Sunday, February 25, 2018

Poem, "Rot of Memory"


Rot of Memory

The rot permeates all cloth
Disgusting me in this damp land
Seemingly where mist was invented

And lazy and hazy thoughts
Akin to tranquilizers
Having the light fade,

When finely crafted,
Though lightly damaged,
Heart and mind cried for the missed opportunity
Never to kiss your lips again
In a room of harsh shadows
Cast by a lamp upended
Knocked by thrown clothing.

Things escalate in the dark:
The shabby curtains tossed by cold air
Sails carrying away our inhibitions;

Reality, and the crispness of now
Serve as a stony beach
On which those ships crash ashore

I crawl out of the sea;
The air stinking with wet.
The dawn now uncaringly rising
A single determined beam of sunlight
Landing on my bloodshot eye

Memory and peace
I am here
You are not


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            I wrote this after reading "Vespers" by Denis Johnson, and taking it in a different direction.

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Monday, February 19, 2018

Poem, "Ice"


Ice
Here in the electric dusk, a sky black with the glow of endless light pollution
You, naked, allow condensation to drip on your skin, the cold sensation
The glass lined with rivulets and filled with crushed ice
Promising the ache of touching against your teeth.

You are beautiful, your hair twisted and deranged
A finger dragging thru rings of wet on the end table
You are steaming with hatred of the heat

As the music fades and the anticipation of the next tract hangs in the empty air
To break in, to speak, seems wrong, there are no words
Such a long last night—full of “o’s” from erogenous zones

You're not an erotic hallucination,
Not a feverishly scrawled poem,
You are a reality of splendor

You are serious
You are severe
You are larger than life in the night

This box, sweltering,
This exhaustion, from passion resembling madness
The absent moon of gentle magic

You hold my eyes, enraptured
In the half second of complete quiet, you smile
Sweaty, hot, messy, with your glass of ice

Ice, ice... You know the rest of the lyrics.
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            This was inspired by a friend of mine who came to mind when I read this poem, “Heat” by Denis Johnson.  As always I am hesitant to say, “I wrote this about you,” as that always feels a bit forward.
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            If you like or hate this please take the time to comment, +1, share on Twitter (click that link to follow me), Tumblr, or Facebook, and otherwise distribute my opinion to the world.  I would appreciate it.

Monday, February 5, 2018

Audible Review, "Michael J. Sullivan"

            This book review was written for “Erikson Presents” a recurring book review series on a Facebook group I frequent called, “The Tavern at the End of the Internet”.  It is a nerdy fucking place.  That being said, here are some of my thoughts on the work of Michael J. Sullivan.

The Author and Their Strengths
            For the last year+ I have been delving into audio books.  I recommend this as a hobby as combining an audiobook with a lot of walking leads to being both well read and much trimmer.  The reason I bring this up has to do with how many authors I have discovered during that time, one of which I will be talking about today with a recommendation.  Michael J. Sullivan, who I would point to as a true success story in the self-publishing market.
            Michael, as he explains in one of the forwards to a series tends to take an interesting position on how to write a fantasy series, he writes the whole thing up front and then edits it for clarity, foreshadowing, and theme as he does the re-write, insuring that the whole thing hangs together better.  The second entry in one of his series was delayed to account for greater clarity to be put in at the behest of his main editor, his wife, and as the rest of the series is released I will see how that banged out.
            Enough about method, let me explain to you why I am recommending Sullivan’s work to you, prospective reader.  And it mostly boils down to two strengths that I feel define what I have read of his work, good dialogue and good group interactions.
            Different authors have different strengths, when I list what I like about JK Rowling or Ray Bradbury I point to the almost melodic quality to their writing.  When I want to tell someone what I like about Dennis E Taylor’s work on “We are Legion (We are Bob)” I point to how thoroughly he explores the premise of the work.  Heinlein is good at philosophizing, Tolkien at mythologizing, and Neil Gaiman at somehow making fairy tale logic feel real and even brutal.  This is not to say that Gaiman can’t write great dialogue (he does) or Tolkien can’t write beautiful prose (he does), but when I want to single out their true virtues that is what I point to.


            Sullivan has great dialogue.  People quip, stammer, affect socioeconomic standing, or betray prejudices thru (what I consider) subtle language usage.  They are also frequently funny.  Two men are lost in the wilderness, hungry and cold, and one of them relays a story about fairy creatures that lure in lost travelers with delicious food and then keep them forever, to which the other rightfully questions why that is something to be feared.  It has a timeless quality and the humor comes from the word play and observations.
            Which leads to the next strength, group interactions.  There are scenes where a half dozen characters are all talking in a room and they all have different points of view, experiences, and goals, and you are able to understand where each are coming from.  The way they address each other, challenge each other, and try not to tip their hand all while enticing, threatening, or tricking each other is clever.  They are fun conversations to read.



The World of “Riyria”
            As of writing this I have read 5 of his novels, the beginning potions of each of his series.  I also read them in a unique order, making me see different hints and foreshadowing in a different light as I went.  For simplicity sake, I will talk about them in the order they are “intended” to be read.
            “The Riyria Revelations”, this is Sullivan’s first series, following the work of two legendary outlaws as they become pawns of a grand conspiracy.  They are framed for murder and must work with a series of colorful characters in a quest to first clear their names and then to unravel the conspiracy as it threatens their friends, livelihood, and you know… The lives of many-many innocent people too.  Riyrie (pronounced Rye-ear-uh) is the elven word for “Two” and is the name of their thieving enterprise.
I do not know who made this fan art, but I like it.
The only source link I can find goes to Goodreads.  If you know this person send them a compliment.
“The Riyria Chronicles” is a prequel series, showing the various adventures that Riyria went on to become legendary outlaws.  These novels are a paradox for me.  They are all standalone adventures, but they are also filling in blanks in the personal mythology of the heroes and their supporting cast, so at the end of the first book, I guess I was supposed to say, “Oh, so that is how that all went down” but (as I read the first book in this series before reading “Revelations”) I ended up just saying, “Wait, what?  Why did it just stop?”  This is most sequel-prequel series I have ever experienced.
“The First Empire” is a prequel to the other books in much the same way 3000Bce Ancient Egypt is a prequel to 1990 Desert Storm.  This series takes place in the mythologized past and shows how humanity moved from a disparate group of stone age tribes to an iron age empire battling the dominate Elf Empire and coming out on top thru the rather brutal strategy of “Keep fighting, we’ll choke their rivers with our dead I we have to!” Zerg Rush.  This is the first series I started with and aside from certain characters in this book being the people important places are named after in the Riyria stories, Alexandria style, this might as well be a standalone series.

Some Weaknesses
You might be asking now, “Well, what is the bad side of these stories?”  I am not one to shy away from offering criticism even to authors whose work I love and respect, so here are a couple.
I think that the foreshadowing can be a bit much.  You see twists and Revelations coming from too far off in the distance.  Not a bad thing really, you are following the key characters closely and hear much of what they are thinking, feeling, and remembering.  If something doesn’t surprise them then it shouldn’t surprise the audience.
Sometimes plot development happens too fast and is then resolved too quickly and neatly.  The most egregious of these happens in the second half of book two in “The Riyria Revelations”.  A creepy, violent, inquisitor has suspicions about one of the heroes and plans to get him lynched by revealing this information.  The villain decides to make a pact with a witch doctor to accomplish this.  Now in most stories this dark pact would be hanging out in the background, always just on the edge of springing.  It is the ticking clock, Sword of Damocles, (third literary term) that keeps tension in the story.  When is it resolved?  The next chapter, in like 10 pages.  Shrug.
The last issue might be the world building.  While I don’t have any issue with it, Sullivan does jumble some elements from history that lead to a somewhat patchwork appearance.  Some kingdoms look like Skyrim, others like London just before the Industrial Revolution, and others have the feel of Renaissance era Italian City States.  This is fine for me, I like juxtaposition of elements (same reason I like Conan stories) but other people might find the clashes jarring.
I will however indulge my PETTIEST complaint ever right here, in book two of “The First Empire” one of the subplots involves the creation of the first writing system.  That is an interesting story to tell.  HOWEVER, at one point a character uses the phrase “this underscores” to provide emphasis.
What is the issue?  “Underscore” means to underline something.  A society that does not have writing would not use that phrase.  That being said I invented my own head canon to explain this discrepancy.  In this underscore refers to scoring the sole of a shoe or boot to give it traction.  That makes enough sense to fit as a metaphor to turn colloquial.  Fight me.
(No joke, I actually sent Sullivan a fan e-mail explaining this issue and this solution to it.  I think that is the only time I have actually sent fan mail to an author.  I really hope I didn’t hallucinate that use of the phrase.)

In Conclusion
Okay, that is my recommendation, I hope that if you like fantasy that emphasizes good dialogue between groups of colorful characters you will consider reading this one.  If you have Audible, my preferred method of consuming books now, then the narrator is Tim Gerard Reynolds.  I consider him a gifted voice actor and he grants a distinctiveness and mood to each of the characters, his Royce Melbourne (the cynical rogue) sounds different from Hadrian Blackwater (the dashing swordsman).  His versatility is appreciated for those scenes with lots of characters.
If you would like to try out a story for free on Audible, here is “Professional Integrity” which is a clever little (1 hour and 20 minutes) story staring Hadrian and Royce, the two main heroes of the whole thing.  And here is another one called “The Jester” which is basically 1 clever trap room in a Dungeons and Dragons game turned into a story, I loved the cute little moral to the whole thing.
I hope you enjoy your reading.



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            If you like or hate this please take the time to comment, +1, share on Twitter (click that link to follow me), Tumblr, or Facebook, and otherwise distribute my opinion to the world.  I would appreciate it.

Sunday, February 4, 2018

Dungeons and Dragons, "Coal Dwarves"

I have played Dungeons and Dragons for more than 15 years.  Lately, I have been playing regularly as a DM, but even when I can just keep zooming out on the map and slap down another one of my ideas, I still have things that I want to just throw out onto the internet to see how other people can make use of it.
This is going to be a reoccurring thing as I just keep hammering out things and not all of them can be turned into elements in my “random fantasy novel ideas” folder.

What Have I Got: A New Dwarf Civilization
            While I do write about Dungeons and Dragons a lot on here, the last time I did a blog like this one was all the way back in August with “Religion of Orcs” (though that one wasn’t in character), before that it was “Wild Elves”, and the first one was my take on “Kobolds”.
            Today I figured I would introduce you all to my take on the main Dwarf Civilization in my world, the Coal Dwarves.
 
This image is from the 3rd edition monster manual.
Can you tell I don't have photoshop and can't make a convincing image of a crowd?

Coal Dwarves: Mass Production
By Professor Farrowdel Malanar,
Vizier to the Marquis of the Southern Oasis
            On the continent of Lum, the mightiest and most economically flush of all the Dwarven civilizations is that of the Coal Dwarves.  Having centuries ago mastered the art of standardized parts and mass production after the inventor Ell the White created the first machine to mass produce screws, nails, and springs.
            The ability to create parts that could be easily replaced (should they break) created a civilization that fell away from the artistry that defines other Dwarven nations and instead embracing a philosophy of uniformity, disposability, and utility.
            Gone were the days of a Dwarf metalworker spending days to create the gold inlays on a sword that was meant to last 1,000 years, replaced with 100 swords all of uniform size and appearance, each to last a decade before being cast back into the metalworks to be remolded.  Gone was the Dwarven armbands of infinitely complex patterns and runes, replaced with jewelry that all glittered with the same images, the same runes, to be worn for a fashionable period and then cast back into the works to be melted down and recast.
            The Coal Dwarves have turned their keen minds from the age of fine artistry and instead harnessed it toward industry, they have moved past wood and pitch furnaces to harness the power of coal and steam, they create bellows that stoke the hottest fires in the mortal realm.  Creating metals harder than that of any other kingdom.


            And while the great stacks extending up from their mountains work tirelessly (some human communities believe that dwarves are the inventors of clouds now, for all the steam the stacks release) there are downsides their people have encountered.
            While they produce more shovels, picks, hammers, hoes, axes, and all other manner of tools faster than anyone else, they have little food.  They import everything, hundreds of tons of grains, meat, fruits, and vegetables, all to feed a population that is (humorously described by gnomes who have visited the urban core of the Coal Dwarves’ lands) packed shoulder to shoulder at all times with dwarves who look so similar in identical dress with identical equipment that they can’t be told apart from one another.
            They also have no wood, cotton, or leather, which requires another massive import business.  They can’t sleep on a pile of shovel heads, and so they export metal products in such volume that to the Dwarves these products are practically worthless, while the luxury of a goose down pillow might be treasured for a decade as a product of relatively great rarity.
            Beyond the constant need to ship in so much, a deeper concern has been noted by Elf allies.  Elves, being the only group that lives long enough to see first hand the sociological change occurring, believe that the soul of the Dwarf people is dying in the Halls of Coal (The non-Dwarf name for the capital of the Coal Dwarves).  Without the art and craftsmanship that used to serve as a creative outlet for the Dwarven spirit, the Dwarf’s natural sense of clan and community is overwhelming them.  The Coal Dwarves are moving away from a tightly bound group of individuals and instead becoming a horde of uniform parts.
Where once the Dwarves would see each member as a single person, an indispensable part of a community that saw each member as having a unique view and skill set to contribute, now each dwarf is like a nail.  Useful, but just like every other nail, replaceable.

Influences
            Much like how I took inspiration for my “Wild Elves” from the Sioux Indians of North Central America, the inspiration I started with for the Coal Dwarves was modern day China and Slave Era Southern United States.  And I know how racist that might sound.
            A civilization known for mass producing disposable products with little artistry or distinguishing features with a collectivist mindset that threatens to override what was once a culture know thru out the world as the greatest producer of fine manufactured goods.  That is not a glowing portrayal of modern China.  Let me step back a bit.
            China was once the single most powerful economic force in the world.  The term “Kowtow” comes from the practice of foreign nobles from all over the Indian Ocean sailing to China to offer up lavish devotion and praise to the Emperor of China so that they might be granted permission to trade for China’s untouchably great products.


            When European powers started trading with China the demand for their goods was so high (and the only thing they would trade for was Silver) the Western powers had to start selling the Chinese addictive drugs just to offset the trade imbalance.
            China is kind of awesome at various points in history for lots of reasons, but I also have to point out that Modern China has some REALLY BIG ISSUES related to being the workhouse of the world.  Pollution, inhumane working conditions, and a lack of worker protections that would make any communist scholar look on aghast at the whole process.  Having these issues of people being dehumanized and turned into replaceable parts, that is something worth exploring in a fantasy setting, and commenting on how harmful it is.
            The real issue is the “They all look alike” thing which is racist when applied to Chinese people, but that is kind of what drew in the inspiration and made it come together in my mind.  The “They all look alike” concept in relation to the mass production is an interesting metaphor.  And while I do think this is starting in an inherently racist place, that is kind of the point, you take the characterization and you move it to a fantasy setting, divorcing it from the harmful real-life implications to explore the concept of a civilization losing itself to industry.
            That is a lot of talk about how modern China inspired these dwarves, but what about he Slave Era Southern United States?  Well, let me start with the most obvious one (to me).  Ell the White is a reference to Eli Whitney, who invented the Cotton Gin and revolutionized (mechanized) the production of cotton.


Previously, the South had several bottlenecks on their ability to produce cotton.  The first was soil quality, growing cotton depletes soil at a fantastic rate, requiring more and more land to be cleared and set up to grow the plant.  The second is picking the plant, a labor-intensive activity that is hot and unpleasant.  The third is picking out the seeds that are in the cotton.
The acts of picking cotton and picking out the seeds were all done by slaves, but the seed extraction was so time intensive that it wasn’t all that economically viable.  Some predicted slavery’s decline due to this, and I recall my middle school history teacher explaining that Whitney was hoping to deal slavery a death blow by replacing the slaves with cotton gins, a machine that could remove the seeds just by cranking a handle.
Eli was an engineer, not an economist.  See, by making the most time intensive part of the product and making it a breeze it allowed the South to move slaves entirely into the picking stage of things.  Making the desire for slaves (the least expensive of all labor) to skyrocket.  Whitney’s grand answer to the textile industry’s reliance on slavery had just made slavery 100 times worse.
Slaves are people, but they were seen as disposable people.  They were worked or beaten to death and more were found.  The profit margins of slavery raising cotton were huge.  People, reduced to their most basic of functions were seen as interchangeable parts in the great machine of capitalism.
            My intention with this and all other explorations of things in a fantasy or science fiction setting is not to caricature a place or people by taking inspiration from the real world, but I sometimes worry that might happen.  I mean, I don’t want to use the same line of thinking they used in “Bright”.

Real creative name for the bad guy.  You know, Voldemort, Sauron, and Satan all have names.  They are not just Dark Lords.
            What do you all think?  Is this another instance of me over thinking things and sucking some of the fun out?  Is this something you might want to put in your own worlds?  Is this an interesting break from all of the Tolkien type Dwarves that define Dungeons and Dragons (to say nothing of fantasy as a genre)?
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            If you like or hate this please take the time to comment, +1, share on Twitter (click that link to follow me), Tumblr, or Facebook, and otherwise distribute my opinion to the world.  I would appreciate it.