Author: jasonloch

Yes, I’m a bad blogger

My apologies for the lack of updates. Between the Toonari Post and the second Khamtir novel, I don’t have a lot of time for miscellaneous writing, hence the tumbleweeds that are drifting through this blog.

However, I do have some exciting news to report: two of my stories will be appearing in Tendrils and Tentacles, an anthology of flash fiction written by speculative fiction writers from the Madison area. One of the stories is set in the Khamtirverse (naturally), but the other one is set in the same universe as A Theft of Bones.

The anthology will be available early next month, and I plan on doing some public readings to help promote the book. It should be a lot of fun!

J. K. Rowling shifts gears

Little, Brown and Company announced last week that J. K. Rowling is planning to release a new book aimed at adults. For the moment, she’s keeping mum about the specifics, so fans have no idea what this new book will be about. Her only comment has been that it will be “very different” from Harry Potter.

Since Rowling is now richer than Croesus, she has a degree of artistic freedom that most writers can only dream about . She can write about whatever the hell she wants. She could write a 1,000 page book about a young gay physicist who ruminates about dusty plasmas and cookies, and it would still make the New York Times best-seller list because lots of people will buy it no matter what. Of course, even if it were a total flop, she wouldn’t exactly be worrying about how to put dinner on the table.

It will be interesting to see what Rowling does with this freedom. Will she stay within the confines of speculative fiction, or will she try to break out of that mold entirely?

Diablo 3 Beta: Patch 13

I know some of my readers follow Diablo III, so I thought I’d include a shameless plug for my review of Patch 13 over at the Toonari Post:

Part 1

Part 2

It has all sorts of juicy info about the new skill system (which, incidentally, is really cool, despite what the naysayers say).

In other Diablo-related news, it looks like we may actually have a release date before the sun dies. According to Jay Wilson, we’ll see a release date announcement “in the near future.”  Exciting as this news is, I’m trying not to get my hopes up. After all, Blizzard’s definition of ‘the near future’ may be radically different from that of the man on the Clapham omnibus. 🙂

The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

I recently finished The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss, which is rather shameful since it’s been out for almost a year now and Rothfuss is one of my favorite authors. What can I say? Life intervened, as she so often does.

TWMF continues the story of Kvothe, the music-loving arcanist first introduced in 2007’s The Name of the Wind (which I keep mistyping as The Name of the Rose!). The whole series is actually a story-within-a-story. Kvothe (now masquerading as a simple innkeeper named Kote) is telling his life’s story to an itinerant scholar known as Chronicler. And it’s quite the story: in TNOTW, Kvothe was orphaned at a young age when his parents were killed by the mysterious Chandrian. After spending years begging on the streets, Kvothe finally enters the Arcanum, a school for the study of the arcane arts. Although Kvothe soon shows himself to be a talented arcanist, his temper often lands him in trouble, and he makes a lasting enemy of a young nobleman named Ambrose.

In TWMF, Kvothe’s feud with Ambrose takes a sinister turn when it looks like Ambrose is using ‘sympathy’ to try to hurt him. Sympathy involves forging magical links between objects, and Kvothe believes that Ambrose has used some of his blood to create a sort of voodoo doll. Eventually, Kvothe triumphs over his rival, but he is then arrested on charges stemming from the events in the first book. Although Kvothe escapes punishment, it is clear that Ambrose and his family hold a deep grudge, so Kvothe’s friends and instructors convince him to take a break from his studies until things have cooled down.

During his ‘vacation,’ Kvothe heads to Severen to gain the patronage of the local Maer. Kvothe is ultimately unsuccessful in obtaining full patronage, but along the way he foils a plot against the Maer, hunts bandits, has copious amounts of sex with a Fae woman, and learns a nifty new set of combat moves from a mysterious warrior race. By the time he returns to the Arcanum, he’s a much different person. Kvothe the boy is now Kvothe the man, and he has finally begun to learn how to effectively control his powers.

TWMF has received the same near-universal acclaim as its predecessor, but I’m afraid I’m going to be one of the few dissenting voices. Don’t get me wrong: TWMF is a very good book. I think Rothfuss is one of the best world-builders in fantasy, and I really, really like his prose. Like N.K. Jemisin or Genevieve Valentine, he writes elegantly yet simply, without the ponderous prolixity that often mars fantasy novels. Rothfuss has also done a wonderful job developing Kvothe’s character. He could have very easily become a ‘Marty Stu,’ but his flaws help keep him believable.

My biggest problem with TWMF is that it the story often bogs down. The scenes with Felurian (the uber-sexy fae woman who has a reputation for humping men to death) drag on and on. Interesting things do happen (such as his encounter with the Cthaeh), but they’re obscured by the repetitive sex talk. Similarly, Kvothe’s time among the Adem felt a lot longer than it really was. The Lethani is a cool concept, but I sometimes felt like I was being beat over the head with it.

There were also a few WTF? moments. Kvothe’s trial came out of left-field, and it sort of felt like that whole episode had originally been intended for the first book. It seemed strange that Ambrose’s family would have waited so long to have Kvothe brought before a judge. Maybe it just took them a while to grease enough palms.

Kvothe’s sudden decision to run after Felurian also struck me as odd. Granted, Kvothe can be the King of Bad Decisions at times, but his eager pursuit of her made me scratch my head. He’s supposed to be returning to the Maer’s court, yet he drops everything to make time with some Fae harlot. I suppose one could argue that Felurian’s supernatural allure combined with Kvothe’s natural brashness to make him cast reason aside, but it still seemed weird. I did not get the sense that Felurian’s appeal was impossible to resist; the other male members of Kvothe’s group managed to keep their distance from her.

Ultimately, the entire book felt like one big digression from the main plot. I would have liked to have learned more about the Chandrian and the Amyr, which have lurked at the margins of the plot since the beginning of the series. Given Rothfuss’ talent, the side road is still an attractive proposition, but I sure was glad when Kvothe returned to the Arcanum (and the main plotline) at the end.

 

 

SkyUI

One of the worst things about Skyrim is its clunky UI. I almost didn’t buy the game because of it, and it’s been something of a thorn in my side ever since. It’s really annoying to have to wade through an endless succession of menus if you want to equip an item from your backpack. True, you can create a favorites list, but if you have a bunch of stuff there, scrolling through it all gets old really fast.

Thankfully, I managed to find a cool mod that makes the inventory a lot more manageable. It’s called SkyUI and it replaces the succession of menus with a single tabbed interface, where each tab contains a different item type (e.g. weapons, armor, potions, ingredients, etc.). It makes for a much nicer presentation, and it speeds up inventory management by quite a bit.

If you do download SkyUI, you should make sure to download the Nexus Mod Manager first. It makes installation a breeze. Plus, if you download other mods, it will help you manage them. Unlike other games, *cough* Diablo III *cough*, Skyrim is wide open to modding (the developers are even producing a Creation Kit to allow fan-made quests). Sites like Skyrim Nexus offer a ton of mods to tailor the game to fit your preferences. Want to wield Gandalf’s sword from LOTR? Now you can! Want to change the game’s flora? You can do that, too! The opportunities for customization are almost limitless.

Iteration, or why I love Blizzard Entertainment

The sturm und drang surrounding the development of Diablo III continues. Back in September, the game’s release was postponed until “early 2012,” but Blizzard has still not given any hint of when we’ll be seeing it on store shelves. The game director recently took to the official D3 blog to explain what the team has been working on over the past few month. Some of the changes concerned core elements of the game, and many fans expressed outrage that the designers were still making major changes this late in the development cycle. As usual, Blizzard was unapologetic, stating once more that they will only release the game “when it’s done.”

Why am I bringing this up? Well, it occurred to me that Blizzard and I have a lot in common: we’re both addicted to iteration. I’ve technically been done with Evil in Thebes for months now, yet I can’t seem to stop tinkering. I suppose the most notable change was the main character’s name (Ptahmose is now Khamtir), but most of these changes are rather small: some additional wordsmithing here, a few extra tidbits of lore there.

None of these changes are particularly earth-shattering, so you might be wondering why I’d bother making them. After all, every minute I spend making changes to EiT is a minute I can’t spend querying or working on the sequel. But, like Blizzard, I’ll only stop fiddling with something when it’s actually done. However, there comes a point where you’re just making changes for the sake of changing things, and that’s when it’s time to stop and close the Word document for good. Unfortunately, it’s often difficult to figure out when you’ve reached that point. In most cases, there’s no objective standard you can use to make that determination. It ultimately boils down to gut feelings and hunches, but the more you write and revise, the more self-aware you’ll become. “Übung macht den Meister,” as my German professors would say.

Christmas comes early!

After years of searching, I’m finally the proud owner of Alexandre Piankoff’s The Tomb of Ramesses VI. Ramesses VI had one of the best-decorated tombs in the Valley of the Kings, and its walls were decorated with an unusually complete selection of Netherworld books. The Bollingen Foundation sponsored a photographic survey of the tomb and commissioned Piankoff to translate the texts into English. Although it was published over 50 years ago and probably went out of print shortly thereafter, Piankoff’s work is still useful because it contains the only English translations of many of these texts.

Unfortunately, second-hand copies of The Tomb of Ramesses VI tend to be quite expensive. The two-volume set usually sells for anywhere from $200-500. But in a stroke of staggering good fortune, I was able to get both volumes for $21 from a seller called Better World Books. Not only did I get a great deal, but they also donate a portion of their proceeds to various literacy-related charities.

As I waited for the books to arrive, I worried that the deal was too good to be true. Happily, my fears proved to be groundless. Both volumes are in excellent condition, and I’m thrilled with my purchase. If you’re looking for used books, you should definitely check them out.

BOOK REVIEW: The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan

I enjoyed The Red Pyramid so much that I immediately purchased its sequel, The Throne of Fire. Happily, the sophomore installment doesn’t disappoint.

ToF takes place several months after RP. Carter and Sadie Kane have turned their uncle’s Brooklyn mansion into a school for young magicians who wish to learn the ways of Egyptian magic. But the world is once again in danger, for Apophis (the serpent god of chaos) is on the verge of breaking out of his prison. In order to stop him, the siblings must awaken the sleeping sun god Ra. Their journey takes them across the world as they try to assemble the three fragments of the Book of Ra. Then, they must plunge into the depths of the Underworld as they seek Ra’s sleeping form.

Riordan continues to do a nice job of incorporating Egyptian mythology into the book, and he weaves a number of obscure legends into the story. I really like the fact that Riordan  tries to maintain a reasonable level of accuracy, though I did notice one small error: the tale of the magician who parts the Nile is set during the reign of Sneferu, not Khufu. But overall, he’s done a great job, and I think this series remains one of the best portrayals of ancient Egypt in fiction.

My major gripe with this book has to do with the romantic subplots. They continue to feel forced, and it seemed a bit jarring to have Carter and Sadie mooning over their respective crushes when the end of the world is nigh. Then again, they are teenagers…

The third (and final) book in the series is due out next May.

The cost of knowledge

As I was browsing Amazon this afternoon, I came across an interesting book about the relationship between the Duchy of Lancaster and the English Crown in the late Middle Ages. The historian of Britain in me squealed with delight until he saw the price: $140 for the Kindle edition. And that includes Amazon’s 20% discount!

Having spent several years in the Ivory Tower, I’m well aware that academic books are overpriced. I’ve spent a small fortune lining my bookshelves with titles like The Corn Supply of Ancient Rome, The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts, and The Rise and Fall of the High Commission. Part of the reason for the inflated prices is that, let’s face it, these books aren’t exactly bestsellers. They’re big, bulky volumes that are almost always produced as hardcover editions to ensure maximum longevity. Their print runs are small since the vast majority of them are destined for purchase by academic libraries. I suspect that only a handful of them fall into the hands of private individuals. With such miniscule demand, you have to charge high prices in order to remain profitable.

But I’m not sure that same argument applies when ebooks are involved. For one thing, the press doesn’t have to worry about the cost of producing a physical copy since it’s all just a bunch of electrons. Charging $140 for something that exists solely on my Kindle is outrageous.

Unfortunately, I don’t see this situation changing any time soon. I don’t have any facts to back this up, but I suspect that the ebook revolution hasn’t exactly caught on in the academic market. Since academic libraries, not private individuals, make up the lion’s share of their sales, academic presses don’t have much incentive to lower their prices. And academic libraries are, to some extent, a captive market. If they want to have a respectable collection in a given field, they’re going to buy most of the new titles that are published in that field.

Thanks to the financial crisis gripping our institutions of higher education, university libraries have less money to spend on improving their collections. Perhaps academic presses will end up having to cut their prices in order to keep selling to these increasingly cash-strapped institutions. Hey, a guy can dream, can’t he?

400 years of the KJV

Yesterday at Westminster Abbey there was a special service to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Authorized Version of the Bible (AKA the King James Version). The Archbishop of Canterbury gave a great sermon about this enduring masterpiece of English literature, and it’s well worth a read.

The KJV remains my preferred translation of the Bible. I realize of course that the modern translations are more accurate, but their prose lacks the richness and beauty of the KJV. Its glorious language has left an indelible mark on the English language, and many our everyday phrases, from “a fly in the ointment” to “the writing on the wall” have their origin in the KJV. I doubt the modern translations will have that sort of cultural staying power.

Forty-seven men worked on the translation that became the KJV. Most of their names are known only to historians now, but their abiding influence on our language lets them live on in our day-to-day speech. Few other writers can claim such a legacy and, wherever they are, I hope they’re proud of the monument they left behind.