I’m not exactly reporting breaking news when I say that sequels are tricky. Finding the balance between giving people what they liked from the first book and adding enough to justify a second book is one of the more difficult challenges an author faces. Which brings me to The Wise Man’s Fear, the 1100-page brick of a middle chapter in Patrick Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicles trilogy. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some 1100-page bricks. There are few things in this world that I love […]
On Curveballs, Statistics, and the Good Face
Golden sunlight on a baseball field carved out of pristine Iowa farmland. A row of stands where immaculately dressed spectators wave little banners. Beer out of a paper cup, a nickel a pop. And young men, nine to a side, playing a game that’s as entrenched in the heart of pastoral America as the pasture itself. Only, this Norman Rockwell painting hides the full truth, because among the spectators is a man working for a major league baseball team. He’ll drive ten thousand miles this […]
On Fantasy Giants, Magic Systems, and Cool Metatextual Stuff
Fantasy, like few other genres of popular culture, is the land of giants. Metaphorical ones, of course, but I can’t think of many more artistic endeavors where the playing field is dominated by a mere few authors. One only has to pick up any Terry Brooks novel, for instance, to see the long shadows cast by JRR Tolkien (Classic Fantasy Hero’s Journey) and CS Lewis (People Magically Transported to a Strange Place). More recently, JK Rowling (Manichaean Battle with Scholastic Backdrop) and George RR Martin […]
Mieville Gets Weird(er) – On God-Squids and Paranoia
Kraken is the first China Mieville book I’ve read aside from his celebrated Bas-Lag books: Perdido Street Station, The Scar, and Iron Council. And while no one would ever doubt the fecundity of his imagination, his plotting has always left a bit to be desired. My overwhelming impression after finishing Perdido Street Station, in fact, was that I would kill to be able to play a Bas-Lag MMO (well, that, and a desire to find out where Mieville buys his drugs). But of course, there’s […]