Books: Not just for cool guys like me anymore.
So I guess that every aspiring writer is required by law to talk about how much they like to read. And hey! I need something to write about for this week's blog. It's a win-win!
I have multiple books in my car to read at stoplights—at least two, in case one spontaneously combusts. Same for most of the rooms in my house, in case I get bored while crossing the kitchen and don't feel like turning back to grab a book. If I don't have a book then I read the back of cereal boxes, or a pamphlet I found on the ground, or the t-shirts of people walking by, or random patterns I can make out in wallpaper. When I was young I would take a backpack filled with books out to the tree in our front yard, climb up about halfway and hang the backpack from a branch while I worked through one book after another. If I wanted even more privacy, I would hole up in the closet with a flashlight and a sandwich. I don't think I left any sandwiches behind, but I know I remembered to bring the books back.
Everyone says that when it comes to writing, reading is just as important, and I agree. The difference is that it seems like you don't have to work on reading, any more than you have to work on breathing. You do it because it's unthinkable not to. It's not a matter of finding time; you can read while cooking, during commercials, at stoplights or in backed up traffic, during lunch, whenever. Okay, I may have it easier because I'm an introverted hermit who hisses at people who get too close, which gives me a bit more reading space. But there's always a way, and the aforementioned everyone is right: you gotta read if you wanna write.
So what am I reading recently? Probably what you expect: sci-fi, fantasy, horror, schlock and such.
Simon R. Green: I've always enjoyed Simon R. Green, ever since I first picked up a Guards of Haven book. He has an ability to create a world that feels like it was there long before you flipped to the first page, and that it will go on existing after you've finished the book. He also writes as though he has twenty stories to tell and can't decide on any one; so he rips them up, wraps them around a central timeline that kept moving through each, and binds it all together over the course of as many books as it takes. I moved from the Guards to the Deathstalker novels, a traditional space-opera turned on its head by espers, aliens, an irredeemably corrupt empire, and a band of flawed heroes who have no desire to save the day but certainly can't trust anybody else to handle the job. In a way he toned things down with his Nightside, Drood, and Ghostfinders books; while they remain fantasies they take place in the modern era, referencing common and obscure supernatural lore as well as his own take on modern superscience and everything that fits in between.
He's also a bit gruesome, so his stories certainly aren't for the faint of heart. The antagonists of the Deathstalker series are irredeemable sadists, and there are some very descriptive passages of the various atrocities they commit. It crosses the line into gratuitous, so if that's not your thing then you'll want to move right along; I mostly skip those parts.
His latest novel, The Dark Side of the Road, goes the route of the supernatural mystery. Ishmael Jones works in the dark corners of the world, searching for secrets, solving mysteries, and generally doing the jobs that we don't know even need to be done. He is invited by his employer to join him and his family for a Christmas dinner in the grand Belcourt Manor, and it doesn't take long for Ishmael to realize that there is something very wrong happening there. His employer has disappeared, everybody is hiding something and one of the guests is almost certainly not who (or what, dun dun duuuuun!) they seem. There's a murderer on the loose, and as a storm traps the family in the mansion there is no choice but to unmask the killer before they get rid of the rest of the potential witnesses.
But Ishmael has a few secrets of his own, and he's far from helpless...
(Does that sound like the fluff you find in the jacket cover of a book? Yeah, it needs some work.)
I don't know, that road looks pretty well lit to me.
The Dark Side of the Road is a short but entertaining supernatural whodunnit, and the beginning of a new series for Green. It's a Trapped-In-The-House-With-A-Killer-And/Or Monster story, which is hardly unique, but hey, I never get tired of 'em. Ishmael is a bit bland as a new character, but it's explained; there's a reason he has trouble with emotions. The family members are more forgettable; they're basically a lineup of the usual suspects, each with an unpleasant secret that might give them a motive for murder, but mostly just provides something for them to redeem so you feel slightly bad about their inevitable murder. There are mistrustful eyes, secret passages, a snow-storm hunt and a (fairly predictable) showdown; what more could you want?
I miss the galaxy-spanning epics of Green's earlier work, but I enjoy the new stuff for what it is. The Dark Side of the Road sets up a new series, and there are enough hints of questions about the main character that I'll stick along for the ride for now.
Jim C. Hines: I don't know much about Hines. I picked up the first book of the Magic ex Libris series, Libriomancer, on a whim while looking for something new to get into. It was...interesting. I'm not sure if it was interesting enough to pick up the second book, but there were certainly some high points.
Libriomancer is another contemporary urban fantasy. You know the hallmarks—there is a secret magical side of society, and the main character is a mild mannered accountant by day, wizard/werewolf/vampire/ghost/whatever in his or her spare time. In this case Isaac Vainio is a librarian in his day job, but his real occupation is as a Libriomancer. These are the wizards of this world, with a twist—their magic comes from books. Literally. As in, they open a book, find a passage about, say, a magical sword, and then pull the sword from the book into the real world. Or a potion of healing from a D&D manual, or a ray gun from a sci-fi story, or a doomsday device that could crack the planet in half. Almost anything goes; there are only a few limitations, such as the fact that the physical object has to fit through the pages of the book (so no pulling out the Death Star or the Titanic), sentient creatures usually go insane when pulled from their stories, or the fact that the most dangerous books are somehow locked by the patron of Libriomancy and head of the Porters society, Johannes Gutenberg. (So, no vials of superflu from Stephen King's The Stand, or religious artifacts from the Bible.)
So, yeah, pretty sure that's Excalibur.
You could also brush your hand against a vampire's fang in an Anne Rice novel, or get bitten by a werewolf, or pull out a swarm of teleporting spiders who blink away immediately. This is where the magical monsters of the world come from, and once introduced there was no shoving them back into the book.
Isaac is a reluctant paper-pusher, pulled to the office because he didn't have a suitable temperament for field work. He's got the training, though, and when he's attacked by a group of vampires with a vendetta against Libriomancers he grabs a handful of paperbacks and heads back to the field to find out why. Turns out Gutenberg has gone missing, and his personal army of invincible automatons has gone berserk. With Gutenberg gone, nobody in the Porter society can be trusted, and Isaac has to fight off vampires and automatons with the help of his dryad friend while he searches for answers.
So, the high points: Jim C. Hines obviously reads the same books that I do, which means that I got almost every literary reference he threw out there. I recognized the healing potions, the various weapons (in fact that version of Excalibur came from a Simon R. Green book), the babel fish and what was probably an unlicensed lightsaber. It's a small thing, but it was always fun to hit that little bump of familiarity.
Since he reads the same books, it's no surprise that he writes with the sensibilities that I enjoy. There are plenty of mysteries, action sequences, and unique characters to go around, although everything is (unsurprisingly) in the formative stages in this first book. There are impossible odds to overcome (and then surpass), love in bloom (but certainly not without complications), and a tragic villain. Good times!
That said, although there's plenty of action to be had, this book is for world-building. There are pages regularly set aside to explain the basic laws of Libriomancy, and while Hines tries to fit them into the casual conversation of quiet interludes, it's not always possible. Not a criticism—I sure as heck don't know any better way to do it. There's a lot of info to dump in a little time, especially when a vampire is literally breathing down your neck. He gets the important points across and keeps the story moving; that's what matters.
That said (again)...
The important points aren't quite enough. While Hines explains some of the limitations of Libriomancy, it seems like a system of magic that is rife for abuse. In fact, some of the key plot points count on it. I can buy that Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press, has his finger on the pulse of modern literary society, but it's hard to believe that one man can lock down every dangerous book out there. I could think of a dozen on my own bookshelf that contain items of such power that they could destroy the planet, and I think that the Simon R Green book that Isaac uses has a few world-shattering artifacts of its own. Books are so diverse that there seem to be myriad opportunities for mischief; the Porters are not a society that could remain secret for long. There would have to be far more going on in the background to support the existence of this kind of world.
And maybe there is! Or maybe I need to lighten up and suspend some disbelief. The story is entertaining enough on its own, but those little nagging questions will drive me crazy if I dwell on them. I haven't decided whether I'm going to pick up the next one; it may be the kind of book that waits until a beach vacation, or that I grab if I see it at a used bookstore. Time will tell.
I'm thinking of making book discussion a regular blog feature, mostly since I'll never run out of material for it. We'll see how it goes. Until then, keep reading! Not that you need my encouragement.