Review on The Ghost King by R. A. Salvatore

"The Spellplague has come to Faerûn. The Weave is unwinding. Magic has gone mad."

This novel was released October 6th, 2009. It is the 3rd and final installment of the Transitions series, the latest of all the chronological sets following in the footsteps of Drizzt Do'Urden, the Drow Ranger and the Companions of Mithral Hall. Cover art is by Todd Lockwood.


The series sets up to this point in time in chronological order to the sequence of events are as follows:

The Dark Elf Trilogy

• Homeland(1990)
• Exile(1990)
• Sojourn(1991)

The Icewind Dale Trilogy

• The Crystal Shard(1988)
• Streams of Silver(1989)
• The Halfling's Gem(1990)

Legacy of the Drow

• The Legacy(1992)
• Starless Night(1993)
• Siege of Darkness(1994)
• Passage to Dawn(1996)

Paths to Darkness

• The Silent Blade(1998)
• The Spine of the World(1999)
• Servant of the Shard(2000)
• Sea of Swords(2001)

The Hunter's Blades Trilogy

• The Thousand Orcs(2002)
• The Lone Drow(2003)
• The Two Swords(2004)

Transitions

• The Orc King(2007)
• The Pirate King(2008)
• The Ghost King(2009)

These stories are awesome! They are mature, well-written, flavorful, inspiring and contain something for everyone. There are chronologically 19 novels before The Ghost King involving the excerpts of Drizzt Do'Urden and Companions. There are also mutiple (which I have spared from listing here) sets that are side-related, catching up on circumstances with many more of the popular characters. Fortunately, the novels don't betray themselves by relying heavily on past content (see: Robert Jordan) insofar as they move on amidst the lives of the Companions of Mithral Hall with detail of the recent past and minor running familiarizations to keep the reader both refreshed and up to par with the current content. In short, yes you could just pick the first book of any series up and read it having only read, say, the first six installments chronologically in the sets without too much confusion. But why would you want to?

R. A. Salvatore is native to Massachusetts and went to college at Fitchburg for communications and then English. He is regularly a NY Times best-selling author and has sold more than 10,000,000 copies. Salvatore also personally wrote the story for the PS2, Xbox and PC video game Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone, edited a four story novel set for PC online game Everquest and designed the banter for the Quake III bots. Currently he is the Creative Director of 38 Studios, formerly Green Monster Games, along with Curt Shilling and Todd McFarlane.

R. A. Salvatore's writing style is a strong, well-rounded version of all that can be found in the great writers of our time, likely because he is also very well-read. As with most writers of the fantasy genre, Salvatore juggles between multiple climactic events all taking place during the context of one or more great objectives to overcome. Environment is well-described but not overemployed, struggle and mystery are constant but not overburdening, and characters are scintillating with reaction. Salvatore's most unique style is found within combat, actually having structured the dynamics and timing of everything that must occur within both realistic logic of relativity and fantastical connotations. That may sound complicated, the gist would be in that characters are not in some grey area of imagined triumph or loss amidst undescribable chaos where only what was written is to be finitely occurring. Also, the choices are related to Wizards of the Coast's Forgotten Realms content and must stay within those 'guidelines'.

The Ghost King is a puzzle piece fitted exactly in the conjunction of all Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons and Dragons and Forgotten Realms content. The PC game expansion pack Neverwinter Nights 2: The Mask of the Betrayer might ring a bell (good game by the way), or any reference to the Spellplague may also. All magic fibers have been torn asunder rendering deathly irony to what once were the most powerful entities on Faerûn. The realm of shadow is pouring into the prime material plane, with legion armies of otherworldly force spewing forth in contortions of rampage.

The Ghost King himself is partly the reincarnation of Crenshinibon, the crystal shard. That is the same crystal shard as mentioned in The Crystal Shard and Servant to the Shard. It is an ancient artifact millenia old that seeks revenge on those surviving who have spited it. The Spellplague, an unraveling and weirding of all magic context, has caused its previously detonated energy to form new substance. The Ghost King is possibly the most severe, colossal and heart-wrenching culmination of events that Salvatore could have designed.

Review on Be Near Me by Andrew O'Hagan

"My father always said one wasn't a man and knew nothing of life until one could read the local newspaper from cover to cover and find every item interesting. Everything from the church news to the prices of used cars, from the legal notices to the births, marriages and deaths."


Be Near Me(2006) was a Newsday Favorite Book of the Year, San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year, Plain Dealer (Cleveland) Best Book of the Year, Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, Library Journal Best Book of the Year and was also nominated for the Booker Award.

What is the good life that all must live? Is it in the forever fun-loving and innocent nature of youngsters? Can it be found lingering late at night within the haunts of metropolitan atmosphere? Is it anything like what was expected? Has it been there all along, in the lifelong journeys, the good and the bad?

This was a good book. It's as if the character contained within moves, eked of their own will and desires, to flagrantly disagree with the perpetuities the reader will find written on each page. The content is richly perceivable, written just like it had been lived. There is a strong sense of spontaneity in a bleak yet beautiful and well-loved atmosphere.

Father David Anderton is a Catholic priest with an education hailing from Oxford. His views are intelligent, prototypical and naive. All good-hearted, learned men must in fact be very naive or masochistic. Father Anderton devotes his life to helping his parish understand the religious soul as Christ saw it. More specifically, he is like a well-cultured, highly cynical, lost puppy. The problem being that he doesn't ever seem to crack a laugh despite literally constant antics incongruous with any sort of reverend-like behavior.

The novel is set in several different time periods, assumably the 1930s to 1970s within England and Scotland. David Anderton grows up never having understood his own father. His mother simply says his father really knew the way things were and what to do about it. Anderton lives the majority of his life bereft of a companion, helping others who are in need. It may seem a pleasurable existence, but his inner soul trapped in methodical boredom is not satisfied.

O'Hagan's style is like walking in a painting, except the people are real. In fact, that's one of the things written that are a part of the story. I could not eludicate on it any better than that, it is exactly accurate. From the moments of a garden kept within a church (enter: Final Fantasy 7?), asides between child and mother, men of great faith at a table, to end-all moments within a courtroom, a theme glitters, fluorishes and leaves the reader with a prism of deeply manifested roleplay.

Be Near Me was another choice from 'must read' book lists. The cover of my particular book featured an unerring masterpiece of an 80's haircut done up in sepia tones. This title was, yet again, an interesting experience that I would have otherwise possibly never picked up. I'd like to include more in the novel review about it, but every piece of description seems to produce spoilers that I am unwilling to yield.

Website Construction

I've been nonstop producing websites! I've just completed a final draft version of King Philip Regional High School's Drama & GAPS. You can find the running demo here. I should have some novel reviews ready soon!

Review on Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

"Nevertheless, we all of us, to varying degrees, believed that when you saw the person you were copied from, you'd get some insight insight into who you were deep down, and maybe too, you'd see something of what your life held in store."


Never Let Me Go(2005) is named after a song on an album named Songs After Dark by fictional singer Judy Bridgewater. The novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2005, for the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2006 and the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2005. Shortlisting is another terminology used in awards for displaying a noteworthy finalist. The movie adaptation of the book is set to release in 2010.

The author, Kazuo Ishiguro, displays a freedom of thought glancingly similar to James Joyce's stream of consciousness writing. Fortunately, and in line with my own personal preferences, it only faintly resembles such accolade. In this novel he is portraying three life segments of a young to middle aged girl named Kathy H..

Is it often that we stumble upon a male author writing award-winning material with their main character being the opposite gender? There are examples of this happening. Of the many examples, I believe the proportions to be vastly skewed in favor of both main characters that are male and unsuccessful attempts at capturing an undeniable element of femininity. In this case, Ishiguro is creative and clever, finding the niche where every individual character's mind may lie. To contrast between Ishiguro and what a female writer may have written, I find that Kathy H. is personified as being less vicariously empowered, and that because of this she is also inherently fragile. For the analysis go further indepth, it would lose direct connection to the content. I found it enjoyable to see limitation, a piece of the fabric of the story itself, becoming less of a handicap and moreso a rare bloom of life to behold.

A strong downside to reading Never Let Me Go is the necessary but unwanted homecoming on the facts of life related to juvenile behavior. Once in a while, a small refresher can add a mischievous spark to any literature, although it may come at the cost of target audiences not taking it seriously. On a rough estimate, 20-25% of this novel is blathering on in some form or another about sex. 'Sex sells' so the saying goes? Dubious. It is unfortunate that A: the author is clearly not a woman, and B: he wasted 1/5th of a novel on refuse I could care less about. It could be said that I'm no better for having written so much in opposition against it, but I can live with that.

Aside from all the hype and fuss, the straightforward bead on this paperback is that it is very realistic and very perfect in being delicate. The characters are sheltered, treasured and educated clones that must in the end be harvested for their organs to donate to people with identities in transplants. The world is cured of cancer, nobody has to feel the cold reaper at their back any longer. Nobody, except a caste of less-than-humans that may neither procreate nor experience true freedom. This is the indulgence of children that may never roam free.

I poked around and picked out a few books here and there in lists people declared as 'must reads'. Suffice it to say, grabbing at random from collections of people whom I've never met will land some interesting choices. I would not have picked this off the shelf spontaneously, though the actual decision-making of the past was exactly that. It might or might not have been a 'must read', I am at odds to judge it as either. It is a quick read and it leaves the reader with a ponderance of things long afterward. It does need to be mulled over on, so I guess it can't be all bad.

Website Construction

I completed my website project earlier today. You can find it at http://cheynej.awardspace.biz/. I'm posting some pics here for the purpose of archiving later on. In the future, I'd like to post an instructional on basics for using Microsoft Frontpage and Adobe Dreamweaver.































I also just fixed every hyperlink in this blog to open a new browser window upon clicking instead of using the current one. Why a blog wouldn't do that by default is a good question to ask. That's it for now!

May you...

I was having a moment of reflection, possibly incurred by a surprising early snowfall. May you always have these things:

• May your stomach always be full
• May your heart always be warmed by the kindness of others
• May you always have the strength to pick yourself up
• May you always be safe and secure
• May your trials not pass unnoticed
• May you always be in good health
• May you forever learn from your mistakes
• May you always look forward to each new day
• May your every day always bring new wonder
• May you always be able to love laughter
• May you forever exist gracefully
• May your ambitions never cease
• May your detours be always pleasant and plentiful
• May you never need to tell untruth
• May your trust never go unbroken
• May you always know a wealth of happiness
• and May you bring these things to another

It 'may' be that I'm just getting soft. Unlikely.

Exclusive Interview with Petteri Karjalainen from Bad Loop

Residing in Helsinki, Finland, Bad Loop is an IDM electronica music band fronted by Petteri Karjalainen. Started in 1991, Karjalainen is a pioneer of IDM, ambient and down-tempo electronica. Bad Loop provides a unique sound, tripped, harmonic and discordant. As an avid listener it was an honor to get the chance to interview Petteri on matters musical and material. You can check out Bad Loop's bio here.

Cheyne Johnson: What is your musical background?
Petteri Karjalainen: Well... I have studied music at the Music Institute of Vantaa for about 12 years. Classical piano was my subject. I started listening to electronic music when I was about six years old.
Cheyne: That's impressive.
Petteri: My mom travelled a lot and she bought me some vinyls from her travels. And, I fell in love with disco music and especially Italo, Giorgio Moroder and such. When I was 8, I was introduced to Kraftwerk and that changed my whole life. I started producing music with a friend from school at 11 and haven't stopped ever since. That was 19 years ago...

Cheyne: Do you teach or mentor professionally?
Petteri: Well I don't mentor as such. I have given vague lectures on electronic music at the University of Helsinki but nothing special.
Cheyne: Its an abstract subject even once you get down to the production matter.
Petteri: Yeh. Especially IDM music, production techniques to such abstract music.

Cheyne: What best defines your style from the rest of the industry? How do you judge a performance or song?
Petteri: What defines my style? I think I am the wrong person to ask that but I think it all comes down to my music being very melodical. I like the contrast between hard, slightly glitched beats over harmonic soundscapes and a melody that carries the whole song. So I think its 'melodic and emotional idm'. I have tried to do more monotoneous idm but I think my classical training forbids me doing that.
Cheyne: Haha, I can understand that.
Petteri: And [despite beginning from an abstract] somehow melodies and harmonies always find a way to inject themselves into my music.

Cheyne: Are there any teachers or peers you credit as part of the reason your sound is the way it is today?
Petteri: There are three. Vangelis, Aphex Twin and Brothomstates; especially the last one. Lassi Nikko, the person known as Brothomstates, has been a huge influence in my music and Vangelis' Bladerunner really broke something in my head when I was young! My life has not been the same since.

Cheyne: Do you employ kind of practice or warm-up prior to creating music or setting up live?
Petteri: When it comes to creation, I dont really warm up. If I have no inspiration, I just make weird sounds or just jam. But, when inspiration hits me, I can wake up at 4am to start making music. I dont care if I have to go to work in 4 hours. I'd rather not sleep than miss making something that is playing in my head. As for livesets, I usually work on a set for about 2 weeks prior to playing it. I don't want anything to go wrong and it has to be perfect. Sometimes that is not possible. Because some gigs I have played on a days notice. And, they usually suck. But it is OK. I love performing live, really the reason why I do this.

Cheyne: What is a memory in public performance that makes you smile?
Petteri: I think the gig that takes the cake is one I played in 2005 in Tuusula. The event was so badly organized that I was amazed, it was held in a place that holds about 2000 people but the organizers did not advertise. So, I played a gig for the sound technician, a couple of security guards, and a camera man.
Cheyne: *laughs*
Petteri: But, the best experience I had was in London in 2007 warming up to Plaid of Warp Fame. That was very special.
Cheyne: Very cool, I haven't heard some of these names before.
Petteri: Plaid is awesome :)

Cheyne: What is your current favorite track you've thus far released?
Petteri: Hmm... I think the most popular song I have is "Lumme", hands down.
Cheyne: That's some beautiful sound.
Petteri: As for favourite, I don't know since I pretty much hate everything I have released. It is never good enough. I think my forthcoming album will be my favourite.

Cheyne: What has been your greatest challenge so far as a musician?
Petteri: Well, I suffer from extreme self criticism. Therefore I haven't released anything for couple of years. I make a track, and in the morning it is horrible! Making a song that lasts over one day [against criticism] is hard. I have tons of unfinished work, but it has been getting better lately. I'm just getting over myself and just doing the songs like I should.

Cheyne: What are your current and longterm musical goals?
Petteri: Currently I am finishing up my 1st full length album Sorina and doing some performances on the side. As Bad Loop, I have no plans set for after that. I will see what the album brings along but I also produce music for adverts, film and computer games so I am hoping that it will be my 'bread' someday. I am currently working in Computer retail store. That is not really the work I want to do but I am taking it slowly. As I get more work I can consider moving away from retail and do this full time. But yes, in a nutshell, make an album and see what happens. I additionally produce music for other artists sometimes.
Cheyne: I'll definitely be looking out for that.
Petteri: Its been a long time in making. Sorina, that is.

Cheyne: Kind of arbitrary, do you run with a business plan?
Petteri: I try very hard making some deadlines and keeping them. I love the sound they make as they fly by.
Cheyne: *laughs*
Petteri: And they can do that quite frequently.

Cheyne: Any advice you would give to a nervous beginner? For making music and performing it.
Petteri: Why nervous? Making music today is easy. Today, the internet is FILLED with software. Just try out what best suits your working process. With Youtube oozing with tutorials for tons of software, I think there is no problem for anybody to just start producing. It was very different 20 years ago, hence the name Bad Loop.
Cheyne: Interesting...
Petteri: Because I had to use hex numbers to set loop points in software that had no graphical representation of ANYTHING musical. Just text mode in DOS, numbers and more numbers! And I am not good with numbers, so setting loop points with hex values. I hate hex values.
Cheyne: I can imagine, that's just wrong to have to go through that. Except for the willpower and chasing your dreams part... *ahem* Yeah..


Bad Loop is set to release their next EP, Fragments, later this year with the full length album, Sorina, next year. Check out the Bad Loop website, containing a plethora of information and downloadable tracks at http://www.badloop.com/. Petteri can be found performing live on Youtube, along with the video compilation, Sentience, and you can also catch a full set here. You'll find additional content on Facebook and MySpace. The album Luo, shown above, is available online at http://www.badloop.com/luo/.

Review on The Books of the South by Glen Cook

"In a moment he was adrift in the whale's belly, floating through the flames, watching the dark fire-eater. Only because it had fed so gluttonously had the windwhale not yet been consumed by a holocaust."


Sorry, was I supposed to write something? I thought we should simply gaze mesmerized, awestruck by the completely intimidating cover art. No? Well here's a closer look for now, and in the future I'll likely be forging a more personal review on the artist, Raymond Swanland, as well.

The world as it knows it has been saved from the infernal clutches of the Dominator. The Black Company is back, revived from almost total annihilation. Croaker has become the Captain and the new recruits are a statuesque caste of fearless Spartans exhuming unreachable prowess. Yes, this will do quite nicely.

The Books of the South: Tales of the Black Company(2008) is a trilogy of novels, directly trailing content subsequent to the The White Rose(1985)'s climactic last showdown. Singularly, the books are quite short, somewhere in the neighborhood of a low 200+ page count. What that equals in word count may better fit the more concise definition of a novella. While it may seem like we're being short-changed by Mr. Cook, it is quite the contrary. Not only were two published within the same year, he also published multiple other paperbacks for his P.I. Garret series within the same period of time. That's a busy guy! The titles are: Shadow Games(1989), Dreams of Steel(1990), and The Silver Spike(1989).

With the curtain call of the previous trilogy, all was seemingly well. It is not so. Newly introduced forces struggle for power and survival near the edge of the decipherable globe, only to reveal sinister revenge plots from yesteryear's devilish enemies; a creeping certain doom spreading in every imaginable context.

The same war tactics are held in use. By method they are consistently varied, by formula they are not; a typical zig then zag approach to the quick and doubly lethal kill. The environmentally illustrated medieval cutscene leaves the reader with a greater perception and clearer focus on what hasn't been studied inclusively before, though it may very well be the same picture. Glen Cook has further provided a flowing, well characterized depiction of an enduring, harsher reality containing few, if any, unnecessary drags. Cook will lack somewhat in description, allowing a more complete, vital and energetic read.

Potential themes are: love and loss, the importance of knowing one's own ancestry, sibling rivalry, patience being a virtue and letting the enemy come to you.

Croaker, Lady and Philodendron Case are the main annalists (narrators), depending on the when and where of the action taking place. Each narrator displays their own particular traits, with significant differences in how they feel, think and act during any given situation. For example: Croaker is analytic, cynical and calmly in command; Lady is brutally efficient and cunning but often represses her own needs; and lastly, Philodendron is well-rounded and extremely skilled in combat but must follow others to make the best use of his own versatility. The additional descriptive contours provide a more 'kaleidoscopic' view. Instead of an avalanche of useless information, Cook instead further conveys a constant self-increased dynamic, a widened passive sense of imagination and perception.

Every author is trying to publish works that encompass their own perogative, essentially writing the way they always wanted to read. It doesn't always come out that way. Many writers discard their initial attempts as being rubbish, feeling helpless and unable to construe it in the vision of the target audience. From this perspective and at this point in the timeline of The Black Company, I believe Cook has built a great foundation and grown it in a remarkable way. Undoubtedly, an exciting step in this evolution of story.

Review on Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

"'You're no help,' he told the lime. This was unfair. It was only a lime; there was nothing special about it at all. It was doing the best it could."


Both American Gods(2001) and Anansi Boys(2005), respective chronologically in timeline, are within the same contextual universe. Compé Anansi, also a part of Gaiman's novel American Gods, is a mythological trickster god hailing from West African and Carribean folklore. He is represented by the spider aspect. In Anansi Boys, he is referred to as Mr. Nancy (a pseudo-homonym of Anansi), and the infamous spider god is dead.

Anansi Boys won the Locus, Mythopoeic, YALSA Alex, and British Fantasy Awards in 2006. The novel was also adapted into a radio play for the BBC World Service in 2007.

Main characters include: "Fat Charlie" Nancy, Anansi's son; Roise Noah, Charles' Fiancée; Mr. Nancy, Charlie's father; Mrs. Nancy, Charlie's mother; Callyanne Higgler, Charlie's childhood neighbor; Grahame Coats, Charlie's boss, also named Basil Finnegan and Roger Bronstein; Louella Dunwiddy, the childhood neighbor who made Spider go away; Mrs. Bustamonte and Mrs. Noles, childhood neighbors; Spider, Charlie's brother he never knew he had; Maeve and Morris Livingstone, tw of Grahame Coats' clients; Daisy Day, a police detective; Eutheria Noah, Rosie's widowed mother; Benjamin and Clarissa Higgler, hotel concierge and mâitre d'.

The gods featured are: Compé Anansi, Lion, Elephant, Python, Stoat, Tiger, Hyena, Monkey, Rhinoceros, Crocodile, Bird Woman, Dragon, Rabbit and Scorpion.

To best explain the story, first it must be mentioned that all the stories were Tiger's, and then they belonged to Anansi, 'earned' through his 'hard work'. Through the stories Anansi tells, reality will bend this way and that to create a miracle. The gods are able to call upon these miracles to further their intentions, additionally fueled by their mythological characteristics. Fat Charlie and Spider are from the same Anansi bloodline, meaning they may have inherent godly power but are also entirely different people.

As befitting the mystical world which miracles are pulled out of thin air by walking deities exercising their divine right, the sense of perception is distorted far out of proportion. Despite any inconsistencies, the reader may comfortably follow the complex and rhythmic design Gaiman has masterfully paved, one breadcrumb at a time. Complaints founded through flaws in logic, normality or direction are easily carried off by an overwhelming interest to discover what actually happens. Gaiman possesses that rare quality in his writing, capable of deflecting the edge of sharp criticism. Yeah, I could rip it to shreds (like serious Tiger might), but as the next paragraph and the next after that go on, I realize I've only been humming to the same tune (like so many others).

There are distinct themes of good versus evil, naturalistic harmony, the pen being mightier, and respecting one's elders. Symbolically, the atmosphere is chock full of contextual clues. The novel has a strong recurrance of both coincidence and justice. This book is a quick read, a fun adventure and a tasteful insight of spiritually guided foolishness. My only warning being that you may have to forcefully restrict yourself from the use of clichés after being introduced to Grahame Coats. Just... don't say I didn't warn you.

Why you should use iGoogle for your Homepage

Everyone has their choice of internet browser homepage, that much is for certain. I happen to use iGoogle.

iGoogle offers enough features to sink a battleship and then some. Not only does it load explosively fast, it has multitudes of relevant add-on gadgets to customize your interface to the teeth with. Best of all, it takes almost no time at all to set up.

The setup I am currently using means that every time I open a new Internet Explorer window (or FireFox for that matter) I have leads on the latest news feeds, the temperature, my most recent e-mails accurately displayed, Facebook updates, and more. I also have a secondary panel I can click to with links to a load of reference search engines like Wikipedia and Dictionary.com. Notably, the search bar for Google's famed search engine is always available with this homepage.

Here's what I'm talking about, you can click the images below to see them at normal scale:

In short, this will save you time, make you work less, and keep you better informed.







[Above: my current iGoogle]


First step you'll need to do is go to: http://www.google.com/ig?hl=en.







[Above: iGoogle one click away]


From here you can see all the options can be easily set within 30 seconds.







[Above: iGoogle in one click]


Don't forget to set a theme, coloring your background and window tabs with favorites of all kinds!






[Above: iGoogle themes tab]


From here you can search for and add custom gadgetry. There have been many customized add-ons and I suggest you puruse the list during your free time for favorites such as tide charts, video games or fun daily sayings.

[Above: iGoogle gadgets tab]


That's all there is to it. You can save iGoogle with a cookie provided for you, or keep it logged in with a Google account. To set it as your homepage with Internet Explorer, just click Internet Options under the Tools menu tab. It will be the first thing that pops up.

Review on Songs of the Dying Earth, anthology in tribute to Jack Vance

"Hand over the nose."


This 22-story anthology, of 21 shorts and one novella, is based in Jack Vance's Dying Earth. The authors of this compilation are reknowned, distinguished for their talent and all have at least one thing in common. They grew up reading Jack Vance's novels and aspired to the greatness with which he penned a universe.

My first questions, having not been introduced to Vance: Why have some of my favorite authors all written under the same cover? Who is Jack Vance? Why is there so much acclaim, from authors I've enjoyed, for someone I've never heard of?

This man's work is like a cleverly disguised niche. Within lies the font from which the genre of science fiction itself sprang. The contents of the anthology are as follows:

The introduction is by Dean Koontz.

"The True Vintage of Erzuine Thale" by Robert Silverberg
"Grolion of Almery" by Matthew Hughes
"The Copsy Door" by Terry Dowling
"Caulk the Witch Doctor" by Liz Williams
"Inescapable" by Mike Resnick
"Abrizonde" by Walter Jon Williams
"The Traditions of Karzh" by Paula Volsky
"The Final Quest of the Wizard Sarnod" by Jeff Vandermeer
"The Green Bird" by Kage Baker
"The Last Golden Thread" by Phyllis Eisenstein
"An Incident in Uskvesk" by Elizabeth Moon
"Sylgarmo's Proclamation" by Lucius Shepard
"The Lamentably Comical Tragedy (or The Laughably Tragic Comedy) of Lixal Laqavee" by Tad Williams
"Guyal the Curator" by John C Wright
"The Good Magician" by Glen Cook
"The Return of the Fire Witch" by Elizabeth Hand
"The Collegeum of Mauge" by Byron Tetrick
"Evillo the Uncunning" by Tanith Lee
The Guiding Nose of Ulfant Banderoz by Dan Simmons
"Frogskin Cap" by Howard Waldrop
"A Night at the Tarn House" by George R R Martin
"An Invocation of Curiosity" by Neil Gaiman

Yes, that is quite a sum of authors, awards, material and collaboration. Likewise, it would be drastically probable to suffer a lower quality stigma of material as the result of such a large production. Songs of the Dying Earth(2009) connects freely with the timelines of Vance's previous writings. Such is not the case. The penalty more likely was, however, licensing fees and sign-on bonuses. This hardcover has two versions. Face value being clocked in at $125 and $300 for limited and collector's editions, respectively. Harrowing.

Every author includes a preface to their section of the compendium, as well as a miniature biography depicting the circumstances under which Jack Vance's collection entered their lives. Illustrations provided are of an impressive texture and match well the grandiose schema of which the writer has engineered their tale.

Aside from cost, mitigated by a trip to your local library, only a single downside remains detriment. Songs of the Dying Earth is like stop-and-go city traffic. A short story, fueled with the purpose of each writer's imagination must hurtle itself in turn to a final red-light destination, so that you may wait to start up again for the next. A veritable wealth of income awaits you after each session's commute.

Review on Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed

"I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when looked at in the right way did not become still more complicated."


I was badly floored by this book, but it wasn't all that bad. Not only does it read like a college-print textbook, but there is a sad depravity in the flourish of speech. Its the compilation of well-endowed facts with naught but the rhythmic contingency of Microsoft Sam to trudge it along. To say it plainly, I found it difficult to stay interested.

However, Ahamed is a stringent gatherer of information. Recurrent throughout history, cantrips of the most unexpected type must inherently always exist. From Senator Pittman's statuesque fountain impressions in the buff in France, to Roosevelt's uncanny disregard for scientific valuations of the dollar into gold, iconic moments of our well distinguished forebrethren exist.

Ahamed is currently the director of Aspen Insurance Holding Limited. He has had the chance to enjoy the position of heading the World Bank's investment division, as well as having been the CEO of Fischer Francis Trees & Watts, Inc., a subsidiary of BNP Paribas specializing in institutional single and multi-currency fixed-income investment portfolios. Liaquat Ahamed is a board member of the Rohatyn Group, and a member of the Board of Trustees at the Brookings Institution.

During the historical vantage point of, roughly, World War I through World War II, the reader primarily enjoys these main economic leaders of the industry: Montagu Norman, of the Bank of England; Emile Moreau, of the Banque de France; Hjalmar Schacht, of the Reichsbank; and Benjamin Strong, of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The thematic conclusion of Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World(2009), based from evidences detailed in this newly publicized hardcover, sheds a sobering light on our razor-sharp, highly inventive predecessors. Not one of them had a freakin' clue what they were doing. Not a one, except for Maynard Keynes. Norman advocated out of favoritism. Moreau saved every nickel he had, then invested it all in the same stock. Schacht was thrown out of office for being too aggressive by Hitler. And Strong's good health fled the scene. Contendably, Strong may have known what to do amidst these financial crises, we'll just never know what that would have meant.

Can you get away with writing a book on mankind's devastating failures while glorifying Maynard Keynes? Yes you can. It could be on neurosurgery. We may think we need information of this caliber like a hole in the head, but this time we're not talking brain surgery. Ok, scratch that book. Keynes was still the pioneer of modern day economics as we know today, and everyone should at least know how to balance a checkbook.

As to whether the full scale of these extraneous facts correlates closely with what actually happened back then, only the people who were there can know. There is roughly one hundred pages of fine-print bibliographic notations with an index reference. Can I possibly hope to know the accuracy of that content instantly, or even after a few days of thorough investigation? Unfortunately, no. Did I do a rehash on where the research was done? Of course! The banks of notoriety mentioned, now historical monuments, hold private letters kept within their own vaults and provided Ahamed with direct access. Also, specialized private libraries catered to the same need of reference for Mr. Ahamed, an invitation to the Mediterranean to further continue research. Not bad for a day's work.

Despite the perpetual drive of four of the world's finest, the sands of time have swallowed their personal impact on the face of our economy whole. Their efforts, well-played and documented, occurred as if no decision they made ever mattered, with strong credit of the reason being given to the ugly face of warfare. Between World War I, The Great Depression and World War II, it was impossible to completely stabilize the world economy. Not only were previous techniques far less developed, but communication was limited and international trade was substantially restricted.

Every cloud really does have a silver lining, though. During one large-scale banking shutdown, FDR broadcasted on live radio, directing the nation to reinvest all their 'hidden', stockpiled funds. The next morning, great congregations of investors, full of renewed faith in the economic system, formed outside banks across the nation with funds to deposit, revitalizing the collapsing economy. Financial crisis can strike anywhere, anytime, and the world goes on. We don't actually need money to live, we just use it that way. 'Its just good business.'

Review on Stardust by Neil Gaiman

“You can't cross the wall. Nobody crosses the wall.”


Stardust(1999) is the colloborative result of authors Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess.

The novel originally stems from the same titled DC graphic novel series published in 1997. Stardust(graphic novel) received the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards for Favorite Limited Series for 1998 and 1999, with the collected edition for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Reprint Graphic Album for 1999.

Stardust(novel), in 1999, was awarded The Mythopoetric Fantasty Award for Adult Literature by the Mythopoeic Society and was also nominated for the Locus Award. In 2000, it received the Alex Award from the American Library Association, as one of the "top ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults".

The storyline has also been similarly converted to motion picture, released in 2007, as Stardust(film).

Stardust has a little of it all, in more than just its very broad publication spectrum. Neil Gaiman is a wonder worker with a fantastical touch, blending the humble disposition of Great Britain, beginning in 1839, with the mythical land of Faerie. Henry Draper would have just photographed the Moon, and Charles Dickens was serializing the novel Oliver Twist. Faerie is a land sustained of a more magical significance, where all manner of places that have been forced off the map by "explorers and the brave going out and proving it wasn't there" must go. What definably separates the two is the town of Wall.

Notable characters are: Tristran Thorn, the main protagonist, who is half-faerie; Yvaine, a fallen star; Dunstan Thorn, Tristran’s father; Victoria Forester, whom Tristran is infatuated with; The Lord of Stormhold; Lord Primus, first son of The Lord of Stormhold; Lord Tertius, third of Stormhold; Lord Septimus, seventh of Stormhold; Lady Una, Tristran’s mother; Madame Semele/Ditchwater Sal, a peddling witch; Morwanneg, a witch-queen, one of the Lilim intent on devouring the heart of the fallen star in the preservation of her immortality.

It is a fact, Gaiman has a gift for writing a faerie tale. Reading through any novel he has thus penned, I would be greatly surprised if, within the first 50 pages, there were not at least one element that has already left every reader in its wake wistfully wishing for the silly, beautiful treasures of their wildest imaginations. It could seem overboard, but reading the story, there you are.

Stardust is primarily categorized as fantasy but can pass, arguably, as romance novel. I am personally not a fan of romantic fantasy, for what I consider to be 'good reason' but is more along the lines of preference. By no means does it touch close to being the gushy, steamy, inclusive of genericized Fabio-esque cover art paperback we all know and fear, but it is a world where the setting must be a start to finish faerie tale for the adult audience.

How confusing is that? A world with all the rules broken connected to the average unknowing shmoe's hoedinger hobble trying to raise their livestock. The only time villagefolk allow themselves to wander beyond the wall, located at Wall, is once every nine years for the May Day festival. The supernatural are to be exchanged monetarily, and that is always where the trouble must start. Isn't it? Maybe its where all our problems get solved.

I'd say to get lost reading and figure it out, but you might choose to never come back. I do recommend this title, though by all means it is atmospherically aloof.

Review on Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook

"There are strangers on the plain, Croaker."

Comprised of three novels, the Chronicles of the Black Company is the collection of: The Black Company(May 1984), Shadows Linger(October 1984), and The White Rose(April 1985) are what is referred to in the series as The Books of the North.

Adventures within this new world introduce a tumultuous landscape inheritant of constant turmoil; sorcerous power gone mad amidst a medieval-generation's walk of life. Survival of the fittest is in no question a viable theme, emphasized in realistic scope through Cook's astounding grasp of military culture hailing back to his years in the U.S. Navy. Other themes include the honor among thieves, the choice between two or more evils, and the meaning of what a day-to-day grind becomes while under the palpable shadow of death.

Central characters of the outfit include: Croaker, doctor and annalist; The Captain, commander of the Black Company; The Lieutenant, second in command; Silent, Goblin, One-Eye and Tom-tom, wizards of a valuable strength; Elmo, the sergeant; Otto and Hagop, veterans; Raven, newly recruited; and Darling, a young, mute and deaf girl.

Cook's imagination is reminiscent of the greats of science fiction and fantasy literature. Intrinsically concise, these stories are a relatively quick read while also disallowing skipping lines. Much of the character development is typically brief, swaggering, and shrouded in questions unanswerable without knowing what may never be literally explained. The main narrator, Croaker, both the company's primary physician and historian, is privy to specialized information but must also maintain a certain persona of objectivity in the midst of his own insatiable curiosity.

Perhaps what Cook emphasizes best is that no man is truly good or evil. Though being medically trained and more ethically rooted, Croaker tends to gloss over the inhumanities and morality of his companions. He admits their faults within a constant strife they must all endure. Without exceptional circumstance, no man leaves alive. The Black Company is not a group of butchers or men with no conscience, they are necessarily unrestrained and brutal in their no-nonsense tactics.

The plot, characters, setting and theme are difficult to find fault in; every concept is refreshingly new, yet relationally familiar. What the trilogy may seem to lack in description has been replaced by a fixation to each page's constant momentum. Likely, this is due to Cook's writing style of allowing his imagination to run rampant while remaining both linear and uncharted. For a naturally combative, colorfully entertaining, and conceptually straightforward read, I highly recommend this.

Introduction

Hello and welcome to my Blog!

Here you will find artistic, literary, and career content regularly reviewed. The purpose being, of course, is to provide a personal manifestation of past and present experience drawn upon from a continuing lifetime of allegedly intellectual pursuit.

I may guarantee nothing in earnest, only of alleged attempt toward a de facto cause, due in part to my clandestine goal of becoming a student of learning! Have I said enough?

I hope not.

With due complaint,
Cheyne