The Distinctly Essential Dresden Codak Primer by Aaron Diaz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Engage cheese:
This book was everything I’d hoped it to be, and more.
End cheese. Return to your regularly scheduled reading list.
Author Archives: David Crampton
Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I’ve never had to set down a book because it was too unsettling.
Until now.
I had only put it down for a day, and plowed through it after that. The story was disturbing, amazing, and thought-provoking. I don’t know that I’d call it fun, though.
The ending is sad, and left me a little despondent. I’d hoped that this time would be the time that something different happened.
Bleeding Slowly
I have never had so much trouble writing something as I have with Chapter 2 of the Remembrance rewrite.
It’s 99% new content. There wasn’t much about Diane and Sebastian in the old Chapter 1 that needed to be kept. Truth be told, there wasn’t much about Diane and Sebastian in the old Chapter 1 at all. Outlining was a snap. Mapping out the events was possible, even as they needed to change. And change. And then change again.
Chapter 2 had me reconsidering whether I wanted to do the rewrite at all. It had Nikki asking the same question.
Professional writers don’t always like what they’re writing. It doesn’t always flow out of their pens (and/or keyboards) like blood out of a gushing neck wound in a 1980’s anime. Sometimes, they’ve got to squeeze the words out of a paper cut drop by drop. Sometimes, they’ve got to do that over and over again until they’ve got something that they can be satisfied with, at least until the next draft.
The first draft of the new Chapter 2 is done, and it feels like I’ve bled a lot, very slowly. It feels like I pushed my way through wall after wall, didn’t have much fun, but wrote something that I would like to read. It feels like I’ve accomplished something.
The majority of Chapter 3 will be new content, as well. I’ve got my fingers crossed for a gusher.
Review: The Absolute Death
The Absolute Death by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I didn’t think that it would be possible, but this was better than I remember. If you can get your hands on a copy, read it.
Review: Old Man’s War
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I kept looking for a climax. I kept expecting the story to coalesce. I kept expecting the meaningful and emotional events to happen in a timed structure that would reveal a pattern in what was going on. My expectations were silly.
When I was nearing the end of the novel, I remembered that Scalzi was attempting to write in the style of Heinlein when he wrote this. I remembered that he had been congratulated on multiple occasions for achieving that goal. And then I remembered the only Heinlein book I’ve ever read, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. I say again, my expectations were silly.
Once I abandoned them, I was able to look back on my reading and notice that I had enjoyed every minute of it. As a self-described grumpy old man, I related to John Perry, and cared about what he was going through as he adapted to his new life and new surroundings. When he got thrown across the mess hall by special forces, I couldn’t stop myself from muttering, “Rut roh, Shaggy.” I now intend to track down the sequels, devour them, and get them signed, in whichever order presents itself.
While I didn’t have any problems putting the book down, I greatly enjoyed the ride.
Warped and Full of Words
Last month, I filled up another journal.
This one was another gift from the ex-in-laws, and is the last of that bunch. I’m pretty sure that I don’t have any more felt-covered and lined journals. While I’ve most definitely appreciated them, it feels good to be finishing. There’s a sense of completeness about it, on a whole lot of levels.
This one was given to me the night of my first wedding, at the after party (at which we drank the bar out of Jagermeister), in which to chronicle the honeymoon adventures that were about to be sprung on us. In it was a bookmark made out of the tartan fabric that we’d used for our hand fasting cord. The bookmark had been knotted at the top with a stamped metal disc. The first pages were indeed given over to the original and intended purpose of the book, but after the trip was completed, no more was written about it.
The rest of the journal is filled with the Glass Crown, the Remembrance rewrite, and miscellaneous journalings. I hit some serious writer’s block with the Chapter 2 rewrite, and I really questioned whether I wanted to continue tackling it. The opportunity to write a scene in which a unicorn gored an innocent bystander pushed me through most of that, in the end.
I was worried, when I started writing in this one, that its past purpose and associations would hinder my progress, perhaps by being something I’d be hesitant to write in. Then I left it on the kitchen table over night. Nicodemus, the cat with a death wish, tipped over one of the kid’s cups, as he is wont to do when they are full of water. By the next morning, when we discovered the mess, the journal was soaked. I let it dry for several days, but by then the damage was done. Water damage, specifically. Bowed covers, wrinkled pages, and a slightly warped binding. Considering the way that I feel about my notebooks, Nikki was intensely apologetic (the cat is hers) and was surprised when I told her that I was happy that it had happened.
It was like a new book! The pages had a different texture, it sat differently when I wrote in it, and the paper even crinkled in a new way. I was no longer writing in the honeymoon journal from my first marriage. I was writing in a journal irrevocably stamped by my new(er) life and family. And by that god damn cat. The pages were no longer monotonous machine-printed exact copies of each other. Every page was different than the one before it and the one that came after.
And now, I lay to rest the journal that was once transformed, transfigured, and a little bit soggy. May it rest in peace.
On my shelf.
Next to my other journals.
Now that it’s dry.
Tron: Uprising
SPOILER ALERT! Fair warning, there are some spoilers ahead for Tron: Legacy.
A Tron animated series, you say? A story set in the Grid without the limitations of actors interacting with CGI special effects? Where could I obtain such rarified awesomeness for my eyes and ears?
Oh, it’s on Netflix? I, uh, well, thank you.
The animation style took a bit of getting used to. Legs and arms are very long, while torsos are compact. Hip movement in the female characters is a bit exaggerated, while the male characters move a little bit like spider man all the time. The style is definitely a nod to Aeon Flux, which is fun and disturbing all at the same time.
The story follows Beck, a mechanic, through Clu’s occupation of his city. We see his chafing and eventual resistance to the subjugation, with the help of a familiar face, Tron. He’s alive, if not well. He tutors Beck, with the goal that he can eventually pass the mantle of Tron on to a more capable, less terminally injured, program.
We know that the uprising cannot succeed, because we have seen the Grid after its failure. This story is told so well that knowing this doesn’t matter. I rooted for Beck and his friends, I got bummed at his failures, and I cared about Argon City and its fate. When they introduced repurposing, and gave the supreme nod to the original movie, I squeed. Tron was going to end up there, at some point, and be turned into Rinzler. I couldn’t wait for them to tear my heartstrings out one by one as it happened. I couldn’t wait to see what it did to Beck, and I was supremely interested in how Beck would eventually fail.
At the moment, I’m not sure I’ll be able to witness that. After the first season, Disney did not order any further episodes. They haven’t officially canceled the series, but they haven’t given the go-ahead for any more work. It’s in limbo in a way that I’ve not seen with a television show before. While I recognize that neither Disney nor the creative team are my bitches, I vehemently want to see more of this series. So I went looking, and I found something.
There’s a crowdfunding campaign to get a second season going. The goal listed is incorrect, they actually need 15,000 votes for the studio to acknowledge that it might be worth while. So, seriously, tell your friends. I want to see the story progress, and after watching the first season, you just might feel the same way.
Craft and Links
I am unreasonably proud of the journal pictured there on the right. It’s my first attempt at crafting in a long, long time. It’s also the first one that I didn’t have to tilt my head slightly to the side for it to look right.
The next time I do anything crafty, I’m going to have to remember to take a before picture. I had an old journal (because journals) and an old Decepticon patch (because Transformers). I got the urge to combine them, but I did not have the patience or the immediately available fundage to procure the proper fabric glue. I did, however, have some Super Glue lying around.
I covered the iron-on backing of the patch in a very thin, even layer of Super Glue. I didn’t want the patch to curl, so I made sure that the glue went all the way out to the edges, including the spiny bits on top. I then eyeballed the middle, from the right of the journal to the edge of the binding ridge section on the left. I wanted the symbol to be closer to the top than the bottom, for reasons.
I am sure that there is a technical explanation for the aesthetics of the placement, and where the eye is naturally drawn to, but I am woefully unversed in the science behind it. I will have to remain satisfied, for now, with “because I think it looks good there.”
I then gently turned the patch over and applied it where I wanted it to go. I pressed it firmly to the vinyl(ish?) cover for thirty seconds to a minute. It’s a padded cover, so the vinyl dimpled a bit as the glue dried, but not so much that it’s noticeable. I got lucky, and the Super Glue bonded very well to both the patch and the cover. Since I won’t have to worry about putting this through the wash, I guess the fabric glue would have been overkill. In any case, I LOVE the result, and think it’ll make a nice counter to the Covenant of Primus. (And of course by that I mean it’s the next journal in which I will be writing my fictiony words.)
On to the links!
- Don’t forget, Two Vampires is available for purchase! Buy it, and your brain will thank you!
- I’ve just resurrected the Fight or Flight site at a new address. There aren’t any planned updates in the near future, but I thought having the archives available might be nice. If you haven’t read through them, wander on over there and take a peep!
- The Penguicon info is out early! Incredibly early. So early that I’m a little worried. Worry aside, it’s happening on the weekend of my birthday, and I have decided that I am going this year, come hell or high water! I’ll be adding it to my Appearances page shortly.
- Make your own Tron laptop bag? Awesome!