Mmmm, books.

Raymond Fiest is quickly becoming an author I really like.

I just read shadow of a dark queen and even though I thought of it as a fantasy version of the dirty dozen, I loved it.

I highly recommend his books to you, even though he has 5 stand alone series, you should start with magician.

George Alec Effinger

I recently finished a few books written by George A. Effinger. These 3 books are part of a series that was unfortunately cut short by the author's death. they are titled, When Gravity Fails, A Fire in the Sun, and The Exile Kiss.

I'm a fan of cyberpunk, and I feel that these three books are a good representation of that literary movement, or sub genre of sci-fi.

The books center around a reluctant hero of a very poor, very dangerous part of an un-named city in the middle east. Like other cyberpunk stories this one revolves about cybernetic implants that enhance the human mind/body.

Another key facet of this books revolves about the sexuality of humans. In this version of the future humans pick their own sex when they grow into adult hood. So there are males, born males. Males, born females. And females that dress and pass in society as males. Also the three opposite "sexes". The main character seems to like women who were born as men.

Overall I liked these books. The characters were real, and likable. There were varying degrees of good guys to bad guys. Good intrigue, and suspense.

My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

I have been reading a lot of escapist fantasy lately, and decided to change it up a bit. I selected a book titled My Life in the Bush of Ghosts by Amos Tutuola.

It seemed like an interesting book about the mythology of Nigeria. It has been praised by several book reviews, and a few of my friends.

It is one of the hardest, most irritating books I have ever read. Here is a selected paragraph for you to read, and no, I am not changing a single letter.

"Again, at the same moment that I left the place that I stood behind this tree the alarms started to blow according to how I was chasing this ugly ghostess and I was unable to stop in one place so that the alarms might stop, my aim was only to see the ugly ghostess clearly, because as she was running away so that I might not see her uglyness it was so she was laughing louder at her ugliness and I was also laughing louder at the ugliness. As I was chasing her to and fro to look to look at her ugliness it was so this this bush was blowing various fearful alarms and this was pointing out how I was running and how far reachinging in the bush to the ghosts who were chasing at the back to kill me. This young ghostess was so ugly that if she hid under a bush and if she looked at her ugly body she would burst suddenly into a great laugh which would last more than one hour and this was detecting her out of the hidden place she might hide herself."

I lied, I was going to write an entire paragragh but it is to annoying to read.

Harry Potter's end.

I just finished the last of the Harry Potter books.

I have been building this story in my mind for the last 6 books and am a little disappointed about the ending. Granted I do not think that J.K. Rowling wrote books three through six so I shouldn't be surprised at the low level of skill used in number seven.

Without going into details about Deathly Hallows, the characters that were chosen to be killed were only cheap shots to add suspense and emotion. The Potter/Voldermort story ending was better the first time I read it in the Bible, or maybe in the Lion Witch and Wardrobe. The last chapter taking place 19 years later was a lazy way to bring closure to the needless deaths mentioned before.

I don't know, maybe if I had written six thousand pages of character development and story line I would then write a good book to end it.

My first Tolkien

I have finally finished a Tolkien book. I know since I have read a huge share of escapist fantasy that it seems I would have read a Tolkien before, I hadn’t.

I tried to read Fellowship in high school, but it was too wordy. I tried after college also, but still found it borrring. Really? A 30 page dissertation on the entire history of Hobbits? Too much. However a friend of mine gave me a copy of The Hobbit, and I read it a few days ago.

Not that great, actually. It seems written for an adult to read to a child. Not being able to compare it to other Tolkien books I am going to compare it to the LOTR movie trilogy I did happen to have an attention span to enjoy. I can’t see how those fruity dwarves; fruity elves evolve in 60 or so years to become awesome killing machines.

I thought about quitting the book when the dwarves were cleaning Bilbo’s house and were singing a song about cleaning his house, like they just ad-libed some song. I can’t remember, but I think one of the dwarves was named Rodgers, and another named Hammerstein. And the elves! Letting some weak old fat hobbit run around their cave for a month stealing food and releasing the dwarves.

I can’t wait for the movie to come out, I bet it’s going to be great.

Religion and Politics.

I recently read Dune by Frank Herbert and have a few comments that I think are relevant to both subjects. Maybe it should be 2 blogs…?

I do not know the religion of Mr. Herbert however the scene he has set in Dune is very reminiscent of what I see in the Middle East.

Here are a people, who live in a desert, who rely on water, and see their own environment to be hostile and non productive. However there are people who invade their land and take it to mine a commodity that is used to expand and fuel their empire. Is this not a description of both Dune and The Middle East?

One great quote from Dune that I hope I am not messing up was “When Religion and Politics ride in the same wagon, the people are blind. They do not see the precipice until it is too late.” I see that as a possible horrible future in America, and a horrible reality in the Middle East.

I think that ruling any country through the guise of a religion would be wrong. It did not work in the Bible. It did not work out for the Romans, or the Mayans, or the Taliban. I do not think that a Christian Government in the US is a good idea either. As much as I hate to admit it, Obama’s statement about multiplicity in Christianity would have severe destructive consequences on both Religion and Politics.

Dune

Last month I read the last of the Dune series. I found the writing style to be disjointed, the character development non-existent.

Complaining to a friend about my disappointment, he asked how I liked the rest of the Dune books. It was the only one I had read and he lent me a copy of the first book, written by Frank Herbert.

As I was finishing it this morning, I was amazed at how incredibly well written it was. I might be putting Frank Herbert into my favorite authors category if the rest of his books are as well written.

Amazing amazing book.

Also here are my favorite writers:
George R. R. Martin
Issac Asimov
Arther C. Clarke
God (of course)
Tim M. Lewis (if he would ever publish something)
C. S. Lewis (not sure of the relation to Tim)
Stephen R. Donaldson
Frederik G. Pohl

Books I have read this month.

Magician:Apprentice
Magician:Master
Silverthorn
Darkness at Sethanon by Raymond Fiest.

Sandworms of Dune by Brian Herbert

High Druid of Shannara: Jarka Ruus by Terry Brooks

Mainspring by Jay Lake

Star Trek,TNG:Q and A by Keith DeCandido

No Country for Old Men by Cormic Mcarthy

Serenity: Those Left Behind (graphic novles count) by Joss Weadon