Peter Hodges

Someone asked me today: “What does a writer do?” The implication, of course, was that the effort and/or talent needed to be a writer is minimal. I pondered this for a moment, less for the audacity and ignorance of the question and more as a technical challenge. What, indeed, does a writer do?

I used the following example.

Me: Imagine a nice, average woman in her mid-thirties. She’s standing in the park on a sunny day.

Philistine: Okay…

Me: I’m going to describe this same person, in the same circumstances, two different ways. I want you to pay attention to how I can change your perception of the same scene with a few words that might have similar definitions, but mean something totally different.

Philistine: *eye roll* Go ahead.

Me: Mandy waved to me as I approached. She was a comfortable, pleasantly plump woman with sparkling blue eyes.

Philistine: Total soccer mom. She’s probably on her way to the grocery store.

Me: Mandy gestured languidly to me as I strolled towards her. I couldn’t help but notice a mischievous twinkle in her eyes as I evaluated her voluptuous figure.

Philistine: WTF does “languidly” mean?

Me: …never mind. What image does that conjure?

Philistine: She’s total road trash, man. She’s probably on her fourth husband.

Me: See what I mean? I took the same facts–a slightly overweight woman, waving at me, standing in the sun. I painted two different pictures with the words. Notice, too, that the styles are different. One is something out of a cheesy detective novel, the other is simple prose.

Philistine: And you get paid for this?

Me: Well, some people do.

I’ll leave it to you guys to decide if I got the better of the exchange.

Computer upgrades normally go smoothly for me, but this one was a little problematic. I elected to not upgrade the whole system, instead choosing the fastest gaming chip I could for my Intel X48 chipset (a Wolfdale Core2Duo), the fastest video card (a Radeon 5870), and more memory.

After fiddling with parts, I’ve determined one of two things–either I need to flash the BIOS on my mobo for the new chip to work, or the new chip is DOA. Win7 is crazy fast after Vista. I should’ve done that a few months back.

Anyone out there flashed anything lately?

In a world where we trade the illusion of security for actual fact, it is little surprise that the Transportation Security Administration is scrambling, in its usual, ham-fisted bureaucratic way to do whatever it can to salvage its image in the wake of the underwear “bomber.”

I’ve held off on writing this for a while to see how the stories developed, but the Wired article “TSA Threatens Blogger Who Posted New Screen Directive” has finally sparked the fuse on my rage. According to the article, armed agents from the TSA served Steven Frischling with a civil subpoena, demanding to know the source of a non-classified security directive published by the TSA. This document was sent to thousands of people, including destinations overseas–Riyahd (Saudi Arabia) and Nigeria. The civil subpoena, as I understand it, is not a search warrant, yet the TSA agents were persistent.

From the Wired article:

When they pulled a subpoena from their briefcase and told him he was legally required to provide the information they requested, he said he needed to contact a lawyer. The agents said they’d sit outside his house until he gave them the information they wanted.

Further:

The agents searched through Frischling’s BlackBerry and iPhone and questioned him about a number of phone numbers and messages in the devices. One number listed in his phone under “ICEMOM” was a quick dial to his mother, in case of emergency. The agents misunderstood the acronym and became suspicious that it was code for his anonymous source and asked if his source worked for ICE — the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

On Steven’s personal blog, he compliments the agents on their professionalism, but the Wired article indicates that the agents threatened him with his job. Would someone under the thumb of our modern-day secret police say anything less if they were currently under investigation?

A civil subpoena (full text of it here) is different from a search warrant. The administrator of the TSA, legally, does not have the authority to compel this type of cooperation. This must come from a sitting judge, based on probable cause, and be subject to the Fourth Amendment under our Bill of Rights:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Given that the documents were unclassified, their dissemination and distribution should fall under the Freedom of Information Act; this means that the entire strategy from the TSA was flawed on multiple levels: Improper authority, outside the boundaries of the fourth amendment, and a lack of probable cause for search and seizure.

Let me let everyone in on a little secret. If someone wants to interrupt our nation’s air traffic with a terrorist activity, it doesn’t matter what security procedures we put in place–they’ll find a way. We can make some common sense modifications to the way we do things to minimize risk, but where there is a will, there is a way.

The challenge I would make to our bureaucrats and law makers is this: Repeal onerous requirements that impede honest citizens and delay the lifeblood of our country. Remove delegated legislative authority from power-hungry, self-justifying bureaucrats and carefully consider what safeguards and necessary to protect what can be protected. To the U.S. Citizen: If a federal agent shows up at your door, know your rights under the constitution. Consult a lawyer if necessary. Do not be afraid to stand up for what our founding fathers fought and died.

Kate Baker, my longtime friend and collaborator on this site, has recently had her narration career explode. She currently reads for Starship Sofa and Escape Pod. She’s also landed the job of Podcast Director over at Clarkesworld Magazine. In her latest production, she’s read a truly awesome Peter Watts story, telling the perspective of The Thing from the 1980′s cult classic. Peter has some great things to say about the narration, over on his Rifters blog.

Cruise over to Clarkesworld and check it out if you haven’t already. In the meantime, give Kate a vote of encouragement over at her site.

This year, I’ve lumped film, video games, and television into one post. My sampling of video games and television has been limited this year (mostly because television sucks), and while I’ve seen a lot of films this year, there haven’t been a great deal of stand-outs for me to really sink my teeth into.

Television Nominees

Battlestar Galactica, Season 4.5

Season 4.5 of BSG wrapped up earlier this year with an ending that was…something. I’m not exactly sure what it was, but I think Starbuck was an angel, God wanted Cylons and humans to interbreed, and somehow, a star-faring culture gave up their technology to live in peace with nature. The only way this ending could have been less satisfying is if Ron Moore drove to my house and personally kicked me in the nuts. Yet, for all of it’s dark meanderings, it did wrap up the best science fiction series ever to appear on network television. And that has to count for something, friends.

Torchwood: Children of Earth

I guess the Torchwood production team found themselves a real writing staff. After two seasons of very hit or miss episodes, they managed to wrap up the story of Jack Harkness and his (remaining) crew with an emotional, tension-filled roller coaster ride that kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end. I was amazed, nauseated, and elated throughout the production. Bravo to our friends across the pond.

Stargate: Universe

I find this series to be strangely watchable, despite the missed opportunities on characterization. Friend and former writing instructor John Scalzi saves the show from being a disaster on the technical end (although if I see those damned blue “trading places” stones in one more episode, my reality motivator will blow a gasket). If the producers listen to their fanbase and amp the character interactions, put a leash on the (epic fail) Chloe/Lt. Matthew Scott romance (I want to see Eli knock that booty out the park), and provide  a little more adventure to the story arc, this could be a strong second season winner. After all, other great science fiction shows are full of awkwardness in the first season–Babylon 5 or Star Trek: Next Generation ring a bell for anyone?

The Tudors

Sex, elaborate period costumes, and sex makes this an interesting study in intrigue, revisionist history, and drama. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is brilliant as Henry, and his rapid succession of wives and advisors provides fodder for a soap opera written in the blood of the beheaded and anti-Catholic rhetoric. This entire series is magnetic.

Honorable mention: Fringe
Biggest missed opportunity: Dollhouse

Video Game Nominees

Dragon Age Origins

This is the best RPG I’ve ever played. Period. This beats the greats of the past–both Neverwinter Nights, Oblivion, Fallout (although I haven’t played Fallout 3), World of Warcraft, Dungeon Siege, Titan Quest, Diablo, etc. Never has a game grabbed me by the heart and led me on a tale that had me emotionally invested in characters within the world. For the first time outside of a tabletop experience, I played a role in the game world, and I played it consistently and with trepidation at the consequences.

Borderlands

I’ve beaten this game with friends Kate and PoorYorick not once, but twice, looking for elusive loot and tough enemies. It is the definitive coop experience on the PC, ranking, in my estimation, even above our last nominee on this front.  What is particularly striking is the cel-shaded graphics, which provide an excellent style for the mood of the story. While the game does have flaws (the last boss battle is the very definition of anti-climatic), and the humor and sarcasm that made the game so endearing early fades in the last parts, this is definitely a strong contender for game of the year, if only because of the sheer enjoyment I derive from playing it.

Left 4 Dead 2

This is supposed to be the penultimate coop experience, but it feels a little too much like “been there, done that” for it to work in the same space. This feeling is salvaged somewhat by the awesome “scavenge” mode, new infected boss types, and a new characters to play, but at the end, you’re still killing lots of zombies.

Honorable mention: Plants vs. Zombies
Most frustrating game ever: Demigod

Film

Avatar

What can I say that hasn’t already been said? Is the story designed to make white people feel guilty for their ascendancy? Yes. Is it a retread of the classic “someone from advance culture goes native” idea? Yes. Where it differs are the sounds, the emotional impact of the actors (both real and motion-captured), and the visual effects. I could watch this movie again and again.

District 9

Low budget, unknown director, and set in South Africa–those three things make it sound like a trifecta that would lead this movie to the bargain bin. Instead, we have an intelligent thriller, shot documentary-fashion, that serves as a modern day tale on the dangers of apartheid. The special effects (performed by WETA, Peter Jackson’s effects house) rival any big-budget movie, and are all the more powerful for their judicious use in the story.

Inglorious Basterds

This one gets the nod in the science fiction/fantasy category only because it is alternate history. I’ve long been a Tarantino fan, but he takes the cake here with his easy-going, cold-blooded villain Hans Landa, his psychotic American platoon leader Brad Pitt, and brilliant cameos by several actors throughout the course of the movie. The dialog is amazing, mixing the mundane with the important, but the real scene stealing happens whenever Brad Pitt is on the screen.  This is Tarantino at his finest–an anti-Nazi revenge fantasy that re-writes the end of World War II.

Honorable mention: Watchmen, Zombieland
Epic Fail: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Funny People

We’ve been on a brief hiatus from the site, but I’m going to kick it off when the nominations for the Peter Hodges (fourth annual) book of the year awards.

For me to consider a novel in this category, it must have been published during the calendar year of 2009, I must have read it, and it must be in the genre of speculative fiction.

The nominees are:

• The Sword of the Lady, S. M. Stirling
• Warbreaker, Brandon Sanderson
• Without Warning, John Birmingham
• Best Served Cold, Joe Abercrombie
• First Lord’s Fury, Jim Butcher

In two cases, there are authors who published twice during the year, and both of their novels were eligible. Brandon Sanderson continued the Wheel of Time series with The Gathering Storm. Despite the fact that this is the best Wheel of Time novel since Lord of Chaos, this is continuation of Robert Jordan’s world. It is expertly executed, but does not show Brandon Sanderson’s originality in the same way that Warbreaker does. Jim Butcher wrapped his Codex Alera series (First Lord’s Fury) and also published Turncoat, the latest of the Harry Dresden cycle. While I love the Dresden novels, they’re mass-market urban fantasy that doesn’t show the range that Butcher is capable of.

I’ll ponder the range of each novel over the next few weeks or so and announce the winner. Feel free to sound off in the comment section below on the nominees, or on a novel I may have left out.

Jay Lake has done a wonderful job with Green. I have been slowly adding his works to my towering list of authors to read, and I am glad I had the opportunity to immerse myself in this tale.

We follow a girl of no name and no future as she is sold to an educated stranger. Raised as courtesan by cruel mistresses, she is trained in all arts for the eventuality that she will serve the undying Duke of Copper Downs.

Where does the word “Green” come in? Part of the mystery surrounding the book’s title is so important, that I won’t spoil the surprise. It’s well worth finding out for yourself and is wrapped up in what I would offer as part one of three in this novel.

I was easily reminded of Memoirs of Geisha with the detailed narrative, which only strengthened my love for Lake’s prose, as Memoirs is one of my favorite books of all time. Yet our young and unlikely protagonist is not nearly as eloquent and in control of herself as Golden’s heroine which makes it that much more fun to read.

It was almost like I was reading a cross between a possible path for Arya from George R.R. Martin’s, Song of Ice and Fire series and that of Golden’s poor Japanese girl, Chiyo. Like Mary Robinette Kowal wrote in her review of the piece,

I kept feeling like I’d read it before while absolutely knowing I hadn’t.

Bingo. It has some of the best elements of stories that I truly love and enough new things to keep me engaged. Like an old friend, you remember the person and are delighted at how much they’ve grown or changed as the years pass.

I only have two criticisms. One of which is aimed at the marketing department of the publisher.

I like to say I don’t ever judge a book by its cover, however I’ve proven time and time again that unless the book is specifically recommended, I will judge. This particular piece of art gracing this cover would pass. It’s interesting enough that it would have caught my eye had I been looking for something without recommendation. Yet…

I have been keeping up with the growing controversy of publishers that select poorly representative cover art for new novels. It’s not the cruelly drawn space ships or weird art that after finishing a book and reengaging with the cover do you ask yourself, “Where did that happen?” It’s selling the work by offering up a protagonist that looks nothing like the protagonist.

Justine Larbalestier had issue with a recent work. Her publisher decided to market her book with a white protagonist, when clearly Justine’s focus was that of woman of African American descent. Hoping to get more white girls to pick up the book, the publishers marketed how they saw fit. Justine rants here.

The same could be said for Jay’s front cover. I know, I touted it as a pretty piece of art. Which it is. Yet, Jay writes that his protag is a woman who has deep color to her skin. While the girl in his cover has slight Asian overtones, I kept feeling guilty that had this book not been on my recommended and must read list, I would have fallen into the consumer trap that I so wanted to avoid. I would have been secretly contributing to the reasoning publishers give their authors. Anyone who tells you covers don’t matter on impulse buys, doesn’t know anything about marketing.

I don’t want to make a huge stink about it, but it’s something I’ve been trying to be conscious of. I defaulted to reading a white character, because of who I am, but I feel I was also egged on by a cover that showed me what our heroine was supposed to look like. It actually threw me out of the book for a moment.

It does matter.

The only other thing I’ll offer regarding this piece is that I thought the ending was a bit exhausting. I really loved the ideas Lake put forth and there is some substantial build-up to what I would consider the third climax in the book. My issue is in regards to the sheer amount of new characters that are introduced. It takes careful reading at this stage in the novel to keep everyone straight, and at the breakneck pace I wanted to read, I found that I had to slow down and really sort through what was what and who was who.

In a nutshell, if you are looking for a high fantasy, literary kick-ass feminine narrative, chalk full of engaging surprises, this is the book for you.

For you wussy readers out there, it does contain skillful violence and the sex scenes are ala Alfred Hitchcock; acts are described in brief to leave more to the reader’s imagination. Just how I like ‘em.

4 out of 5 stars on this one.

I have nothing to say after watching this. This is a real product, no joke. It’s no secret that I don’t like this president, nor do I agree with many of his policies. However, I was simply stunned at this product. I can imagine little that is more tasteless than giving a bust of our president a green afro.

S. M. Stirling continues his change saga with The Sword of the Lady. Stirling has been on an aggressive release schedule for the past several years, churning through the aftermath of the disappearance of the population of the island of Nantucket and the resulting changes to the men and women left behind. Set a generation after The Protector’s War, Stirling has used the past couple of books to pass the torch of leadership to those who born immediately after the change.

First and foremost, the rules of physics have fundamentally changed. Gunpowder doesn’t work quite right; steam doesn’t build enough pressure to drive engines. Internal combustion doesn’t work. In short, the basic physical chemistry of the universe changed overnight, leaving those left behind reliant on muscle power and animal power to accomplish their tasks.

Against this backdrop, young Rudi MacKenzie, scion of a clan of Wiccans who survived and thrived after the change, embarks on a quest to visit Nantucket. He has received visions leading him to a mystical sword, but Stirling leaves room for the reader to interpret whether these visions comes from God (or the gods), if they are being planted by extra-terrestrials, or if they are figments of Rudi’s imagination. There seems to be real power in worship of every form, whether it is the simple faith of a catholic warrior knight (Father Ignatius), or a complicated belief in the Norse pantheon.

Every hero on a quest must also have an enemy–in this case, it is the Church Universal and Triumphant, which is revealed in bits and pieces over the course of the novels. The “adepts” of the church (essentially warrior mages?) have power that looks and feels magical within the context of the world, but the system by which it works has not been explained thoroughly enough for me to grasp if it truly is supernatural, or if it’s an application of something more mundane. Their characterization is the weakest part of the narrative. Their motivations aren’t terribly clear, and their brief point-of-view chapters are somewhat one dimensional. I could use more information about this aspect of Stirling’s world, so I’ll have to wait and see if he answers the questions I have in the next book.

Rudi and his friends are hunted and harried by soldiers of the CUT as they try frantically to reach their goal. Rife with action sequences, Stirling takes the reader on a ride through the wasteland of a post-change America. Our mighty civilization has fallen to ignorance, tyranny, and cannibalism, but out of it all, a few small communities of men and women have begun to thrive. These are the seeds of the future, and the detail provided for each unexpected community of friends is both poignant and melancholy. Whether intentionally or not, Stirling forces us to ask difficult questions  about our existence and our potential survival in the face of disaster. In his view, fewer than ten percent of us have what it takes to pull through, and of those ten percent, it is much easier to forget our thin veneer of liberty and civilization in order to survive.

This is grim, existential, and difficult to put down.

Joe Abercrombie follows his First Law Trilogy with the stand-alone Best Served Cold, a novel of revenge, political intrigue, and interesting characters set in a rich and diverse fantasy world. The world is the same as the First Law, and minor characters from the first narrative appear and disappear throughout this novel, but you needn’t have read the first three books to read this one. The setup reads like a typical revenge/adventure story, but having read Abercrombie’s earlier work, I knew it wouldn’t be quite so simple.

Imagine taking Tolkein’s epic world, focusing on one small part of one fragmented kingdom in an area that two great powers are struggling over, adding Quentin Tarantino’s eye for the dramatic and his gift for dialogue, sprinkling George R. R. Martin’s ability to write living, breathing characters, and finally adding a dash of black, gallows-style humor. Shake it well, make sure that none of the characters could truly be heroic by any definition, and then tell a revenge story that is anything but typical. That, in essence, is Best Served Cold.

I’ll admit that the plot meanders a bit toward the end; the book could have gotten away with being about forty thousand words shorter, but the characters in it are just so damned interesting that you probably won’t notice. The characters range from the female mercenary general who was left for dead by a jealous employer, a barbarian soldier/killer who is trying to be an optimist, a drunken ex-general, or a scary little serial killer with a penchant for numbers. Their stories are interwoven with a deft hand, but don’t mistake this for an epic fantasy. Rather, this is blunt, brutal, and gritty. Things don’t come together for the good of the characters, and the results are often ironic, if not mind-numbling “oh my God, I shouldn’t be laughing” hilarious. Abercromibe succeeds in giving such distinct voices to the characters that I would swear that it was really them writing their own autobiographies. I can think of no one else who nails this aspect in the writing as well.

Abercromie has really struck a nerve with me. I discovered him via the Amazon “related authors” search when I was browsing for Scott Lynch’s next book in the Locke Lamora series, and I’m glad that I did. There are very few authors that I’ll buy books from site-unseen or without some reviews to back them up, and Joe Abercrombie is on that list. Start with The Blade Itself and work your way through the trilogy. You won’t be disappointed.