Tillabooks: Will's Book Blog

Influencer by Kerry Patterson, et. al.

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:15:00 +0000

Influencer: The Power to Change Anything by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-07-148499-2

This book purports to provide a method by which you can change the world, or at least, yourself. It claims to be that lever Archimedes so famously postulated, long enough to shift the entire earth. Is it? I'm not sure. At the end, it all seems to come down still, to talk. Just find the right words, and you can persuade people.

It's a lot more complicated than that, of course. There are six sources of influence which you must master. None of them work alone. All of them are essential to the process. The six elements are presented grid fashion, in two rows of three each.

Motivation

Make the undesirable desirable
Harness peer pressure
Design rewards & demand accountability

Ability

Surpass your limits
Find strength in numbers
Change the environment

The three cross patterns are:

Personal
Social
Structural

In other words, the first item under each of the original two categories, motivation and ability, fits under the personal category, while the next item on each list fits under social, and the final item on each list fits under structural.

The book's many authors tell many stories about masters of this process who have changed entire cultures and made enormous improvements in people's lives. Some examples: eradicating the Guinea worm in Africa (Dr. Donald Hopkins and The Carter Center); helping addicts turn their lives around (Dr. Mimi Silver and the Delancey Street Foundation), preventing HIV infections (Thailand), enhancing literacy in Mexico and elsewhere (TV producer Miguel Sabido), and many more.

Unfortunately, even after reading the book, I had difficulty in seeing how I could (or would) apply its principles to any of the real-world situations in my particular job. I've never been much of a believer in business solution type self-help books, and this one left me unconvinced also. I'm just not much of a “believer,” period. I'm a skeptic. An optimistic skeptic. Now there's a contradiction in terms, for you! But then, I'm also a Libra. A Libra who doesn't believe in astrology. Another contradiction!

The governor of our great state of Washington, Christine Gregoire, was apparently so impressed by this book that she gave out free copies to everyone who attended one of her leadership seminars. That's how I heard about the book, as one of my co-workers attended.

I could also never figure out if this system was supposed to be about changing your own life (like losing weight, or adopting a more healthy lifestyle), or about changing masses of people (like the examples I cited above). Supposedly it's about both, but I never could quite figure out how that works. It may well be that these techniques really do work, but the system is still too complicated for me. Marginally recommended for anyone who needs to change the world. Or themselves.

Touchstone by Laurie King

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 01:53:00 +0000

Touchstone by Laurie King. New York: Bantam Books, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-553-80355-6

Ah, another novel from one of my favorite contemporary authors, Laurie King! What a pleasure it is to be caught up once again by her inimitable style and perfect touch. Touchstone is another standalone story, not part of her Martinelli or Mary Russell series. That's its only drawback, if drawback there is to be found here. Fortunately for us, a note at the end of the book informs us that Ms. King is currently at work on the next Mary Russel novel, which will be her ninth. I can't wait!

This story takes place in Great Britain, in that transitional period between the two World Wars. The coal miners are about to strike, and a general strike has been called in sympathy. Labour has the government, but could fall. A decisive clash of ideologies and interests is possible. Will England turn communist? Or fascist? Or will some middle ground of rationality be preserved?

Into this volatile mix comes FBI agent Harris Stuyvesant, seeking an itinerant bomber, a Brit who has traveled three times to the U.S. leaving bombs in his wake, one of which killed Stuyvesant's fiancée, giving him a more than slightly personal interest in the case. He has a suspect, Richard Bunsen, currently high in the strikers' council, formerly a demolition expert in the first World War. And now he suspects that Bunsen's American bombs were mere practice for his ultimate target, the top leaders of Britain, in an act intended to foment terror, and topple traditional British society into anarchy.

Tracking Bunsen takes him into the company of Laura Hurleigh, duke's daughter, and the inner circles of British aristocracy. His “in?” Bennett Grey, who grew up with the Hurleigh's, and was even engaged to Laura, until his injuries in the Great War made it impossible for him to associate with people in a normal fashion. He was almost blown up by an artillery shell, should have been killed, but instead, somehow lived, but with a new kind of sense and sensitivity. His entire nervous system and sense of consciousness was somehow turned inside out. People affect him directly and intolerably. He can read their body language, their emotions, their real thoughts behind what they say, in an almost supernatural way. And this sensitivity is like 10,000 times worse than the proverbial fingernail scratching a blackboard. It is absolutely intolerable to him, and forces him to flee to the very tip of England where he lives in virtual solitude.

Grey's sister, Sarah, works with Laura Hurleigh and Richard Bunsen. Sarah is an attractive young woman, and Harris naturally falls in love with her. All of these lines fall a bit too close for reality, but we're willing to suspend our disbelief at least a little, especially for Laurie King. She makes it all seem plausible enough, if not downright inevitable.

The plot hurries along to its dramatic and ever intensifying conclusion, but not without at least one significant twist to the plot that will most likely catch you by surprise. I've left out some of the complications, but I don't have time to list them all; how Stuyvesant gets "in" with Bennett Grey being one of them. But if you care at all for King as an author, you'll be reading the book for yourself!

As usual, highly recommended!

Empire Rising by Sam Barone

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:46:00 +0000

Empire Rising by Sam Barone. New York: William Morrow, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-06-089246-3

This is the sequel to Dawn of Empire, which I reviewed back in April of 2007. It's a good read, and if you enjoyed Dawn, you'll probably want to read Rising. But it doesn't have the same compelling drive to it that the original did.

In Dawn of Empire, we read about one of the first cities to raise a wall in its defense. This is a civilization-building effort that truly revolutionized society when it occurred, and to encounter a fictionalized account of how that might have occurred makes for truly compelling reading.

In the sequel, there is lots of backing and filling. The city and its leaders are out restoring order in the surrounding area, making their defenses even stronger, and beginning the building of a dynasty which they hope will extend to their children and grandchildren. All very important activities, no doubt, but just not as compelling as the motive behind the original story. It becomes just another story of ancient people going about their lives.

Sure, the author dreams up another attack on the city, this one launched by stealth from inside, and provides plenty of drama and suspense, but this story could have happened to any ancient town in any ancient time period, and there is nothing to raise it to that level of necessity that propelled its predecessor.

So, definitely recommended, especially if you enjoyed Dawn of Empire, but not essential reading, by any means. And don't read it if you haven't read Dawn. It won't make much sense. The author's web site implies, without providing any specifics, that there will be more to come, and I'll probably read those too, just not expecting the same kind of buzz I got from the first one.

Opening Atlantis by Harry Turtledove

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 02:32:00 +0000

Opening Atlantis by Harry Turtledove. New York: Roc, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-451-46174-2

This is another alternate history novel by Turtledove, the acknowledged master of the genre. He imagines a smallish continent, naturally named Atlantis, out in the middle of the Atlantic, sort of halfway between Europe and North America. He tells us the history of this land, from its initial discovery and settlement by Europeans in the 1450's, on down to about the time of the American Revolution, when the British and French fight for dominance of the island, as an adjunct to their American and European wars.

The story is as well-told as any Turtledove book. If you enjoy his style, you'll undoubtedly enjoy reading this book. But my essential reaction was, what's the point? I need more than just another lackadaisical idea to motivate me into reading Turtledove. When he asks INTERESTING alternate history questions, like “What if the South won the Civil War?” or “What if aliens invaded in the middle of World War II?” then I'm interested enough to follow the story for book after book.

But in this case, there's just a new land mass where there wasn't one before. No magical creatures live there, just different ones (kind of like Australia or Zanzibar). The island is uninhabited when Europeans get there, which is improbable in itself. Surely it would have been previously settled by indigenes from somewhere! People from the Americas, if nowhere else.

So, British, French and Spanish settlers colonize the island. There is an interregnum period in which pirates control the western half of the island, and have to be eradicated. Sad. Pirates are always more fun, if more dangerous, than regular society. And then the war for dominance, which the British win, of course. My ultimate reaction? So what? Why should I care? I don't care. So I won't be bothering with any sequels. Sorry Harry. You struck out with this one, so far as I'm concerned.

The Spiral Labyrinth by Matthew Hughes

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Thu, 29 May 2008 03:11:00 +0000

The Spiral Labyrinth: A Tale of Henghis Hapthorn by Matthew Hughes. San Francisco: Night Shade Books, 2007. ISBN: 978-1-59780-091-4

This is the second time I've encountered the doughty Henghis Hapthorn, discriminator extraordinaire. I reviewed a collection of short stories by Hughes, several of which featured Hapthorn, back in July of 2007, not quite a year ago.

This tale is quite a bit more satisfactory reading than were those stories. The novel length format provides a more expansive space and time (both literally and figuratively) for the sometimes hapless Hapthorn to operate within, and for me, at least, this gave the character and his adventures more depth and play, making the reading more entertaining.

Hughes is another of those clever writers who has thought up a way to bridge the gap between science fiction and fantasy. This book is definitely written as science fiction, since initially we find ourselves in a far future milieu, in which hundreds, if not thousands of planets are settled, and starships traverse the interstellar byways.

But our intrepid adventurers find themselves unaccountably thrust into an even much farther and further future, in which some great shift in the cosmos has taken place (it being implied that similar shifts may have occurred in previous aeon's) where magic and will power are the dominant factors, having replaced the technology-based period of the past.

Hapthorn and his inimitable companions find themselves in a seemingly almost hopeless battle against an intelligent and symbiotic organism, a fungus which fills many caverns on a distant, desolate planetoid. Will they ever make it back to their own time, place and space? You'll have to read the book to find out. And it's well worth the journey. Recommended for all SciFi and/or fantasy fans.

Mozart's Sister by Rita Charbonnier

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Mon, 26 May 2008 00:51:00 +0000

Mozart's Sister by Rita Charbonnier, translated by Ann Goldstein. New York: Crown Publishers (Random House), 2007. ISBN: 978-0-307-34678-0

Now here's an interesting novel! Based on the life of Maria Anna Walpurga Ignatia Mozart, Wolfgang's elder sister, who generally went by the nickname Nannerl, at least within the family circle. Nannerl was a musical prodigy too, though perhaps not quite so precocious as Mozart, although it is hard to know how we'd know for sure. But the earliest travels and concerts featured the two of them, brother and sister.

This novel purports to tell Nannerl's story from her own point of view, starting with a series of letters back and forth between her and a man she loves, but never marries. I found these letters to be a bit too modern and frank in tone, but then, I haven't read the letters between Wolfgang and his father, sister, wife, so I'm hardly in a position to judge. Wolfgang's own letters are notoriously known to be earthy, vulgar, etc. Nannerl's letters as depicted here are hardly that, just frank and forward.

What is more significant is the author's assumption and depiction of Nannerl's reaction to the stifling influence of her father, who will not even admit the possibility of a woman's composing music. No, Nannerl must either find a husband, or teach piano lessons to help support the family's income. She reacts very badly, at times almost retreating from life altogether, and later, turning her back on music completely for many years.

Again, it is hard to know how she really reacted. Was she really torn apart like this? Or was she more a creature of her time, acquiescing to her father's and her society's assumptions about the role of a woman? We have no way to know, but this author's version seems like it is imposing our current values and feelings about the equal rights of women back into an earlier time, where they don't exactly ring true.

Not that I don't completely sympathize with those feelings as they are depicted. I consider myself to be a male feminist, and I find any subordination of women to be appalling and indefensible. So why am I complaining? I don't know. I just know that this book seems to take modern sensibilities and reactions, and force them onto an earlier time, where the reality may have been different. Not that Nannerl wouldn't have resented being forced into her father's version of reality, but I don't think she would have reacted in such a modern way.

All of that quibbling aside, I definitely recommend this book for anyone interested in the subject. I only wish that there were more documentation provided to support or authenticate this version of the story. Did Nannerl (as the author insists) act as a supporter and promoter of her brother's music after his death? I don't know. There doesn't appear to be any book length biographies of Nannerl available. So this hypothetical version is seemingly all we have.

Team Chihuly by Dale Chihuly

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Thu, 22 May 2008 04:09:00 +0000

Team Chihuly by Dale Chihuly. Seattle, Washington: Portland Press, 2007. ISBN: 978-1-57684-163-1

It has always seemed strange to me that Dale Chihuly, the great master artist of glass blowing, has always worked in teams. And that, in fact, for many years, has done very little actual glass blowing, glass handling, very little of the physical act of creation, himself. With so many others actually doing all of the physical work, why does Chihuly get all the credit? Why is he considered the artist, and all of this, his work?

Well, in this book, Chihuly pays homage to the talented teams who have worked with him to create all of his masterpieces. He lists them by name, describes his relationships with many of them, and presents them in pictures, showing them at work with and for and through him. I still don't understand what it is about him that inspires and motivates so many people to work so hard for HIS reputation. But at least he acknowledges their contributions in this book.

He must indeed be a truly charismatic personality, who projects a compelling vision, so compelling that other people willingly subsume their own creativity and efforts to realize HIS reality, and help to create HIS conceptions.

Not that Chihuly hasn't had occasional defectors. In a well-publicized lawsuit, the master accused one of his former team members of making knock-off imitations of his work, and allowing a third person to sell them under his name. Needless to say, this defecting former team member is not included in the alphabetical listing of Team Chihuly found in the back of this book!

Still, any fan of Chihuly, of which I must number myself as one, will probably want to take a look at this book. My only complaint is that it's more about the team than the work. There ARE pictures of the work, but they are definitely playing second fiddle to the team. And that's undoubtedly as it should be, but still disappointing, since it's the work, the glass, that captivates me, regardless of how it was created or manufactured. Still, the book is definitely recommended for anyone and everyone with an interest in Chihuly or his work.

Spy vs Spy 2 by David Shayne

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Mon, 19 May 2008 01:45:00 +0000

Spy vs Spy 2: The Joke and Dagger Files by David Shayne. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2007. ISBN: 978-08230-5035-2

I don't usually read comic books or graphic novels. However, I do avidly read the comic page, “the funnies” as we used to call them, every day in the newspaper. And I used to like Mad Magazine when I was younger, and had more time for such things.

Everybody knows Spy vs. Spy. It's been a mainstay of MAD Magazine forever, pretty much. This is apparently the second book-length collection of Spy vs. Spy cartoons. The original creator of the strip was Antonio Prohias, a Cuban expatriate. The first collection, titled Spy vs. Spy: The Complete Casebook, published in 2001, was devoted to his work.

When Prohias finally retired, after almost 40 years of Spy vs. Spy, various in house writers (Duck Edwing, Russ Cooper, etc.) took over, with first Bob Clark and later Dave Manak responsible for most of the drawings. These strips are featured in the first 100+ pages of the book

Then in 1996, MAD was undergoing a face lift. The editors looked for a new look for Spy along with the rest of the mag, and at some point, offered the job to already established artist, Peter Kuper. Kuper brought a new air-brushed look to Spy, and as both a writer and an artist, brought both halves of the strip back into one brain. His creations take us through page 291.

To close out the book, we have a few pages of Spy vs Spy JR, designed for a pre-teen kids version of MAD, plus a few pages of Spy vs. Spy, The Comic Strip, which actually ran (briefly) in syndication in various newspapers.

I've had this book sitting on the floor next to my computer for the past six or seven weeks. It was my “read while waiting” book. If the computer was taking too long to load a web page, or to process a graphics file, or any of the other interminable things that computers make you wait for, I'd grab the Spy book, and read a strip or too. Great way to pass the otherwise wasted time!

My only complaint? Occasionally the jokes are too arcane, too abstruse, too convoluted, even for me. If you don't get it on first look, it's too much. But even I'll admit those were few and far between. Spy vs. Spy continually reminds us of the futility of war, covert or otherwise.

So there you have it—read this book, and you'll be fully up-to-date on Spy vs. Spy, at least through 2007. And all without buying a single MAD magazine. Thoroughly recommended for all Spy vs Spy fans, MAD Magazine fans, and anyone else who wonders what all the fuss is about.

The Da-Da-De-Da-Da Code by Robert Rankin

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Sun, 18 May 2008 03:32:00 +0000

The Da-Da-De-Da-Da Code by Robert Rankin. London: Gollancz, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-57507-0-110

I picked this book up (off the new fiction shelf at my local library, per usual) because of the seemingly musical aspect to the title, and because, according to the flyleaf, the chief character is, indeed, a musician. I'm always on the lookout for fiction with a musical aspect to it, as reading such stories is one of my hobbies, so to speak.

But, I'm sorry to say that I struck out with this one. I just couldn't stomach it. Apparently Rankin is considered a master of a comic, silly style that many people find hilariously irresistible. Sorry. I found it intolerable. I couldn't make it past the first 10 pages or so. So much for Nancy Pearl's Rule of Fifty.

I found the writing style to be incredibly supercilious and smarmy. Reading it was to me like the proverbial fingernails scratching on the blackboard. Life is too short. There are too many other books out there that I want to read to force myself to read something that I found so viscerally annoying. If a blatantly comic style is your thing, ignore my advice and read this book. Otherwise, not recommended.

Rifkind's Challenge by Lynn Abbey

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Thu, 15 May 2008 03:16:00 +0000

Rifkind's Challenge by Lynn Abbey. New York: Tor, 2006. ISBN: 978-0-765-31346-1

The entire time I was reading Rifkind's Challenge, it seemed obvious that this couldn't possibly be the first Rifkind book. That's because almost from the beginning, there are echoes of previous deeds, a reputation from before, a traveling back into other lands where Rifkind has had previous experiences.

But you certainly couldn't tell from the front matter in the book itself. There is no listing of any other Rifkind titles. It's annoying the way publishers behave, only listing other Lynn Abbey books, if they are also published under the Tor imprint. So I had to use the ubiquitous Internet to find Abbey's website to learn that there are indeed, two previous Rifkind books, albeit from many years ago, titled Daughter of the Bright Moon (1979) and The Black Flame (1980), both now out of print.

Rifkind is the name of a woman who has special powers as a healer, and perhaps as a devotee of the goddess of the Bright Moon. She is also a master of swordcraft and fighting. Now she's leaving her home of many years among the tribes of the plain, along with the son of the chieftain, and her own son, both grown, and striking out for a new life on their own.

Her own son, Cho, is estranged from her. He feels abandoned, emotionally, and mostly resentful. Resentful that his mother has never spared him any time, attention, or training. She's left him to be raised by the tribal chieftain, as a trusted companion and friend to the chief's son Tyrokon.

And yet the chief's son cannot inherit, because he is partially lame. Rifkind has been working to heal him since he was an infant, but she has only been able to bring him along so far. So now he plans to seek another way of life, to become a caravaner. Rifkind goes along to see him settled, but she is feeling the pull of other lands, other pasts. When the caravaner career turns out to be a false lead, a trap or trick of some kind, the boys decide to follow her.

Adventures ensue. This is a well-written, eminently readable swords and sorcery kind of story, with a diminutive but formidable heroine. I would definitely read the two earlier books if they came into my hands. Recommended for any and all fans of this type of fantasy tale.

Resurrection by Tucker Malarkey

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Tue, 13 May 2008 01:50:00 +0000

Resurrection by Tucker Malarkey. New York: Riverhead Books (Penguin Group), 2006. ISBN: 1-59448-919-X

I read this book because I'm interested in that alternative branch of religious thought known as gnosticism, and especially in the Christian branches of it. This is a novel based around the original discovery, shortly after World War II, of the Nag Hammadi texts, which included a number of gnostic writings and gospels, including the Gospel of Thomas, and the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, among others.

This is a fictional version of the story, of course, and as such, has as its major characters, people who never existed. Gemma (what a strange name!) Bastian is an English woman, a nurse who has barely survived the London blitz, and whose father was a researcher in Egypt. When she learns of his unexpected and untimely death, she travels to Egypt to try and discover something of what happened, and to deal with his effects.

In the course of this odyssey, she encounters an interesting family of expatriates with whom she stays. The father had been a friend of her father, but they seem to have become estranged. One son is a bitter and disillusioned RAF pilot, who lost a leg in the war, and who begins to fall in love with Gemma, but whose scarred experience seems to have left him incapable of any genuine emotions.

The other brother is, like Gemma's father, a man on the track of these ancient documents, but he treats Gemma superciliously, trying to keep her at a distance, wanting to protect her from the danger that has perhaps killed her father, and several others. Some of his efforts seem genuine, others patronizing, because of Gemma's sex.

Powerful forces are at work, and some of them are sinister. Not everyone wants these old gospels to come to light. And others are simply motivated by greed, determined to capture whatever value the manuscripts may have in the world marketplace.

Gemma, herself, is on a journey of discovery. She is determined to learn whatever it was that drove her father, and to get to the bottom of what may have caused her death. And she is torn between the two brothers themselves, and their growing relationships with her.

Fortunately for us, author Tucker Malarkey (what a name!) has provided us not only with an introductory note, explaining her motives in writing the book, but with an Epilogue, a Timeline, a “Who Is Real” note, and other brief, but telling accompanimental material as well.

At the root of much of what Gemma discovers, in retracing the intellectual and physical steps of her father, is that the Roman Church has put forward its own version of Christianity, a version in which there is almost no significant role for women. The alternative version(s) show that women had an equally important role in other early traditions, and in the life of Christ himself, if these other texts are to be believed.

While I would not describe this book as a great literary masterpiece, it succeeds in retelling much of this important story in an evocative and compelling manner. Definitely recommended for anyone with any interest in this topic, and especially for those who prefer to learn while being entertained by a story, as opposed to a more scholarly approach.

The Music of Razors by Cameron Rogers

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Mon, 12 May 2008 00:38:00 +0000

The Music of Razors by Cameron Rogers. New York: Del Ray (Ballantine Books), 2001, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-345-49319-4

Now this is one of the stranger novels I've read in recent years. About the only thing that surpasses it for strangeness that I can recall reading recently is Hal Duncan's Vellum. Let's see if I can define the premise. It's not easy to do.

One of the angels that fell into darkness has somehow destroyed one of his fellows, and from his very bones, fashioned a set of instruments, not musical, but more like surgical, or psychological. What exactly happened to the angel who did this is not entirely clear, but the instruments themselves seem to have been set loose on earth, and they seem to provide certain magical powers to whoever has control over them.

Much of the story revolves around a couple of the men who have had possession of some or most of these arcane instruments, and some children who get caught up in the transition between owners. It's not entirely clear if the “owners” of these instruments hand them on to someone else, or if they are wrested from them by a successor. Not too much of what happens in this story is entirely clear.

The tale does have its interesting points, and it is not without a certain amount of entertainment value. Certainly the premise is one of the more offbeat concepts I've encountered in fantastical fiction recently. Nevertheless, it's all just a bit too abstruse for my taste. I don't have to have everything handed to me on a platter, but I do appreciate some sense of what's going on, and why.

Marginally recommended for those with a taste for the bizarre and slightly unfathomable.

The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Thu, 08 May 2008 03:47:00 +0000

The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson. New York: Viking, 2006. ISBN: 978-0-670-03844-2

If it weren't for the supernatural elements of this book, I probably never would have read it. First, the title, which suggests something Biblical in nature. Then the cover, which has a crude depiction of a devil's head on it. And then the flyleaf plot summary, which describes a Scottish Presbyterian minister, a good man, albeit an atheist, who is thought to have fallen into a chasm and drowned, but is miraculously raised from the dead three days later, and claims to have seen (and been saved by) no less than the devil himself.

This all made for a premise intriguing enough to grab me, for for me to grab the book and bring it home from the local public library. I'm not sorry I did, although the book is ultimately disappointing. So, the man claims to have seen the devil. So what? This is only fiction, after all. This is the kind of story that would be shocking, were it claimed to be true, but since it isn't (true, that is), it isn't (shocking, that is).

Still, the book is interesting enough, for all that, to not disappoint while one is actually reading it. The author is a master of his craft, and the story quite compelling as presented. Recommended for those who like fiction with supernatural elements.

Fortune's Fool by Mercedes Lackey

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Mon, 05 May 2008 05:03:00 +0000

Fortune's Fool by Mercedes Lackey. New York: Luna, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-373-80266-1

This is another in Mercedes Lackey's “500 Kingdoms” novels in which she has fun playing with the fairy tale traditions of various countries or ethnic regions. I'm not enough of an expert in this area to analyze all of the traditions she uses, but the primary story takes place in an Eastern European/Russian kind of milieu, with Russalkas, Baba Yaga, and so forth.

Plus we get an undersea kingdom with tritons, mermaids, mermen and sirens (at least mentioned, if not featured). And a nice little side trip diversion to medieval Japan, while the final, culminating episode includes a djinn from the Arabic tradition. All in all, a nice mixture of various traditional cultural folk elements. All woven together into a delightful romance between a princess of the sea kingdom and the seventh prince of the kingdom of Lud Belerus.

One difference between this story and the ones which preceded it (The Fairy Godmother and One Good Knight) is that the rulers of the kingdoms are keenly aware the “the tradition,” the basic law behind this realm of “The 500 Kingdoms,” which attempts to force everything and everyone into the traditional patterns, the archetypical elements of traditional fairy tales, either for good or for ill, for either happy endings, or equally easily into horrific tragedies with truly awful effects on the people who fall into those bad endings.

In the previous books, or so it seemed to me, only fairy godmothers and other high level magical beings were aware of how the tradition wanted to manipulate the lives and stories of the people in the 500 kingdoms, but in this story, the kings of these two kingdoms, at least, are very aware of the tradition; they have deliberately studied it extensively, and work to the best of their ability to manipulate that tradition to the favor of their kingdoms, and those who live in them.

This story involves Ekaterina, “Katya,” the youngest daughter of the Sea King, who, with his court and all of his children, live magically under the sea. The Sea King has carefully groomed each of his children in a role that suits his or her own proclivities, and Katya is his eyes and ears, his intelligence system. She is the only one of his children who can easily switch between land and sea, and so she is often sent on missions to neighboring land-based kingdoms to check on anything unusual or ominous occurring anywhere on the lands that surround their oceanic home.

Interspersed with her story is that of Sasha, the seventh son of the king of Lud Belerus, who because of his seventh son position, has inherited the role of the “fortunate fool.” In addition, he is a “songweaver,” meaning he can influence events magically by singing songs about them. Not big magics, like killing people or healing them, but small magics like better weather, good harvests, good fishing for fishermen, and the like.

Eventually, of course, the two royal children, Sasha and Katya, meet and fall in love. But before they can get on with things in a proper manner, they have to overcome one more monumental challenge. Which they do, bringing together various elements from earlier parts of the story.

Which brings me to the point that in some ways, this novel is a bit of a pastiche of different tales from different cultures, kind of thrown together to create a whole. But each of the individual stories is entertaining enough in its own right, that we don't really mind, especially since the characters are so endearing, and so charmingly portrayed that we are just carried along, happy to be engaged in "The 500 Kingdoms" again for as long as we can. And Lackey DOES bring elements from each previous story into play in the finale, with everything working together for good, as the “good book” says.

Highly recommended for all readers, young and old alike, especially those with a propensity for fairy tales. BTW, you can read the first three chapters online.

Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 04:18:00 +0000

Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell. New York: Tor, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-7653-1507-6

When I picked this book up off my local library's new books shelf, and even when I started reading it, I had no idea that it was a sequel to another book, Crystal Rain, which I reviewed back on March 18 of this year. I guess I didn't notice for a couple of reasons. For one, Crystal Rain was Buckell's first novel, so he was an author new to me. When I picked up this book, I knew I'd read something by him recently, but I didn't pay enough attention to realize this was the sequel, even though it's mentioned in the flyleaf blurb.

But more significantly, when I started to read the book, there was nothing initially that seemed to even remotely connect with the previous story. Crystal Rain took place on a single planet, with humankind fighting against inimical alien control, with the assistance of another set of aliens.

Here, instead, we have a whole region of space, a whole array of galactic locations, joined in a complex, but limited web of wormholes. Referred to as the "Benevolent Satrapy" in the star map printed at the front of the book. When the book opens, we find ourselves in a society in which various alien races are treating humans as pets. A clever woman kills one of them, and escapes. She seems to be a hired gun assassin, a physically enhanced fighter, who narrowly escapes capture, and is on a mission of her own.

Meanwhile the so-called Benevolent Satrapy no longer seems entirely benevolent. It seems to have begun turning on humankind, and beginning a policy of genocide against them. About half-way through the book, we're back on New Anegada, the planet where Crystal Rain took place, picking up the lives of the characters where Crystal Rain left off. Things get complicated, but let's just say that various human factions are not only fighting various alien races, but sometimes each other, in an attempt to better the overall position of the human race.

It's a complicated universe, and I can't say as I quite understand it all just yet, but it makes for a good story line, with plenty of action, and plenty to try and twist your mind around. Buckell is a good writer, even if the universe he's created is a bit more complex than would seem to be required. Recommended for most SciFi fans. BTW, you can read a significant portion of the book online, for free. Of course, you can read it for free via your local public library, too.

A War of Gifts by Orson Scott Card

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:42:00 +0000

A War of Gifts (an Ender Story) by Orson Scott Card. New York: Tor, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-7653-1282-2

For fans of Orson Scott Card's science fiction, especially his Enders Game (1985) and its sequel, Speaker for the Dead (1986), both of which won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, making Card the only author (up to now) to win both awards in successive years, this Ender story will definitely be a "must read." This story will also be of interest to those who enjoy the literary genre of Christmas stories, as it most certainly falls into that category, as well. I have to wonder if he wrote it as a kind of extended Christmas card for someone or other, or for his fans.

Well, anyway, suffice it to say that it's a charmingly sweet story on the one hand, but not without its dark side, on the other. Zeck (short for Zechariah, one assumes), is the 5-year-old son of an ultra-fundamentalist Christian father, who frequently feels the need to purify young Zeck through the means of corporal punishment.

Zeck has a particularly brilliant mind, replete with a perfectly photographic memory, not just for what he reads, but for all words he encounters, spoken or written. He can repeat his father's sermons back, word for word, by the time he's three years old.

When his mother discovers this talent, she cautions him not to tell anyone, because some might think this gift comes from Satan. She tells him that Satan does not give good gifts, so this one comes from God, but that some people look so hard to find Satan, that they see him even where he isn't.

Later, when he's four, his father tells him that there are those who will tell him a thing is from God, when really, it's from Satan. When Zeck asks why they would do this, his father tells him that those people are deceived by their own desires. They want the world to be a better place, so they pretend that polluted things are pure, so they won't have to fear them.

Even at this young age, Zeck understands that each of his parents is warning him about the other. This is part of the terrible conflict that wars inside his young head, and leads him into conflict with his fellow young soldiers, when he is taken to the off-planet Battle School, where the Earth's most brilliant children are in training to fight the Formics, the alien race that has attacked the earth, and against which the entire human race is at war.

Zeck's religious background forces him to become a conscientious objector, and to refuse to participate in the Battle School's mock battles, making him first unpopular, and then a basic nonentity in the society of his fellows. Eventually he subtly attempts to foment a struggle between the various religious elements that still remain in the minds of the child soldiers which are humanity's best and brightest hope for survival.

How this dilemma is eventually resolved naturally involves Ender Wiggen, the most brilliant of all the children. This is a story with real heart at the heart of it. It may make you laugh; it may make you cry; it will definitely touch your heart, if you have one. This is one of the reasons I enjoy Orson Scott Card's writing so much.

Highly recommended, although it will make more sense if you've read Ender's Game. If you haven't, shame on you! Especially if you're a science fiction fan, but even if you aren't, Ender's Game is a book that everyone should read, and that pretty much everyone will probably enjoy. I doubt if you can pick it up without becoming instantly hooked. It's one of those books that if I pick it up even now, years after originally reading it, I'm instantly hooked, and want to read it again.

The Castle in the Forest by Norman Mailer

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 03:49:00 +0000

The Castle in the Forest by Norman Mailer. New York: Random House, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-394-53649-1

The last Norman Mailer novel I tried to read was Ancient Evenings (1983), set in ancient Egypt. For me, it failed the Nancy Pearl rule of 50, though if I remember correctly, I may have made it through 70 or 80 pages before giving up on it. The only thing I really remember, aside from the fact that I hadn't been able to discern any semblance of a storyline, let alone a plot, by the time I stopped, was Mailer's enumeration of the Egyptians' reverence toward, and veneration of the seven (as I recall) bodily fluids, or physical substances which come out of a man. There are urine and feces, of course, and semen. Then there are saliva, tears, and phlegm. So what is the seventh one? If you've not read the book, you'll probably never guess: cerumen (more commonly known as ear wax!)

I don't know why, but that has stuck with me all these years since. But I'm supposed to be writing about The Castle in the Forest, which was supposed to be the first in a trilogy, but Mailer died shortly after this first volume was published this past year. Mailer seems to have reveled in controversial or off-the-wall kinds of topics. He wrote “New Journalism” style biographical treatments of people like Lee Harvey Oswald and Marilyn Monroe, although he gave the Monroe book the title Marilyn: A Novel Biography.

Now, in The Castle in the Forest, he tackles the childhood and antecedents of Adolf Hitler, albeit in avowedly fictional format. You know how most novels have some kind of a disclaimer, often printed in small print on the verso of the title page? Something like

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Well, here's what Mailer prints in THIS book:

The Castle in the Forest is a work of fiction closely based on history. A few of the names and incidents are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and in those cases, any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

So which events are which? Who knows? I don't have enough personal knowledge of Hitler's parents, grandparents, siblings, and the events surrounding his childhood, to have the slightest clue as to which might be based on fact, and which are entirely fictitious. Do you?

One of the more interesting facets of the book's narration, is that the protagonist, much of the time, is supernatural. He starts out as a member of the Nazi SS, an officer assigned to research Hitler's background and ancestry, to allow the Nazis to cover up any scandal, should any be found. Is there really a Jewish grandfather in Hitler's family tree? Was Hitler the result of incest on one side or the other (or both) of his family? This SS officer fills us in on aspects of his research.

But soon, suddenly, and without initial warning, the protagonist changes, and becomes an agent of the devil, a fallen angel, if you will, a supernatural being actively engaged in the battle against God, and the unfallen angels for the souls of men (and women, naturally). We spend a lot of time inside this supposedly evil angel's head, as he carefully guides the events of Hitler's youth (ha! that pun wasn't intended, but was irresistable). Only later does he explain that he was a fallen angel who had infiltrated and taken over the mind and body of the human agent, the SS officer.

This is one of those books that reads like it SHOULD or COULD have happened just as the author imagines it, even if in fact we have no proof that it actually DID happen that way. And, unlike his Ancient Evenings, this novel has a story, if not a plot, exactly. The macabre nature of the subject is enough to get us started, and Mailer keeps our interest along the way by imagining things in such a compelling manner that we feel compelled to keep turning the pages.

We, of course, know the outcome. We know that this evil angel will succeed beyond anyone's wildest dreams in creating one of the great human monsters of the ages. Unfortunately, we haven't really yet seen quite how that is going to happen, when the book ends. Young Adolf is 15 years old, just out of the Austrian equivalent of high school, according to Mailer, although the Wikipedia entry on him states that he dropped out without his certificate. In the book, Mailer has the young Adolf defecate on his graduation certificate in a drunken post-graduation revelry.

So, unfortunately, due to Mailer's less than timely demise, we'll never get to know what he had planned for the remaining books in the trilogy, how he planned to tell the rest of the Hitler story. Still, even if the topic appeals to the more prurient side of your nature, this is probably a book worth reading. Recommended for sophisticated readers (or even those who think they are, or ought to be).

The Spanish Bow by Andromeda Romano-Lax

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 05:06:00 +0000

The Spanish Bow by Andromeda Romano-Lax. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt, Inc., 2007. ISBN: 978-0-15-101542-9

This novel is loosely, VERY loosely based on the life of Pablo Casals, according to the author's note, printed at the back of the book. In fact, her original thought was to write a nonfiction book about Casals. But she ended up writing this evocative novel instead. Why? You'll have to read her note.

One paragraph in the note definitely spoke to me. So much so, that I feel the need to quote it entire (oops, this is NOT the entire paragraph, but it's the part that counts):

I love collages. (Is it any wonder I found room in this book for Picasso?) I like the look of bits of newspaper and cloth stuck with paint, and violins shaped from torn paper, and familiar items rendered unfamiliar. This book is such a collage.

So why did I have to quote that passage? Because I too, love collages. In fact, I make collages myself. Not very good ones, I'll admit, but it's a lot of fun, whenever I can find the time, which isn't nearly as often as I'd like.

But back to the book. It's about a young boy growing up in Spain who almost accidentally receives an extraordinary gift from his deceased father: a bow. A bow too large for the violin, but perfect for the cello. And so the boy becomes a musician. He later forms an alliance, a partnership of sorts, with a somewhat older pianist, who is only very superficially modeled after the Spanish composer and pianist Isaac Albéniz.

Eventually they add a third member to their performing ensemble, a young Jewish woman, with whom they both more or less fall in love. Events march on, and eventually we inevitably find ourselves in the midst of the Spanish civil war, and all of the madness that it entailed. In one of the more remarkable passages, this now celebrated trio finds itself in the unenviable situation of providing a command performance for a (now famous) meeting between Hitler and Franco.

Unfortunately, things take a tragic turn, as you might expect, and the performance never happens. Neither of them gets the girl, and our cellist ends up exiled in Cuba, from whence he tells his remarkable story.

It's hard to say exactly what this book is about. It's about musicians, more than it's about music. But it's really about friendship and betrayal, love and desire, and being caught up in the sweep of historical events over which one has little or no control. Reading the book is a moving experience, and one that won't soon be forgotten. Definitely recommended, especially for those who enjoy novels with a musical subtext, as I do.

The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelley

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 04:07:00 +0000

The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity by IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm by Tom Kelley with Jonathan Littman. New York: Doubleday, 2001. ISBN: 0-385-49984-1

I read this book because of an article in Library Journal, one of the two general library news publications, and a publication which is “routed” through our department at the Washington State Library, where I work. By “routed,” I mean that a routing slip—a piece of paper with everyone's name printed on it—is stapled to the cover of each issue when it arrives, and it makes the rounds, with each person checking off his or her name when he or she finishes perusing the issue, then passing it on to someone else.

The article described the basic innovation strategy, or cycle espoused in the book, and attempted to apply it to libraries, and the projects that libraries undertake to serve their customers, patrons, or users, whatever term you wish to use. Here's that strategy in summary:

Understand
Observe
Visualize
Evaluate and refine
Implement

Each of these steps is fleshed out in the book, with many examples of how IDEO has put that particular aspect of the process into practice. If you're looking for ways to innovate more creatively, to come up with better ways of doing things, to be more innovative in what you and your organization do, and how you do it, this book will give you lots of ideas, lots of things to try, and plenty of suggestions. Recommended if you're interested in, or needing this kind of advice.

The Religion by Tim Willocks

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 03:48:00 +0000

The Religion by Tim Willocks. New York: Sarah Crichton Books, 2006. ISBN: 978-0-374-24865-9

I guess everyone's heard of “chick flicks” and the presumably related term “chick-lit,” meaning movies or literature designed to appeal to women. So is there an equivalent form for the opposite sex? Guy-lit? Macho-lit? Whatever the appropriate term might be, this book could be an exemplar of the genre. It's definitely an adventure written by a man for men, and designed to appeal to men.

The only non-sequitur is the title. It's not clear how a book with the title The Religion is supposed to appeal to men, but I guess you just have to get beyond the title somehow. Of course, “The Religion” in this case is how The Order of the Knights of St. John the Baptist, also known as the Hospitallers, refer to themselves. Some call them the Sea Knights, and the Turks refer to them as the Hounds of Hell.

In 1565, the Grande Turk, Suleiman Shah, having already conquered Hungary, Syria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Transylvania, the Balkans, and most of North Africa, sets his sights on Malta, the last great bastion of the Knights. The Turks had defeated them in Rhodes some fifty years earlier, and are now determined to wipe them off the isle of Malta, sending the largest armada assembled since antiquity against them.

This is the backdrop against which this historical novel, said to be the first in a trilogy, is played. And although the novel does tell the story of the assault on Malta, like all good historical novels, that story is indeed only the backdrop of the real story, the plot, the tale that is told.

Which in this case involves a woman of nobility, returning to Malta in search of the illegitimate son of her youth. Guiding her is the hero of the tale, one Mattias Tannhauser, as he calls himself, although it is not quite the name he was born with, nor the name he previously bore as a Turkish janissary. It is a tale of love, of heroism, valor, gallantry, dark treachery, romance, and violence.

So why do I describe it as macho-lit? Because it begins with a scene of obscene violence. The Turks are invading Hungary, and their levies brutally slaughter the younger sisters, and rape the living, then dead mother of our young hero, when, at the age of 12, he is engaged in crafting a dagger in his father's blacksmithy. For the third and final quenching of the hot steel, he plunges it into the chest of the invading monster who has just slain his five-year old sister, in the middle of her song.

Because it is seemingly written to appeal to the blood lust and the physical lust so typically attractive to men. The battle scenes are described with the kind of detailed realism, redolent in blood, guts, and gore, which only a physician (as the author is) could probably manage so realistically. And the sex is generally portrayed from the man's point of view. Which isn't to say the book won't appeal to women too, but my guess is that men are more likely to relish it.

When next (after the opening scene) we encounter Mattias, it is 20 or more years later, and he has left the ranks of the janissaries, and has gone independent, a smuggler, a profiteer, a trader, a hedonist, enjoying life to the full, while trying to attain to at least a modicum of wealth. The Knights of St. John want his Turkish expertise and experience for their cause, and they use the previously mentioned woman as bait, tricking him into assisting them. It works, and it makes for a great story, as the uncommitted Tannhauser falls in love (or is it lust, at least at first?), and schemes to get himself and his charges off the island intact, and without loss of too much honor.

It may not be great literature, but it's definitely a great read. If you like historical fiction with plenty of blood, guts and gore, a little torture (not TOO much), plenty of suspense, good guys and bad guys, plus enthusiastic sex, and even a bit of music thrown in here and there, all set in a bona fide historical epic-making epoch, this book is for you. Recommended for guys (or gals) who want to revel in a goodly bit of macho lit.

Harm by Brian W. Aldiss

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 05:29:00 +0000

Harm by Brian W. Aldiss. New York: Del Rey, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-345-49671-3

Brian Aldiss is another of those classic science fiction writers that I've been reading for almost my entire life. But kind of like Ben Bova, whose novel, Mercury, I panned back in 2006, none of his books every stuck that firmly with me. He certainly never became one of my favorite authors, whose every novel became a must read, to be waited for with anticipation and delight.

Still, his is a name to be reckoned with, and when I saw a new novel by him at the library, I took the time and energy to give it a read. A mistake? Not entirely, I suppose. What's the book about? It's very timely, I suppose. Our unfortunate protagonist is (like Aldiss), a British citizen, but unlike Aldiss, he's Muslim, son of an immigrant.

And now, apparently because he wrote a novel that, in a joking way, has one of its characters suggest that they should kill the prime minister, he's been incarcerated, held without any recourse, interrogated day and night, subjected to physical and psychological abuse, very much in what is probably only a slight extension of what's actually going on in the real world these days.

When he's knocked unconscious, or when he manages to fall asleep, he dreams the SciFi part of the story. He's an immigrant of another kind, a settler on an alien world which humanity has reached after a long interstellar journey. A seemingly, possibly intelligent alien species there has been almost, if not completely wiped out to guarantee the dominance of the newly arrived humans.

Human society there seems to be a parody of life on earth. A monster of a man is the fuhrer-like leader of society, and people, including our protagonist, seem to be mere shadows of regular people. The storyline, plot if you can call it that, of this alternate reality, is simple and fairly crude.

These episodes alternate with the cruel reality of life in a prison, with seemingly completely random and unjustified torture and interrogation continuing. It's a depressing book, not a pleasant or even particularly entertaining read. It does, I suppose, make a statement against our current irrational “war” against terrorism, and the ways in which it has undermined our traditional values and commitment to basic human rights.

The other story, on the alien world, could be seen as making a somewhat similar statement against our exploitation of the natural world, and again, of our cruel treatment of anything not exactly like ourselves. Unfortunately, neither statement nor story was entirely convincing. The book just isn't that compelling a read. Marginally recommended, especially for people interested in a book that is trying to make a political statement.

Glasshouse by Charles Stross

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 04:23:00 +0000

Glasshouse by Charles Stross. New York: Ace Books, 2006. ISBN: 0-441-01403-8

It took quite a while for me to really get into this book. In fact, I almost abandoned it initially. I don't remember if I had reached the Nancy Pearl specified number of pages or not, before I made my decision to continue, but it was a near thing, indeed. The premises on which the book is based are just too bizarre, and not very well explained at the beginning. I don't feel that I have to have everything handed to me on a platter, everything neatly explained from the get-go, but there are limits to what I'll endure for the sake of a story, and this book definitely pushed those limits, strained them severely.

Here are a few terms and concepts one has to deal with in the first few pages. “The body she's wearing is roughly ortho, following the traditional human body plan.” Identity reindexing and rehabilitation. Memory edits and memory surgery. Reintegration. Postsurgical identity prosthesis. Assembler gates. T-gates and A-gates infected by redactionist worms. Orthohuman. Xenohuman drag. A totally foreign time-keeping system that uses measurements like gigaseconds, subseconds, diurns.

I'm not even sure that now, having actually finished the book, and having enjoyed it, I can really give you a very accurate account of the milieu, the universe in which the book is set. First off, it's in the far future, when humankind has long since reached the stars and set up an extensive galactic civilization.

People travel through the previously mentioned gates, which seem to be wormholes of some kind. In so doing, they are apparently disassembled down to the microscopic level, and reassembled at the other end. What's more, these same (I think) technologies can be used to store and dump one's memories, so that if an accident happens, or someone or something kills you, you can be resurrected from the time of your last memory backup.

The story quickly takes a quirky sideline, however, when the protagonist and his new friend both volunteer for some kind of historical experiment, in which they are ported into new bodies, and put into a re-creation of, to them, an almost prehistoric time period. A period which turns out to be sort of like our 1950's or as close to it as they can get. Their knowledge of such ancient times is somewhat spotty, at best, so the reproduction isn't entirely accurate.

But then it turns out that the people in charge of this supposed experiment are actually bad guys, trying to resurrect some horrible computer virus-like terror that caused a recent upheaval and breakdown of intergalactic civilization. And that our protagonist, unbeknownst to himself (or herself, since he finds himself in a female body inside the experiment) is actually a secret agent with his memories edited to protect him/herself, sent to infiltrate and stop this plot. At this point, the story gets quite a bit more interesting, and finally worth the time and effort you've put into it up until now.

So, yes, the book is recommended for SciFi fans, but be prepared to have to work for a while to get to the good stuff.

Judas [a compilation] by Marvin Meyer

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 05:11:00 +0000

Judas: The Definitive Collection of Gospels and Legends about the Infamous Apostle of Jesus by Marvin Meyer. New York: HarperOne, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-06-134830-3

This is yet another attempt to assist in the rehabilitation of Judas Iscariot, the disciple who famously betrayed Jesus to the authorities. Meyer brings together in one volume all the relevant ancient texts about Judas, allowing the reader to more or less draw his or her own conclusions about the evidence, such as it is. Although not without his (Meyer's) own commentary and views on the various texts.

The book is primarily occasioned by the relatively recent release of the gnostic Gospel of Judas, which turns the traditional story upside down, maintaining that Judas was the disciple closest to Jesus, the only one who truly understood him, and that the betrayal was actually part of Jesus' secret plan, and that Judas was merely following orders.

The bulk of the evidence is against this idea, however attractive it may appear. Still, Meyer points out that the earliest Christian writings, those of Paul, never mention Judas in connection with the death or betrayal of Jesus. Paul merely says of those events that Jesus was "handed over” without naming who was responsible.

See 1 Corinthians 11:23-24, for instance, which Meyer translates as follows: “For I received from the Lord what I also handed over to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was handed over, took bread, and after giving thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in my memory” [emphasis added].

It is worth noting that the two Greek words used in this passage are both derivations of the Greek verb, paradidonai, which although usually translated as “betray” when referring to the act of Judas in the gospels, actually has a broader, more neutral, even positive meaning when used in other contexts.

In other passages, according to Meyer, Paul indicates that it was either Jesus who handed himself over (Galations 2:19-20) or God who handed Jesus over (Romans 8:31-32). Since the four gospels were written some years later than Paul's epistles, Meyer suggests the possibility that they represent a later tradition or addition to the story, as the early Christians attempted to distance themselves from the Jewish faith, and from the Jews.

Judas--the very name is equivalent in sound and meaning to “Jew.” In this theory, the demonization of Judas became part of the anti-Semitic tradition that arose out of later Christianity. This trend is clearly delineated in the later apocryphal writings collected by Meyer. The further away from the actual events you go, the more diabolical and twisted the portrayal of Judas becomes.

The actual Gospel of Judas itself makes for somewhat difficult reading. Much of its gnostic philosophy seems quite alien to the traditional gospels and their message. And even more so are some of the other gnostic writings that are presented here, such as the Dialogue of the Savior, or The Concept of Our Great Power.

More interesting to me, albeit less believable, as Meyer points out, are the versions of the Judas story presented in other, later, apocryphal writings, such as The Arabic Infancy Gospel, the Narrative of Joseph of Arimathea, the gospels of Bartholemew, Nicodemus, and other similar texts. More interesting, because I'd not read most of them, and it is a valuable exercise to read them all in one collection together, pretty much everything written about Judas in these early Christian writings.

In the end, the evidence is fairly inconclusive. Those who believe in some version of Biblical inerrancy will discount any versions of the story not in accordance with the gospels, while those of a more open mind will be intrigued by the new interpretations of the Judas story made at least possible if not entirely plausible by the ideas presented here. In the end, there is no way to know the definitive truth of what happened, but Marvin Meyer presents a useful compendium of texts, along with intriguing commentary on them.

My only real complaint about the book is that the notes, presented at the end of the volume, should, in my view, have been presented as footnotes throughout the text, instead. The notes are often indispensable reading, and having them right on the pages to which they corresponded would have been much more convenient than constantly having to flip between the page one is reading, and the end notes.

The books is definitely recommended for anyone with an interest in the topic. Others might find it slow going.

Postsingular by Rudy Rucker

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 04:22:00 +0000

Postsingular by Rudy Rucker. New York: Tor, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-7653-1741-4

This is a wild and wacky SciFi romp through the realms of nanotechnology and artificial intelligence. I've not read any Rudy Rucker before, but obviously, I probably should have. He is said to have won the Philip K. Dick award not once, but twice, and this story does justice to that kind of reputation.

The book does have the appearance of having started out as a short story or two, which then get expanded into a short, albeit, novel-length effort. Each chapter introduces new and stranger characters than the previous one. First we have a warped Silicon-Valley type genius (warped because he accidentally killed his best friend when he was 17) who invents the “nants,” intelligent nanobots, which threaten to take over the earth.

Literally take over, as in devour the earth and turn it into billions upon billions more nants, running a simulated earth, that their creator promises will be “a virtually identical simulation of Earth. Virtual Earth. Vearth for short. Each living Earth creature gets its software-slash-wetware ported to an individually customized agent inside the Vearth simulation.” Supposedly no one will notice any difference, except that you now have eternal life inside the simulation.

This diabolical plot is stopped, reversed actually, partway through the process, when another computer programmer, co-worker actually, works with his autistic son to loose a virus on the nants that literally forces them to run the process backwards.

This all happens in the first two chapters, in a mere 36 pages. That's when it starts to get interesting. Next come the orphids. Orphids are like nants, only better. They “self-reproduce using nothing but dust floating in the air. They're not destructive. Orphids are territorial; they keep a certain distance from each other. They'll cover Earth's surface, yes, but only down to one or two orphids per square millimeter.”

Further, “Orphids use quantum computing; they propel themselves with electrostatic fields; they understand natural language; and they're networked via quantum entanglement. . . And as the orphidnet emerges, we'll get intelligence amplification and superhuman AI.”

Essentially, it's like a virtual Internet that exists everywhere—on your skin, in the air. Everyone connected to everything, all the time. All information that ever existed immediately accessible via your brain. How people actually live and interact within this new paradigm is a good part of what the rest of the book is about. It's very much in the cyber-punk kind of tradition.

Of course, there's also lots of sexual interactions going on at the same time. More lust than lechery, but enough of both to go around. The sex is kind of soap-operish, but it does seem true enough to the kind of characters Rucker is depicting.

And there's a good story line, with a fair amount of suspense to keep you going, wondering if the heroes and heroines will be able to save the world, or if everyone and everything will get swallowed up by the latest attack of the nano-machines.

Definitely recommended, especially for cyber-punk fans. Amazingly, you can read this ENTIRE novel online, if you have the patience to do so, at the author's website.

The Chess Machine by Robert Löhr

noreply@blogger.com (Will) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 04:55:00 +0000

The Chess Machine by Robert Löhr, translated by Anthea Bell. New York: The Penguin Press, 2007. ISBN: 978-1-59420-126-4

First, let me congratulate the translator, as her work is superb. I never once even noticed, or realized I was reading a translation until now, when I began typing the bibliographic information.

Almost everyone has heard of the “Mechanical Turk,” a chess-playing automaton from the late 18^th century, when automata on a much smaller scale were immensely popular—little twittering birds, dolls, clocks, and other various mechanical figures. The Turk, a larger than human-sized figure, actually played chess, and defeated almost all challengers.

It was a hoax, of course. A human being is concealed inside the cabinet, and operates the mechanical man mechanically. This historical novel chronicles the early years of the automaton, it's maker, the Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen, and the dwarf Löhr invents to be its first inside operator. Nothing much is known about this early period in the automaton's existence, so Löhr is free to imagine it as he pleases.

Which he does, very successfully, and inventively. He creates real people, with real emotions, motivations, and interactions, and has us, his readers, completely caught up in the story, which seems almost entirely believable, although the author admits in his note at the end, that von Kempelen probably wouldn't have stooped to covering up a murder just to further his career, as he portrays him doing in the novel. In the story, it is the Turk itself that commits the murder (assisted by his manipulator, of course).

There, in one sentence, I've referred to the automaton as both “itself” and “him.” I'll admit, I did it deliberately, since even though there is no doubt of the Turk's completely mechanical and false nature in the story, the device does manage to take on a kind of personality.

This is not, perhaps, a masterpiece of literature, but it is a good, solid, historical novel, and will be enjoyed by anyone who is interested in mechanical devices, hoaxes, and the like. Definitely recommended.