of the world descends in chaos as a result.

The book follows the experiences of several characters as they deal with this situation, including a female counter-terrorist operative operating in France (possibly the weakest sub-plot, but also the only one involving significant combat scenes); some smugglers operating off the western coast of Mexico; an embedded journalist in Iraq (a typical all-American guy, though poorly developed); a city engineer in Washington state; a general at Gitmo; and a political operative and smooth-talker on vacation in Hawaii. Characterization is limited -- I'd say that's the biggest weakness of the book -- as is combat, for the most part. There's plenty of action and the plot proceeds a rapid clip, however, so it's certainly not boring. Technobabble is kept to a bare minimum, so if you have an allergy to Tom Clancy, you'll be fine here.

The book ends on a revelation, one year after the event that started the book, that will once again fundamentally change the setting. It's an interesting twist and I look forward to seeing how the sequel proceeds from this point. Do not, however, look for an answer to what caused this catastrophe -- you won't get one in this first book in the series. At this point, it's purely a "what if" thought piece; you should be aware of that before you begin reading, since I suspect that may irk some readers.

I recommend the book as a fun read. Even though I received an ARC of this book for free, I enjoyed it enough that I will likely pick up the sequel.

3.5 stars out of 5

Review copyright 2009 J. Andrew Byers