Writing Antonia Prologue

Spoiler warning for Antonia Prologue.

Antonia prologue was a strange beast and not really something I ever intended to write. It was just something that came from a set of different stories I had ideas for but never really got any traction with. I had always intended to bring in the character from it but hadn’t yet seen how to do that but once I started going it just kinda worked. 

So first off the main idea here was the Character of Lilith. Which is a bit of a mystery, as originally the way I wrote UWoF and Falling Sky hinted that Lilith Antonia and Catherine were all the same character in different timelines, but with the completion of Antonia prologue that changed. Lilith and Antonia as different characters now opens many doors but closes many others, instead of one character acting as a connecting thread through all the major storylines, I have a set of semi-immortal characters who shift in and out of focus as the story demands them. 

This also actually disentangles Antonia from the main story and just makes her a character within a larger narrative. 

So anyway back to Antonia prologue, I had wanted to add Sun Wukong to the story in some way but wasn’t sure how. I had added elements of his narrative to other stories; Erlang Shen appeared in a stasis pod in Floral Cove but hadn’t found a way to add the monkey king himself. Out of that feeling that Antonia’s story might have been a good introduction point for him, the Antonia Prologue: Sun and Moon was written.

I then needed to reread the introduction to Journey to The West to try and find roughly where on Sun’s timeline would the events of Antonia’s story fall. This became a much harder task than originally envisioned as Sun’s time on earth and in heaven(before his imprisonment) was very vague without hard numbers, but I knew Xuanzang leaves on his pilgrimage in the early 600s and that Wukong is under the mountain for 500 years, so that means I had to roughly work back from 127ish A.D. and figure out roughly how much time Sun Spent in heaven or on earth to figure out where he would be, keeping in mind that every day in Heaven equals 1 year on earth.

I would have liked it to be when he was the Great Sage Equal to Heaven but that was before he spent 100 years in heaven, and would still be off by maybe a decade or so. Also, he was nearly constantly under siege and was only back on earth for a very short time. Before that, he was in heaven for about 10 years or so acting as the Stablemaster, before he realized how low that position was and rebelled. Technically the time as Great Sage is closer to Antonia’s timeline I think the time he leaves for heaven the first time makes more sense narratively since he’d be unaware of the time difference and how it would prevent him from actually holding true to his agreement.

Oh yeah, I should probably mention that Sun will be gone for about the first decade of Antonia’s journey, so might not even show up in time to make a difference. 

Anyway, I liked the sort of setting that could come of having Sun be right after he gained his equipment from the Dragon Kings and defeated the Havoc King. Oh and should probably mention that not all of Sun’s antics or adventures are taken at face value, some of his more mythical feats are more embellishment than fact. The Jade Emperor and his court are mostly similar to the otherworldly characters in the story like Samael. 

So I also implied that Samael was Sun’s teacher and I kind of like the idea that what happened to Samael in the west drove him to the east to become a monk. 

Anyway I get ahead of myself, but under this implication, there are others in the world powerful enough maybe to help Antonia with her quest, but like the Jade emperor in Journey to The West, they don’t really interfere in mortal affairs and would see Antonia’s plight as though it were below them until it might become too late.

While some might argue that the Jade Emperor did involve himself with Sun’s affairs in the book, Sun had erased the names that he knew from Yama’s book, barged into the Dragon King’s home, and demanded to be equipped, so he had very much interfered in the illustrious affairs of The Jade Emperor’s court. Lilim is on the other side of the planet, by the time he’d pay her any heed would be after she’d have amassed too much power for him to defeat anymore. Sun himself did wreak havoc in heaven and was only stopped by Erlang Shen which didn’t hold and later Buddha himself which did. Given that measure, Lilim was last beaten by Alcaeus/Heracles, and if I were to suggest that Heracles and Sun’s feats were similar in power to say that they would likely be fairly evenly matched. I would have to conclude that Lilim might likely wreak havoc in the Jade Emperor's court without much effort.

Now the follow-up questions. 

I cannot tell you when Lilith might return to the story before its ending. She is involved in the ending, but not sure how much before that yet. 

Sun might appear before the conclusion of Antonia’s journey, but I cannot guarantee that given the nature of story writing but he might, given the distance Antonia needs to travel to actually confront Lilim. 

Dio will feature heavily in Antonia’s adventures, I might even explain how he got his armor that he wears in Falling Sky.

Oh, and the writing of Antonia’s first story is well underway with several pages already down. The take I made with this one is also fairly different from what I’ve done before or what I’ve intended to do with her but still feels like the right way so I’ll follow this route to its end and see where it takes me. I’ve also changed the location of Lilim’s prison from under Aristos, to below Thermopylae or whatever I’ll wind up calling it in this story.

Antonia’s adventures look like it might be more of a continuous story written in pieces than a series of short stories. So not sure if I’m ready for this thing, but guess it’s too late to back out now. See ya all later when I write my next one of these, probably about how I wrote that story, or maybe I’ll finish that one about writing Floral Cove. Who knows.

UWoF and what is to come.

    Needless to say, but spoilers ahead you should read the stories, UWoF and Falling Sky before continuing, you can find them on the archives page.

    So UWoF actually went through many different iterations through it’s writing process. It was originally a much different story featuring knights, magic, and an evil wizard, but that all eventually changed. Originally it wasn’t intended to be more than a piece in the universe with no real connection to anything else I was writing, but by happenstance I plopped in Antonia, and the UWoF, and use it as a staging post for Antonia’s solo series, which will pick up after the events of UWoF and well as establish the UWoF as an artifact in the world.

    An interesting side note, UWoF stands for untitled work of fiction and was the placeholder title for the story for that reason. It became something more as an afterthought. The proper name for the UWoF in the story will be revealed sometime in the future.

    I’m going to say this here, UWoF will be edited in the future but not by much, it’ll get a touch up to make the story more consistent. I haven’t decided yet when or if I’ll post it, or re-post it, as it were, but we’ll see after I finish the changes. The main changes are that the Palatine Empire will play a bigger role, and Antonia’s role will make more sense and be more consistent with her character design. Also, some planned dialogue cleanup, to make it the story flow better.

    The important thing is that UWoF is the starting point for many more stories to come. It establishes a backstory for Antonia, and The Aventine Emperor, Dio, Characters who will either get their own series or be recurring characters throughout my stories. Antonia’s series is likely to be the next story I write after the UWoF edit, which is kinda why I want to make the edit first since its changes will have a direct impact on the story elements.

After that, I do have something else lined up but it’ll take place after the events of the later story I aim to talk about here, Falling Sky.

     So Falling Sky also had a few different iterations, it’s been something I worked on a few years back. I handed it around to a few people to get an idea of how it flowed back when I used to have a full-time job. The big changes between it and the current version were mostly location. The new one takes place in my fictional Aventine Empire, where the old one took place in Washington D.C. The governor used to be the president but those are the only main story changes, oh and the ending. The ending used to have Catherine leading a resistance against the Alien invaders rather than the tie in ending that the new version has.

    I’ve thought about cleaning up Falling Sky, but dunno if I ever will, yes it sets the stage for what can happen next. However, what happens next will be several years in the future and minor details of the story will be mostly irrelevant and the major details will remain the same including the tie in ending.

I always wanted to tell a story starting from its ending, that was the original idea for how Falling Sky started as a project. Sure, I changed it later adding a proper ending after the fact that takes place with the female lead, who would later become Catherine.

    So I think I should maybe talk a bit about the story that will follow Falling Sky. I have an idea for a cyberpunk noir starring a cyborg detective. I’ve written the first story before and I’ll likely use many elements of it in the new take, but it’ll again be adapted to the new universe. Originally it took place in a future version of America where corporations ruled the world. Now it’ll take place in Aventine, as the Empire expands to take over the world and becomes the Terran Empire that is featured in the Starship Morningstar series.

    On another side note, there is a series planned to take place after Starship Morningstar, with many of the same races and factions and even a few of the characters. However, technically many of the Morningstar’s adventures will be a bit too silly to fit with the other stories so while they will retain the same shape as crafted by the stories that come before it, Morningstar’s adventures will likely have little to no impact on the stories that follow it. That being said I do have half a mind to have Morningstar end with the crew making a daring attempt to steal the UWoF from the Terran Empire, but that is likely years away yet.

That’s all I have to say on what I’ve written so far, I think I’ll do one of these as a quick follow up after I write a story from now on. So look forward to it.

Writing the Starship Morningstar Adventures

    So my opening scene in Trizzka Troubles, the naming scheme will be explained a bit later, was to introducing you, the audience to the main characters and the premise behind the series. You see the opening scene having a spice trader and Jack trying to sell him cinnamon was a direct reference to Dune and the spice Melange, which smelled of cinnamon. A jokey take on sci-fi and a hint that much of what is to come would be a parody or mocking to sci-fi clichès.

    It tells you in not so minced words that the main character is not so much a smuggler as a conman behaving a smuggler, or as he says, a procurer of not so legal goods. I actually liked writing that scene, don’t know if I’ll ever change it, I’ll try not to, maybe clean it up one day.

    You also get to meet my first Fersira character, as of writing this I have yet to update the appendix to involving her. I was trying to think of an owner for a collection of less than legal space stations. My first thought was of the Asari from Mass Effect, specifically Aria T’Loak the de facto ruler of Omega station. This is referenced in Jack’s dialogue. I sort of haphazardly slapped them together with the Ferengi from Star Trek: The Next Generation, which is how they got their goofy name.

    Next, we get the ship’s name dropped as it pulls into Omega station and we meet the enigmatic Sam, which is only in part a reference to Scott Bakula, though I wasn’t sure of it at the time. So I pulled an old clichè here where I had the really important/powerful character dress as a commoner/homeless person. I’m not ashamed of it clichès are there for a reason because they work and they can hint something to the audience based on past shared experiences. We all know a character who has done this be it D’Artagnan in Dumas’s romance or Paul in Dune. The act of pretended to be someone else to either get the impression held by the people or to subvert the expectation of the other party. Who Sam is exactly? Well, that’s a story for another time.

    The conversation that follows is littered with references to the Star Trek episode Trouble with Tribbles, of which, the overarching story of this short story is a parody of. With the Thun’Cera filling in for the Klingons, the Engagement and it’s crew filling in for the Enterprise, and Jack and co. behaving as mischievous background characters to a much larger set piece.

    The naming scheme to the story was a combination of the Star Trek Tribble with the Star Wars Gizka, an annoying frog-like thing that boards your ship and breeds like, well tribbles. 

    I felt the plot served as a decent backdrop to my introduction of the not so competent crew of the Starship Morningstar. It wasn’t my favorite story to work on ever but I had a bit of fun with it and hopefully, I can branch out a bit from here into more original, if still a bit of parody, adventures for the crew.

    That being said let’s talk about the next story where I totally spit in the face of that statement I just made.

    So, Encounter at Distant Point Station is possibly in many ways a more direct parody from the Episode of Star Trek that it takes it’s overarching story from. As I skipped all sense of starting with original characters and immediately dropped in the character that would serve as the Q for my universe, Hue. This is referenced over and over again with Jack calling him Cue with various spellings. I actually really like the idea that Jack purposely calls people by the wrong names. Which is why I put the part in Jack’s captain’s log where he refers to Hue correctly. Also, there’s a pretty good joke here that references Star Trek 5 that I thought pretty funny, dunno how well it went over but I enjoyed it.

    The main problem I had with the story was its resolution, how was I going to end it. I mean the episode ended with two giant space jellyfish, could I really do the same?

    The answer, of course, was yes, I did, but where the show had a message about humanity and charity, and helping those in trouble, mine was just a goof about how space jellyfish exist and if you want them to stop shooting at you probably shouldn't imprison and starve their mates.

    So in the end, Space Jellyfish.

Death in Fiction

    So I’ve got a bit of a weird one today, I had planned to do something else, but this is the one you’re getting because it’s the one I am thinking about. This time is going to be talking about death in fiction, character’s deaths, to be specific.

    It’s recently been in my head, the effect a character’s death might have on a story, the loose ends, the loved ones they leave behind, and the effect such a thing has on the reader. An example of a death with a dramatic impact would, of course, be the death of one Eddard Stark, in A Game of Thrones. It left many people upset, both fictional and real. The reaction videos that flooded Youtube shortly after the episode aired shows many people took it very personal that Eddard had died. He left behind his family, his widowed wife and his children. He also left behind the mystery of Jon’s parentage, which only recently has been confirmed. Eddard’s death warped A Game of Thrones, it took away a central character and no one really rose up to fill that vacuum. Which is probably why so many fans believe the second book, A Clash of Kings, is probably the worst of the lot as it is still reeling from the loss of Eddard.

    However, meaningful Eddard is nowhere near the worst character death I experienced. My reaction to Eddard's death was mild compared to some of the other I will address here. So let’s move on to Sherlock Holmes.

    Now I’m going to talk a bit about both the death at the end of the short story, The Final Problem, as well as the death in the Sherlock BBC television series. So let’s start with The Final Problem death.

    In The Final Problem, Sherlock and Moriarty plunge to their death down a waterfall. As with almost all of the Sherlock stories, it was told from the perspective of Watson, who didn’t witness the event but did his best to put it together after the fact. It is also probably important to note that Arthur Conan Doyle wanted the character to end here, I also knew that Sherlock did in fact not die, as the books were written over a hundred years ago and they continued past this point. I have to say I actually kind of enjoyed the idea that Sherlock ended here. It felt complete, like Sherlock came across a worthy adversary a man who he could not defeat, not without sacrificing himself for the greater good. It was a bit nihilistic, but I guess I had no real complaints had it ended there.

    So in the BBC’s Sherlock, there’s a bit of a similar thing, except that Watson must watch, must stand by and watch Sherlock make that choice. Watson who was powerless to do anything to save his friend, it was heart wrenching, but maybe I only feel that way because I experienced another fictional death far more tragic the same day I watched that episode, we’ll get to that one later. It left me feeling miserable and upset but ultimately I did get over it rather quickly.

So here’s a death that bothers me a bit, it’s from Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series. The books were great, don’t ever get me wrong I loved them and their ending, it’s just one of the deaths in it doesn’t sit right with me. After spending nearly the entire series talking about how perceptive and quick one of the characters was, near the end of the series he get’s shot, by someone who was well in the character’s view. It seemed his perception and quick wit, suddenly disappeared in that moment just to facilitate his death, and it never sat right with me.

    So on to a more recent entry, in the last Discworld novel, we say goodbye to one of the oldest and most well-respected characters in the series. Now Discworld is a bit unlike many other series while its novels do happen in a sense of chronological order, the different novels focus on different characters from around the Disc. One group, it focused on was the Witches of Lancre. Now I must say at the outset, with their first novel, Wyrd Sisters I didn’t really enjoy the witch novels, but once it moved on to their second novel Witches Abroad, I loved them as much as any other character on the Disc. Now when one of them was going to die, they would know, they’re Witches, and Witches know such things like when they’re going to die. But sadly one of them was getting on in years, and after choosing a successor and putting her affairs in order Death paid her a visit. And it still makes me a bit teary-eyed remembering it. This was probably made sadder given the fact that the Author, Terry Pratchett, passed on just before the novel came out.

    So now we’re going on to one that still gets me choked up when I talk about it. One that was so much in the new at the time that it’s almost hardly spoiler for anyone now. That’s the death of Peter Parker in Ultimate Spider-man. Ultimate Spider-man took place in an alternate reality to the Main Marvel Universe, 616, where all the main Marvel titles take place. Avengers, Amazing Spider-man, Thunderbolts, Etc.

    Now this death was tragic in a number of ways, first Spider-man was shot by the punisher while pushing Captain America out of the way. Second Peter was left wounded on the bridge while the other superheroes got distracted by more important goings on. Thirdly Parker wakes up and sees the Green Goblin heading to his home. It breaks your heart slowly because you know He can’t get up and fight, you know he needs to get care immediately, you know he will die, but he does it anyway. He goes after Goblin because he has to save his Aunt May, he has to Save Mary Jane and Gwen Stacey. Reading about him getting up even though he’ll die, even though he knows it, watching him fight the Goblin even after being shot. Watching him lift a truck over his head to smash it into the Norman Osbourne time and again, a Man Peter had been told multiple times was dead. Had been told multiple times was handled by Nick Fury, only for him to be there terrorizing Parker’s family. Peter saved his family, he slammed that truck into the Goblin until he stopped moving, and then fell to the ground, never to get up again.

While that was heartbreaking there was also his funeral, as all over New York people came to pay their respects. Tony Stark paid for the funeral costs, he felt he owed Parker that much. Aunt May showed up and met a little girl with a burnt face, who asked her if she was Spider-man’s mommy. Remembering that panel still brings tears to my eyes. That little girl Spider-man had saved from a fire and Aunt May about to break down into tears.

    Honorable mention goes to Douglas Adams, while he wasn’t a fictional character, his death did mean that many of my favorite characters were essentially dead, their lives never to continue.

    Now we move onto the death that even now makes it hard for me to discuss a death in fiction so powerful I get teary eyed just seeing the character reimagined. Recently I had been watching the BBC America show, The Musketeers and it brought back the grief. At this point you only know who I mean if you’ve read the novels from start to finish, only one death was so Tragic, while D’Artagnan dies at the end in Maastricht having just been awarded the title of Grand Marshal by Louis XIV, and Athos dies after his son Tragically loses his life in battle, and of course Athos’ son Raoul dies tragically in battle after having his heart broken by the love of his life. None of these deaths compare, not a single one of any of the deaths on this list cause me such grief. only one death causes such anguish you might think a real friend of mine had died when I speak it. That my dear audience is the death of Porthos Du Vallon.

    Never in my years of readership have I ever read a death so tragic, so heartbreaking so grieving that even now I am having trouble with the words to express my feelings. Porthos was a friend to D’Artagnan, Aramis, and Athos. He was a Musketeer through and through. Pothos was a bit simple but nonetheless clever. He was a joyful and affable character, he once had an unintentional eating contest between himself and Louis XIV. He had once tragically discovered that he had no clothes to wear because his servant had gained too much weight. He threatened doctors well being for not being adequately able to explain to him why puncture wounds would leave welts and not dents. Both tasks D’Artagnan was able to help him with. Through D’Artagnan’s adventures, we get to meet Porthos and we love him as the lovable oaf he is. It only makes his death all the more tragic.

    Now you may be familiar with, The Man in The Iron Mask, the story about replacing King Louis with his twin brother Philippe. Well, you see Porthos was directly involved in this story. Aramis had convinced Porthos that Louis was an imposter, that Philippe, who was in prison, was the true King and that only Porthos and Aramis could set it right. So Porthos helps his friend Aramis in this, and they swap the king for his twin. Aramis informs Fouquet about this, expecting him to be pleased, instead, he immediately goes to release Louis and bring him back to the palace. Aramis and Porthos flee, D’Artagnan immediately recognizes Louis as his true king and Philippe is once again imprisoned, only this time with an iron mask so no one should try such a thing again.

    D’Artagnan is ordered to bring his friend in, D’Artagnan does his best to delay Louis' forces so his friend had time to flee the country beyond Louis’ wrath. Louis had counted on this, however, and none of D’Artagnan’s ploys worked. While in hiding Aramis told Pothos the truth of what they had done, how he had betrayed Porthos’ trust, and Porthos forgave him. Porthos told Aramis about how his ancestors always died after getting a weak feeling in their legs. As they were fleeing the cave they were hiding in, Porthos legs go weak at the exit, there at the mouth of the cave, explosive going off behind him, and he cannot bring himself up, he cannot keep running. The cave collapses on him, and he catches it, he holds it up with his Herculean strength. Aramis almost has hope for his friend’s survival, but then the weight shifts and just like that Pothos disappears in a mound of rubble. Aramis digs out his friend and speaks to him, and finally, Porthos give up the ghost and dies. The rubble lowers, having been released from Porthos’ incredible strength.

    No death in any work of fiction has hurt me as much as that of Porthos, no death feels as tragic, I can only hope that one day I can create a character so loved that if they should die, they will affect one as much as Porthos effects me.

    Rest in peace Porthos Du Vallon, you were a hero among heroes.

What I've been reading

    Recently I’ve been reading Arabian Nights, Brother’s Grimm and Aesop’s Fables. I wanted to see what made them worth being recorded, what made them last. For two of these I can understand, but for one of them, with the exception of a few stories, I’m not really sure how it is even worth your time.

`    Let’s start with the first one I read, Arabian Nights. I really enjoyed these stories. They didn’t feel as alien as some people would have you believe middle eastern culture is, in fact, they felt very familiar. If it didn’t tell you a majority of the characters were Muslim, you probably wouldn’t even notice it. In some ways, I’d say it felt more familiar than when I read Le Morte D’Artur though that could be because many of the stories had been adapted and absorbed into western culture. I mean most people know Aladdin from the Disney movie, but many of the others have just sort of become background to many western tales, some of which are in Brother’s Grimm, but I’ll get to those later.

    Overall the Book was well done, all the stories were told and translated well, from the version I read. What helped it the most is probably that the whole book has a coherent narrative with a singular mythology behind the whole work. The works are held together with a singular world. There was no story, or part of a story, where the rules established within the world were broken. I believe that’s probably my favorite part of it, it felt like a singular work, a coherent collection of stories within a single world.

I cannot possibly recommend it enough. If you’re ever looking for a good collection of stories with memorable characters, and a lovable background cast, Arabian Nights is well worth your time.

    Now let’s skip Brothers Grimm for a bit and move onto Aesop.

    Aesop’s Fables are, well, exactly what they say they are; short stories with a moral. The moral is often summed up in the last sentence or two of every story. They’re roughly less than a page on average; so it’s actually quite easy to breeze through it. A few of the morals are outdated but most are still as true today as they were when they were written. Its morals are a bit like the works of Confucius.

An interesting sidenote, no one knows for sure if Aesop was a real person.

    Overall the works are rather entertaining and thought-provoking in their own right. The personification of animals and inanimate objects give it the right amount of charm. It is a book of fables, no more no less. There are morals in it that work well as food for thought. I’d say it’s worth your time if you’re interested in such a thing.

    Now onto the last and my definite least favorite part of this, The Brothers Grimm.

    Oh boy, where do I start here? Let’s start with some of the Good parts, or more specifically the parts everyone knows. Many of the Grimm Fairy Tales have been adapted by Disney, and many people point out the Grimm versions were darker, more violent. To get one thing out of the way, yes, they are more violent, but I don’t feel like they’re darker. You see, much of the dark parts of the stories are carried over into the Disney versions. In fact, I’d go so far as to say the Disney versions are much better than the Grimm versions. You see some of the violence in Brothers Grimm is made irrelevant with some of the Ex Machina endings the stories feature. Any violence suffered by the Heroes is often wiped away at the end, because reasons.

    So I’m going to say that most of the Grimm stories you’re familiar with are probably the most worthwhile ones in the entire set. However, I feel I want to get into the meat of what Grimm has.

    Let’s start with the theme, there is no overall theme for the whole collections, hell there’s not even a coherent mythology. In fact, I’d use Grimm as a show of how history is shaped by writers, by that I mean how many of the stories are the same story with mild changes to detail, and how many are clearly slapped with a Christian mythology brush.

    Okay, many of the stories in the Grimm Fairy Tales are the same story over and over again. I mean the Cinderella story itself has enough different versions that there is a male Cinderella in there somewhere. It gets to a point where it becomes dull and tedious to read them.

    Now what I mean with the Christian mythology brush, well many stories in Brothers Grimm clearly have Christian mythology hamfisted into the story with no real connection to the overall plot.The worst part is that much of it isn’t even consistent with the main Christian Mythos. In a few of the stories, the Devil, is a good guy. By that, I mean, he honestly helps people out who help him, like no betrayal, not lies, no backstabbing. Literally, if Brothers Grimm is to be taken seriously if you’re a good practicing Christian and the Devil asks you for help you should help him because he won’t endanger your soul, he’ll hold up his deal and give you whatever you want.

    The Devil’s Sooty Brother is the story that I’m going to use as the example here. In this story the devil asks a man if he will work for him for 7 years, and won’t cut his nails or his hair or wash himself during that time, the Devil will give him more money than he could ever want. The man agrees and the Devil takes him to hell to work for him. After the seven years are up the man gets to leave but the devil asks him to still not cut his hair or nails or wash. The man leaves with his gold, and goes to sleep at the first inn he finds, the innkeeper agrees because he has so much money. During the night, the innkeeper steals the man’s gold, and the man goes back to the devil, the devil cleans him up himself, and then gives him more money, and tells him to tell the innkeeper that if he doesn’t return the man’s gold the Devil will come and drag the innkeeper to hell. Of course, the innkeeper returns the gold in fear of his safety and the man leaves with twice as much gold as he had before.

    As you see the story works out for the main character, he helps the devil and winds up the better for it, and it’s not the only story in Brothers Grimm with pretty much that exact same premise. So yes, in Grimm the Devil is more often a good guy than a real villain.

    Now my biggest complaint with Grimm has to be the Ex Machina endings. A great many of the endings are oh God fixed everything or made everything better, or magic happened and now everything is better. In one of the stories there is literally a magic herb that can put someone’s head back on and make them alive again, and in many there’s magic that can do it, and in others, heads just go back on again because God. It makes many of the stories feel irrelevant like I wasted my time reading them since their endings made the journey seem pointless.

    Now I can’t really give an overall statement about the collection because the stories don’t feel connected. I mean some of them are good, some are okay, but many of them are not worth the time. A bunch of the stories are simple wordplay that doesn’t work anymore to the average person. So much of it feels just confusing and unintelligible.

    Personally, I got about 70% through Grimm before I just couldn’t put up with it anymore. So I’d say that for it to be worth your time you should have someone with patience tell you which parts are worth reading, there’s probably a list on the internet somewhere, I just couldn’t be bothered with it anymore.

    So, to rate my overall experience I’d say I mostly enjoyed it, as most of that time was spent reading Arabian Nights. Aesop’s was so short it never had time to outstay its welcome, unlike Grimm. If you’ve never read Arabian Nights and have any intention to, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s by far one of the better collections of works I’ve read in a long time. Aesop’s is charming and short, and Grimm is an unwieldy mess; some good, and some horribly awful or terribly confusing.

    So my Final words, pick up Arabian Nights if you want an enjoyable collection of stories with a fairy tale air. Read Aesop’s if you’d like some short fables for reading to your kids. Unless you go and find a list of what is worth the time of Grimm don’t bother.

Neuropath

While writing his series, The Prince of Nothing, R. Scott Bakker was challenged by his wife to write a thriller. He did, it was called Neuropath, and is the best thriller I’ve ever read. I must note here before going any further that I don’t particularly like thrillers. It’s not exactly a genre I can get behind, many of them rely on a pretty hefty suspension of disbelief. However, a few outstanding examples of authors have managed to balance such an act.

This is not an instance of such, Neuropath uses modern neuroscience to support its plot. so the suspension of disbelief is actually rather light and easy to carry. Probably the terrifying thing about the book, is that it feels like a believable future. It relies heavily on evidence-based theories rather than superstition, which is its greatest strength.

Neuropath is a bit reminiscent of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse, as they are both supported by modern neuroscience. Though Dollhouse is a bit more lighthearted. The fact that Dollhouse is pretty dark should give a sign of how dark Neuropath actually is.

Neuropath is set in the near future, neuroscience has made a breakthrough in understanding what the chemical flows within the human brain mean. At the same time there are rumors that the FBI as well as some major corporations, such as Wal-Mart, have developed small MRI like machines that can tell generally what someone is thinking when they walk by them. Enabling Wal-Mart managers to discipline their employees for not appearing happy enough.

The main character is Tom Bible, a psychology major with two kids, and a strained relationship with his ex-wife. His best friend, Neil, is a neurologist who worked for the NSA with interrogations in an attempt to apply mind-altering technology to gain information. Neil leaves the NSA and is investigated by the FBI for a series of abductions that occur in the book. There is a supporting cast of FBI agents and Tom Bible’s neighbors.

The story mostly revolves around the abductions, with bewildered FBI agents and Tom Bible offering explanations. There is a vague side-story of a serial killer called the Chiropractor, who is tying up most of the FBI resources, so only a few can be fielded on the Neil case.

The story builds rather well leading towards the climax plenty of twists and turns, a few are a bit cliché and hurt the novel a bit, but it’s still overall pretty good. In my opinion, the ending is the weakest point. It’s kind of a letdown. The themes in the book are rather nihilistic, with a healthy dose of the futility of our struggle in reality, and how we delude ourselves to make it through the day. Which, while true, is something most people don’t feel comfortable thinking about. It is the discomfort that comes from such things that most of the meat of the novel is heavily seated. If that discomfort puts you off then Neuropath isn’t for you.

Neuropath challenges your understanding of willpower, and what you are truly capable of when you aren’t in control. It has a few graphic, mature, and violent scenes that can put people off. The book grabs you and pulls you in, but it lets you down a little in the end. While it might be disappointing to some, I might be being overly critical, as thrillers aren’t exactly my favorite genre.

I have to say Neuropath is good, it’s not R. Scott Bakker’s best work, but it is good. It’s definitely in my favorite thrillers list, though that isn’t a very long list, and it’s one of the only thrillers that I would consider for my list of favorite books, along with the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Which will probably be a later fictional rant, as that’s my number one thriller of all time.

I recommend it fairly highly if you’re interested in psychology, and like thrillers, or even if you don’t it can still be engaging enough to keep your attention. My opinion is that it is definitely worth the time. Neuropath is one of those books that I might never read again, or if I do it’ll be a long while. Most books fall in that category as I’ve only re-read Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy and Good Omens. If you’re looking for something you’ll read time and again this isn’t it, it’s a one time joy that leads you down dark paths, it’s an adventure that doesn’t bode well for the hero. While the ending is rather weak, overall the novel is well written and easy to follow. If you’re interested you can find it at the amazon link listed below.

Neuropath

By R. Scott Bakker

Buy on Amazon

Dune

    So I decided for the first fictional rant, I'd talk about something I've read recently that was also important to me. Truth is, I'm a science fiction fan. What says science fiction better than, arguably, the most influential science fiction novel on all time, Dune. Now I did pick up Dune rather late, more of an after-thought than anything else. I was looking for something to read and Dune seemed interesting enough. The best science fiction novel of all time, you'd probably expect it to. Thing was, I heard a lot about Dune, being a science fiction fan it's hard not to, but it was old, so most of my friends hadn't read it. Without a good recommendation, I wasn't sure I had the time for it. Eventually though, I did pick it up and all its sequels.

    Dune is a journey into the human condition, it's a beautifully woven tale, of intrigue, betrayal, action, adventure and heroism. It captures your imagination and takes you for a ride you'll have difficulty ever forgetting. In its own right, it's exceptional, wonderful, and just a joy to read. Single-handedly, it may have changed the face of science fiction for years to come. Inspiring other novels, music, movies (like Star Wars), games, television, and much more.

     I'm not just going to talk about the novel Dune, but also the movie, as well as the Sci-Fi miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune. So let's start with the most important part, the setting.

    Dune is set more than 21,000 years in the future, humanity has colonized many worlds in the known universe. There's a feudal government system, where the Great Houses of the Landsraad owe allegiance to the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV. The spacing guild holds a monopoly on space travel; their Navigators being the only method of safely traversing fold space. From the shadows, the matriarchal Bene Gesserit organize a breeding program to produce a Kwisatz Haderach, a being I'll explaining in a second.

    In the human empire, there are Suk doctors, conditioned to do no harm. Their conditioning is so thorough that they are safe to treat the Emperor and any other important member of government without fear of treachery. Besides the Suks, there are the Mentats, specially trained humans who are able to do advanced human computations.

    In the aftermath of an event known as the Butlerian Jihad, there is a universal prohibition on all thinking machines, including computers, artificial intelligence, and robots of any kind. Thus creating the need for Mentats to fulfill the role they used to serve.

    The core element of Dune is the spice, melange, a narcotic that facilitates advanced mental and physical abilities. It can extend live, and improve health and even grant limited prescience. Both the guild Navigators and Bene Gesserit rely on the spice. For the Navigators, it's what enabled them to guide their heighliners through fold space. They consume large amounts of melange and immerse themselves in vats of orange melange gas, this mutates them into aquatic looking humans, with vestigial limbs and large heads. In the movie, they appear as giant worm-like beings with a v-shaped mouth, a massive head and atrophied limbs. The mini-series portrays a Navigator as having a withered frame wing-like arms, and the blue-in-blue eyes of spice addiction.

    The Bene Gesserit rely on the physical and mental benefits of the spice, as well as the spice agony, a deadly trial that not all survive, that unlocks their female ancestral memories and makes them a Reverend Mother. Their goal to create a Kwisatz Haderach, a male who can unlock both his male and female ancestral memories, and the power to bridge space and time. Who they hope will allow them to guide humanity toward their ultimate goal, whatever that is.

    The spice can only be found on the desert planet Arrakis, or Dune, it's incredibly valuable; often used as currency. The CHOAM corporation controls allocation of melange, and thus determines the income and financial leverage of each Great House. “He who controls the spice controls the Universe.”

    Also on the planet Arrakis are some humans, mostly spice workers and merchants, living in the far-northern latitudes of Arrakis; protected from the harshness of Arrakis' weather by a giant rock formation, the Shield Wall. Scattered throughout the deep southern desert are sietches where an unknown quantity of Fremen live. In the desert, there are a few interesting forms of life, simple kangaroo mice and hawks, as well as, the massive sandworms. Spice can only be mined in the southern desert, and always brings a worm. Spice workers must be quick and well coordinated to succeed without loss of equipment or the precious spice.

    The Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV of House Corrino rules from his Royal Court on Kaitain. The House Corrino's homeworld is the prison world of Salusa Secundus. The planet’s climate is so severe the mortality rate is higher than 60%.

    The House Harkonnen of Giedi Prime formerly controlled the spice mining operations on Arrakis. Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is the leader of the Great House, he is immensely fat and requires anti-gravity devices to support his weight. House Harkonnen is filled with hedonistic schemers and plotters seeking the downfall of House Atreides.

    House Atreides of Caladan is the Great House of the core cast of characters. It's led by Duke Leto Atreides, a popular man among the other Great Houses. He's described as a fair and just statesman, garnering fierce loyalty in those that serve him. Notably among them are the Swordmaster Duncan Idaho, the Mentat Thufir Hawat, and the troubadour-soldier Gurney Halleck. The Emperor grants Leto control of the mining operations on Arrakis. Leto and his advisors suspect foul play, but they take the position anyway, and Leto, his concubine Lady Jessica, his son Paul, and the men loyal to his House make preparation to travel to Arrakis.

    After this point there will be many spoilers, so I'll post the purchase link here, for anyone who wishes to read the book rather than read me talk about it.

Dune

$7.99

By Frank Herbert

Buy on Amazon

    If you're one of those people who don't care about spoilers, or have read the book, feel free to continue. If you’ve not read the book you’ll probably get lost really quick.

Spoiler Warning!

   Much of Dune is about Paul’s destiny as a hero, whether or not He is the Kwisatz Haderach, and/or Dune’s Mahdi, the Fremen Saviour. It’s also about the dangers of a hero, and the fallibility of him. Paul is in a constant battle with his actions and how they push him towards the bloody Jihad he sees with his prescience. When Paul attempt to dissuade religious fervor in his followers he is often disappointed to watch it increase in them.

    Dune presents the dangers of a heroes tale often left unheard or unsaid. In Dune you will find a hero who becomes more of a hero in his attempts to just be a man. Paul learns the rules of the desert as well as the Fremen who he lives among, and guides as Muad’Dib.

    The movie and the miniseries contain different scenes before the Harkonnen assault on Arrakeen. I like the movie up until that point, after that I became incredibly confused and couldn’t follow the plot for the life of me. The miniseries however, covers the latter parts of the novel much better.

    Both include Paul’s test of the Gom Jabbar, though the movie is a bit more accurate with how it plays out.

    Paul becoming the Kwisatz Haderach, and his sister being preborn, abomination to the Bene Gesserit, with the memories of all her ancestors, turns out to be rather tragic tale. Paul discovers he has little choice in the events that are coming. The one with perfect prescience is trapped by his visions of the future. The futility of Paul’s struggle to change the course of history is at time heartbreaking.

    Dune captures a spirit of wonder and heroism and translates it into a powerful tale of fruitlessness against unchangeable futures. Dune is as much a tale of Paul the hero, as it is, of Paul the fallible. It’s also the tale of Lady Jessica and her betrayal of her sisterhood.

Dune is about human nature, and all the twisted and noble forms it takes. It’s about the difference between what is real and what we imagine to be so. It inspire great works for a reason, it’s the best selling science fiction novel of all time for a reason. No matter how you look at it, there is only one Dune, and it’s a Masterpiece.