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Said.fm says...

Nov 26, 2009

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A Modern Fairytale: Mr Penumbra's Twenty-Four-Hour Book Store

Photo by Flickr/ipohkia

This cold and wintry evening I've been snuggling indoors and listening to an audio of a short story entitled 'Mr Penumbra's Twenty-Four-Hour Book Store' by Robin Sloan.

The story could be described as a modern fantasy story which is both charming and thought provoking. If you like reading physical books, e-books and internet content then Sloan's work will really resonate with you as it attempts to deliberate on our times by questioning 'print' versus 'computerisation' without drawing any conclusions.

I found this original and entertaining story on Escape Pod, where there's a wealth of similar sci-fi and fantasy fiction to be found.

Link to Podcast:

Escape Pod: Mr Penumbra's...

The Riven Kingdom and The Hammer of God, by Karen Miller

"What is it like, I wonder, to feel faith like a bedrock, to believe in a god as though it were the sun in the sky? I can hardly imagine." So muses, Dexterity Jones, toymaker by Royal Appointment, about the faith of Mijak, the people we met in the first book of the The Godspeaker trilogy, Empress. The people of Mijak believe in a god that shows its presence in the world in a myriad ways, from healing the wounded to smiting the empire's enemies. The god is also unquenchable in its thirst for sacrificed blood.

The first book, Empress, tells the tale of how a girl slave rose to become empress, thanks to the grace of her god. Hekat is as bloodthirsty as the god and firmly convinced that she "lives in his eye." She is character one grows to respect and even love, or at least, love to hate. I reviewed that book here.

The second and third books feature another strong female, one not a savage ruler, but equally strong. In The Riven Kingdom,Princess Rhian loses her brothers to plague and her father, the King of Erthea, soon after. King Eberg has ruled long and well, but failed to appoint an heir or arrange for a state marriage for Rhian. The princess feels that even though Erthea has never had a ruling queen she is the qualified to rule, having been tutored in statecraft by the king himself.

The Church in Erthea is a strong force, and its leader, Prolate Marlan, intends to rule the kingdom by marrying Rhian off to his mentally-deficient nephew. Rhian is violently opposed to Marlan's bid for power and manages to escape his clutches long enough to get married to her banished lover, Alasdair. She returns to the capital, having gathered supporters as she went, and in the end, nobility of purpose (hers) defeats corrupt power (Marlan's.) In the third book, The Hammer of God, her kingdom and its allies face the deadly might of the Mijak Empire and she again prevails against the corruption of power, this time a corruption by the evil god of Mijak.

The three books explore themes of faith and belief, as well as those of nobility and corruption. While not as omnipresent as the Mijak god, the god of Erthrea acts through Dexterity Jones, bringing him a messenger who appears to him in the form of his wife. He becomes the Burning Man and does miracles in the cause of Queen Rhian. So, while he muses on the faith of the Mijaki, he does not seem to realize that his faith is also strong and compelling.

I love the way Karen Miller gives her characters such distinct voices. The Mijaki are instantly recognizable as alien, not only because of their total belief in their god, but also in the way they speak. Karen Miller makes even their grammar seem foreign. Queen Rhian and her people seem more familiar to us, with Erthrea a city-state similar to European kingdoms in the Middle Ages, when the Church ordered everyone's lives.

Great series. I really enjoyed the second two books - the first was a bit much because Hekat is such a believably atrocious person. I was pleased to see that Karen Miller has other books, some under the name K.E. Mills. The Accidental Sorcerer is a completely different read, more lighthearted but again with great use of voice in character development.

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disobedientgirl says...

Nov 24, 2009

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glass

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Nov 24, 2009

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Cage

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disobedientgirl says...

Nov 24, 2009

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Princess bedroom

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disobedientgirl says...

Nov 24, 2009

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Cindrella's Benz

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fitziane says...

Nov 21, 2009

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Shadows of the Apt series, by Peter Tchaikovsky

By Adrian Tchaikovsky on indiebound.org

Adrian Tchaikovsky has created a world swarming with insects. There are many human races on his world and each shaped in the archetypal image of their kindred insect. There are the Wasps, soldiers for a young, brutal Empire which seeks only to conquest and expansion. Pitted against them is Stenwold Maker, a Beetle, and whoever he can cajole, hector, coax and prod into standing with him.

As a young man, Stenwold Maker witnessed the invasion of a city, one which he tried to save from the Wasps. He lost many friends in the battle and managed to just barely return to his home city, Collegium, there to attempt to warn the Lowlands of the Wasp threat. No one listened, though, and for 20 years he rants and raves about the Wasp threat to uncaring ears. He becomes a history professor at the Collegium university, teaching his students about the Wasps and attempting to light the spark of horror and resistance that is a passionate fire within him. His closest friends are a Mantis, Tisamon, and his daughter, Tynisa, a half-Spider. Tynisa grew up as his ward, ignorant of her parentage. His niece, Che, is a student at Collegium, always in the shade of her gorgeous Spider ward-sister. She is a Beetle, through and through, practical and stolid, For all her insecurities, she can be strong, creative and open-minded.

Each race has its own Art. The Wasps have a sting, a sort of fire that shoots from their hands. The Ants mind-speak to each other, and their cities are silent but purposeful. Beetle-kinden are industrious and mechanically inclined. Moths are mystics and once ruled the world, enslaving all the other races. Mantis-kinden are great warriors. Their Art lies in their exo-skeleton, with barbs and spikes along their hands. Fly-kinden are small, can fly, and have uncanny reflexes. There are only a few Mosquito-kin in the world. They are powerful and evil sorcerers, and although their kind have dwindled to a very, very few. This is only a few of the Kin. Tchaikovsky has millions of insect species from which to draw inspiration.

The world is at war. Wasps are poised to conquer all of it. The Lowlands must unite to stand against them and Stenwold Maker seems to be the only one to fully realize it. Throughout the course of the first three books, he gains followers and believers, but the struggle to ally the races of the Lowlands is a fierce one.

The plot is excellently woven. It most definitely traps you in its web. However, the real strength here is in the characterization. Stenwold Maker is driven by his fear of the Wasp Empire, fear that all he holds dear will be destroyed. His friend, Tisamon the Mantis, was tortured by his belief that his Spider-kin lover had betrayed them and so very surprised to find out that he has a daughter. She in turn tries to reconcile her Spider and her Mantis sides, both races that have hated each other for centuries. Thalric, the Wasp captain, is fiercely loyal to the Empire but his faith starts to crack and he ends up running for his life and branded a traitor. Totho, the Beetle, is an artificer and has always dreamed about making weapons. He gets his chance when he is captured by the Empire and he is horrified to put his talent to use against his people.

Even the minor characters are deftly drawn. With a few strokes, Tchaikovsky paints believably characters on his insect archetypes and it seems almost a shame that after crafting them so cleverly, they die or are sent away in the service of the plot.

I have to admit that the books are slightly repellent to me. Perhaps it's the insect characters. They are so beautifully drawn that they are somewhat repugnant. Humanity is not meant to have wings and antennae, spikes and claws. Still, the story fascinates and compels, and I am eager to see what else is in store for Stenwold Maker and their allies. Book Four comes out in February 2010.

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oliverlim says...

Nov 08, 2009

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My Week 2 NBA Fantasy Update

Almost two weeks into the NBA fantasy season, and my two teams look
much different from how it started.

In my 16-team league (Fantasy Cheeseballs). My team has changed so
much. First off, I traded Amare Stoudemire (1st rd) and Trevor Ariza
(7th rd) for Chris Bosh and Tyreke Evans. So far, so good. Bosh has
given me monster numbers in Pts, Rebs, FG% and also some nice
3pointers. For a C, that's huge. Evans today gave me his career high
of 32 pts.

I was also able to pick up Danilo Galinari and Larry Hughes off the
waiver wire. My gamble on David Lee has paid some nice dividends for
me especially in the Rebs.

Derrick Rose has been iffy for me, giving me almost the same numbers
as he did last year. Paul Millsap, who I drafted in the 4th round has
not produced. But I blame that on his measley PT. I'm keeping the
faith with him but I'll probably entertain offers.

I've been trying to shore up my frontcourt while Kevin Love is out but
so far, no success. Now i'm trying Pecherov, who also plays for
Minnesota.

I'm currently ranked in the 7-8 region of my league but im hopeful
that will improve in the coming weeks.

For my 12-team league, I'm currently ranked 2. Quite happy but I still
need more depth in my frontcourt. I dropped Charlie Bell, who I hoped
to give me some nice numbers while Michael Redd, my 4th rd pick
recovers fromjiw injury. I picked up Taj Gibson, who should see more
minutes after the injury to Tyrus Thomas. Once again, Millsap
disappoints me, as well as the injury to Kenyon Martin. Nene and Scola
has performed well but I want to look for another big - hopefully
someone in the mould of Hibbert or Oden.

My 1st 3 picks, Chris Paul, Joe Johnson, and Mehmet Okur has produced
well for me. Especially Paup, who has been forced to take more shots
because of the lack of firepower in the Hornets offense.

Well so far, so good. Wish me luck in the coming weeks.

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fitziane says...

Nov 06, 2009

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Erec Rex: The Dragon's Eye, by Kaza Kingsley

There's a lot of middle school fantasy available right now. I tell myself I have to read the realistic fiction for middle schoolers to better serve the middle school students in my school, but I'm always getting distracted with the fantasy titles.

Last night's distraction was Erec Rex: The Dragon's Eye. Erec Rex lives with his adoptive mother and his 6 siblings (or is it only 5 - not sure, there's a lot of them but they do not feature much in this first book in the series.) They have moved often during his life and their latest place is a tiny apartment in Manhattan, where Erec has to sleep in the laundry room. One morning, Erec wakes up to find his mother gone and a rather horrendous babysitter installed at the door.

All his life, Erec has been plagued by "cloudy feelings." These are compulsions that come on him, taking over his body and forcing him to do something which in the end saves someone else. One time, for example, a cloudy feeling got him to push his sister out of the way moments before a truck turned the corner. It would have hit her if Erec had not heeded his cloudy feeling. On the morning of his mother's disappearance, Erec has a cloudy feeling about her - hence the need to escape the babysitter.

Erec finds his way to Grand Central station, and with the help of a new friend, the niece of a grumpy newsstand vendor. There they enter the underground world of the Keepers, the people who kept the magic that was once heritage to all humans. The people of the mundane world are the Losers, because they lost that magic 500 years ago. The Kingdoms of the Keepers are ruled by triplets and it is time for them to retire, so there is a competition to choose the next three rulers. Erec and his new friend, Bethany, are able to enter the competition and go through all of the events.

In the background to the competition is the Sorcerer Prince, Thanatus Argus Baskania. In the mundane world, he is a multi-billionaire who heads a world peace organization called Eye of the World. As the book starts, the TV is announcing how the Eye of the World has been accepted as the ruling body of the United Nations. In the Keepers world, he is now as the Sorcerer Prince and he created the Kingdom of the Keepers, separating them from the Losers, 500 years ago. He is obviously crazed by power, and even more obviously will be Erec's nemesis during the rest of the series.

It's pretty obvious to adults that Erec Rex is going to become king of one of kingdoms. The book is pretty predictable and the name is a dead giveaway. There are plenty allusions to Greek mythology. King Pluto is lord of a hot, fiery kingdom. Queen Posey is the queen of the sea. Posey - Poseidon. The bad guy is Thanatus Baskania, as in Thanatus the god of death. The action is a bit manic, with the competition serving as an excuse to put the characters into different types of danger, and there isn't much character development of any but the main characters, but still, it's an enjoyable read. Kids who enjoyed the Rick Riordan Olympian series will like this.

More kids' literature from www.indiebound.org.

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Lipstick, High Heels & BS says...

Nov 06, 2009