Monday, 13 June 2011
Brandon Sanderson signing report and news
The Dragonmount forum has a detailed report on Brandon Sanderson's recent London book signing, including some interesting news. Sanderson reveals the identity of a fan-favourite Wheel of Time character who definitely survives the events of the final novel, but he also reports that the editing team want to spend more time on A Memory of Light to minimize the typos and mistakes that cropped into the previous two volumes. For this reason, A Memory of Light may not be published until later in 2012 (as compared to the early 2012 release date previously mooted).
Sunday, 12 June 2011
HBO and the BBC to team up for I, CLAUDIUS remake
HBO and the BBC have decided to join forces once again to head to Ancient Rome. In 2005-07, the two companies joined forces to produce two seasons of the epic series Rome, which charted the rise and fall of Julius Caesar and the aftermath of his assassination from the point-of-view of two ordinary legionaries. The series was critically acclaimed, but cancelled after two seasons due to concerns over the astronomical budget. Later, HBO admitted that this decision may have been premature in the face of extremely profitable DVD sales, and there have been several attempts since to mount a Rome movie.
HBO and the BBC are now putting into development a fresh television version of I, Claudius, based on Robert Graves' highly successful duology (I, Claudius and Claudius the God). The BBC produced a legendary 13-part mini-series in 1976 which won multiple Emmy Awards and other awards and featured career-establishing roles for Derek Jacobi, Patrick Stewart and Brian Blessed. The new adaptation will apparently focus more on the novels (the 1976 series had to drop a lot of elements from the books for time reasons) than the previous TV version.
The new series is being produced by several people involved with Rome (though notably not the important creative producers, John Milius and Bruno Heller). There is no word on if it will use the elaborate outdoor steps created for Rome, which are still standing in Italy (though part of them was damaged in a fire a couple of years back), or will move to a cheaper filming location.
This is going to be controversial - the BBC mini-series is considered one of the greatest series the BBC has ever produced - but I think valid. The original series, amazing as it was, was somewhat compressed. The new series (which I assume will be at least two seasons, to focus everything in) should be able to restore those elements under-emphasised in the original. But they're going to have to pull out all the stops to match the cast and performances of the original, which remain superlative thirty-five years on.
HBO and the BBC are now putting into development a fresh television version of I, Claudius, based on Robert Graves' highly successful duology (I, Claudius and Claudius the God). The BBC produced a legendary 13-part mini-series in 1976 which won multiple Emmy Awards and other awards and featured career-establishing roles for Derek Jacobi, Patrick Stewart and Brian Blessed. The new adaptation will apparently focus more on the novels (the 1976 series had to drop a lot of elements from the books for time reasons) than the previous TV version.
The new series is being produced by several people involved with Rome (though notably not the important creative producers, John Milius and Bruno Heller). There is no word on if it will use the elaborate outdoor steps created for Rome, which are still standing in Italy (though part of them was damaged in a fire a couple of years back), or will move to a cheaper filming location.
This is going to be controversial - the BBC mini-series is considered one of the greatest series the BBC has ever produced - but I think valid. The original series, amazing as it was, was somewhat compressed. The new series (which I assume will be at least two seasons, to focus everything in) should be able to restore those elements under-emphasised in the original. But they're going to have to pull out all the stops to match the cast and performances of the original, which remain superlative thirty-five years on.
Friday, 10 June 2011
What are your favourite SF&F worlds?
Jeff VanderMeer and Underland Press are working on a book called If You Lived Here: The Top 30 All-Time Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Worlds and are asking for input from fans on what worlds they'd like to see in the book. So if you like reading about Arrakis, think the castles of Westeros are cool or like getting moody at the end of time on the Dying Earth, you can submit your entries here and may get a quote and credit in the final book.
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
Banewreaker by Jacqueline Carey
Long Ages ago, the Seven Shapers forged the world in accordance with the will of their creator, out of whose death they were born. However, Satoris the Sower refused the command of Haomane Firstborn and was named a traitor. For many long Ages Haomane and Satoris struggled, until the world was Sundered. The other six Shapers now dwell in the uttermost west, whilst Satoris finds himself constantly assailed by their servants in Urulat.
Tanaros, one of the Three and Satoris's most stalwart servant, is given an important mission. He must prevent Haomane's Prophecy from coming to pass by seizing the Lady of the Ellylon, Cerelinde, before she can marry the Aracus Altorus, the rightful King of the West. But this kidnapping itself may have set in motion the events that Satoris has long tried to avoid...
Read at a purely surface level, the plot precis of Banewreaker (the first book in the Sundering duology) sounds more than a bit familiar. But this is deliberate: in these two novels Jacqueline Carey launches a revisionist broadside at the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. At a very simple level, this is the story of The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (though chronologically mixed-up) as told from Morgoth's point of view (and, more overtly, the Witch-King of Angmar's, though Sauron also plays a role).
Of course, Carey reworks the names, concepts, races and ideas a fair bit so she doesn't get sued into oblivion by the Tolkien Estate, but these changes are hardly impenetrable, and it's still straightforward enough to work out who is who from the Tolkien mythos. At the same time, Carey imbues her characters with enough depth that they stand on their own two feet and after a while you start to forget the artistic intent behind the series in favour of its own narrative and storyline.
The Sundering is essentially an 'epic tragedy', and it's telling that each book opens with a quote from Paradise Lost. The duology is set in a world where there are two distinct sides, the 'dark' forces led by a fallen deity and consisting of an army of trolls led by 'fallen' Men, and a 'light' side led by stalwart heroes, noble Ellylon (elves with the serial numbers filed off) and a plucky innocent hero who has to take a magical trinket of enormous power (in this case, slightly oddly, a bucket of water) into the heart of enemy territory. The 'good guys' are also advised by a wise and powerful wizard who at one point undergoes an unexpected transformation. The story, spun by the wizard and his cronies, is that Satoris wrecked the world through greed and avarice, and continues to be responsible for all that is evil in Urulat. However, Satoris claims that he only desired freedom of voice and expression and was brutally supressed by the supposedly wise Haomane, who has incessantly pursued Satoris out of vengeance ever since.
The reader is invited to make their own judgement on the truth of the matter, mostly through the character of Cerelinde who is initially a paid-up supporter of Team White Hat. Arriving at Satoris's fortress of Darkhaven, she finds it guarded by fell trolls and maintained by an army of ugly and twisted minions...but the trolls turn out to be honourable and brave warriors, and the minions are outcasts turned out from the world of Men and Ellylon who have been given shelter by Satoris and are treated kindly. As the book progresses, Cerelinde finds herself questioning her own rote acceptance of the written version of history, but at the same time Satoris and his own minions, attacked once again by their enemies, find it difficult to resist becoming what Haomane's PR makes them out to be, evil and destructive monsters.
It's a clever idea for a book, going beyond the mild revisionist intent of Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn (where he merely gave his dark lord a motivation, but didn't attempt to justify the evil he'd still carried out), but the book cannot survive on its intent alone. As an individual work with its own storyline and characters, Banewreaker is satisfying and well-written, with Carey managing the trick of echoing Tolkien's prose style without slavishly following it (and thankfully not even attempting any poems). Events build to a tragic conclusion as an epic battle is fought between two sides where both are in the right and in the wrong, and the stage is set for a bigger confrontation to come in the concluding volume of the story, Godslayer (although the actual ending of the book is a little random, the result of this being one long novel split in two and not two separately-written instalments).
Banewreaker (****) is an intelligent and refreshing take on the traditional epic fantasy novel and is a well-written and enjoyable story in its own right. It is available now in the USA and on import in the UK.
Tanaros, one of the Three and Satoris's most stalwart servant, is given an important mission. He must prevent Haomane's Prophecy from coming to pass by seizing the Lady of the Ellylon, Cerelinde, before she can marry the Aracus Altorus, the rightful King of the West. But this kidnapping itself may have set in motion the events that Satoris has long tried to avoid...
Read at a purely surface level, the plot precis of Banewreaker (the first book in the Sundering duology) sounds more than a bit familiar. But this is deliberate: in these two novels Jacqueline Carey launches a revisionist broadside at the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. At a very simple level, this is the story of The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (though chronologically mixed-up) as told from Morgoth's point of view (and, more overtly, the Witch-King of Angmar's, though Sauron also plays a role).
Of course, Carey reworks the names, concepts, races and ideas a fair bit so she doesn't get sued into oblivion by the Tolkien Estate, but these changes are hardly impenetrable, and it's still straightforward enough to work out who is who from the Tolkien mythos. At the same time, Carey imbues her characters with enough depth that they stand on their own two feet and after a while you start to forget the artistic intent behind the series in favour of its own narrative and storyline.
The Sundering is essentially an 'epic tragedy', and it's telling that each book opens with a quote from Paradise Lost. The duology is set in a world where there are two distinct sides, the 'dark' forces led by a fallen deity and consisting of an army of trolls led by 'fallen' Men, and a 'light' side led by stalwart heroes, noble Ellylon (elves with the serial numbers filed off) and a plucky innocent hero who has to take a magical trinket of enormous power (in this case, slightly oddly, a bucket of water) into the heart of enemy territory. The 'good guys' are also advised by a wise and powerful wizard who at one point undergoes an unexpected transformation. The story, spun by the wizard and his cronies, is that Satoris wrecked the world through greed and avarice, and continues to be responsible for all that is evil in Urulat. However, Satoris claims that he only desired freedom of voice and expression and was brutally supressed by the supposedly wise Haomane, who has incessantly pursued Satoris out of vengeance ever since.
The reader is invited to make their own judgement on the truth of the matter, mostly through the character of Cerelinde who is initially a paid-up supporter of Team White Hat. Arriving at Satoris's fortress of Darkhaven, she finds it guarded by fell trolls and maintained by an army of ugly and twisted minions...but the trolls turn out to be honourable and brave warriors, and the minions are outcasts turned out from the world of Men and Ellylon who have been given shelter by Satoris and are treated kindly. As the book progresses, Cerelinde finds herself questioning her own rote acceptance of the written version of history, but at the same time Satoris and his own minions, attacked once again by their enemies, find it difficult to resist becoming what Haomane's PR makes them out to be, evil and destructive monsters.
It's a clever idea for a book, going beyond the mild revisionist intent of Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn (where he merely gave his dark lord a motivation, but didn't attempt to justify the evil he'd still carried out), but the book cannot survive on its intent alone. As an individual work with its own storyline and characters, Banewreaker is satisfying and well-written, with Carey managing the trick of echoing Tolkien's prose style without slavishly following it (and thankfully not even attempting any poems). Events build to a tragic conclusion as an epic battle is fought between two sides where both are in the right and in the wrong, and the stage is set for a bigger confrontation to come in the concluding volume of the story, Godslayer (although the actual ending of the book is a little random, the result of this being one long novel split in two and not two separately-written instalments).
Banewreaker (****) is an intelligent and refreshing take on the traditional epic fantasy novel and is a well-written and enjoyable story in its own right. It is available now in the USA and on import in the UK.
Game of Thrones: Season 1, Episodes 7-8
Over the course of its first six episodes, Game of Thrones has engaged mostly in set-up and character building. In the seventh episode, the guns are fired, the avalanche begins and other metaphors are mangled as everything kicks off.
"I know the truth Jon Arryn died for."
"I know you know."
"But did you know that I already knew that you knew?"
Episode 7, You Win or You Die, takes its name from the confrontation between Cersei Lannister and Eddard Stark in which all pretences are dropped and they put their cards on the table. The 'shock reveal' of the truth that Jon Arryn died for is perhaps less effective on screen, given that the audience has a had seven weeks to muse on the matter (compared to the few days it takes to read the book, and even then a lot of people work it out ahead of time), but Sean Bean and Lena Headey play the scene for all its worth. Elsewhere, Mark Addy confirms what an excellent - if slightly eyebrow-raising - choice the producers made in casting him as he infuses Robert Baratheon's last few hours with regret and defiance.
The rest of the episode is likewise excellent (excepting one scene), as Eddard is given various options on how to handle the crisis. He can bend the knee now and hope to do something later on when he has a better hand to play, or seize Joffrey before the crisis can arrive in full. Yet at every turn Eddard listens to the wrong advice, trusts the wrong people and tries to rely on his honour and honesty in a court where these things are more hindrances than assets. Events build to the final confrontation in the throne room which is portrayed excellently.
"Man, it worked when Tyrion tried this."
"Just think of a waterfall, or drink some more water."
"No, no good."
The intensity of the King's Landing storyline leaves little time for events elsewhere, so no Catelyn or Tyrion this week. We do get a brief glimpse of the Wall, where Jon and Sam swear their oaths to the Night's Watch and Sam shows some smart micro-politicking to appease Jon when he feels he is given an assignment beneath him. There's also a longer scene across the Narrow Sea, when Daenerys faces an assassination attempt in Vaes Dothrak, culminating in Ser Jorah Mormont (I've said it before and will say it again: Iain Glen is excellent in a minor role) choosing sides and Jason Momoa's infamously cool Khal Drogo completely losing it as he vows to invade Westeros and avenge the attempt on his wife's life. Excellent stuff on both counts.
Unfortunately, the episode's ascent towards true greatness is abruptly derailed when we get a five-minute soft porn scene for absolutely no discernible reason. Game of Thrones' biggest weakness to date has been its reliance on sex and nudity to spice up exposition scenes, despite the fact that for most of the history of fiction, powerfully dramatic scenes involving two people talking in a room with their clothes on have been the norm. The scene involving Ros (the only prostitute in Westeros, it feels at times) and another girl faking in the background whilst Littlefinger monologues about stuff we already knew is downright cringe-inducingly embarrassing. I like Esme Bianco's performance and the attitude she gives Ros, but there's the distinct feeling that she's being overused at the moment and her sexposition scenes (to use the buzzword of the moment) are taking time away from other storylines. Is it right that a character not even in the books has had more screentime and dialogue then Sandor Clegane at this point? So, a poor scene that detracts from an otherwise fine episode.
"My first act as king is that I'm going to order the Lannister guardsmen to get some proper helmets. Seriously, what is up with those things? I though a helmet was supposed to protect your whole face? I'm surprised any of you guys have chins left."
No such problems with The Pointy End. It's easy to imagine George R.R. Martin showing up to write his episode, running a critical eye over the series, and immediately wading in to fix the (very few) things that need fixing. So no Ros, no sexposition scenes, no clunky explanations of background detail, just the plot-accelerator being slammed to the metal. Sophie Turner and Richard Madden have been a bit under-used in the series so far and, in the case of Sophie Turner's Sansa, made positively unlikable by some questionable writing decisions in the first few episodes. The Pointy End sees both step up to the mark, with Turner delivering a much more relatable performance as she strives to balance her horror at the chaos of the coup against her genuine feelings for Joffrey and her urgent desire to save her father from execution. These things allow Cersei to play her like an instrument into doing exactly what she wants.
Then we see Richard Madden stepping out of the background to turn Robb into a decisive leader, slapping down unruly bannermen, raising an army and even slyly feeding Tywin Lannister false information about his army's numbers. This is the same Robb we briefly saw staring Tyrion down in Winterfell, a point Tyrion remembers well and ponders if his father is severely underestimating the 'green boy'. This part of the episode - Robb goes from sitting at home to commanding an army of 20,000 in the field in just a few minutes - unfolds rather rapidly, but then it does in the book as well, and given the time constraints the series is under, the producers and Martin do a great job of not making it feel too rushed.
More reliable than Hotmail.
Similarly, Tyrion's rapid recruitment of the mountain clans (featuring a good performance by Mark Lewis Jones as the manhood-eating, goat-obsessed Shagga) is on the quick side, but the actors manage to sell it very well. It's also good to see solid supporting actor Ian Gelder as Ser Kevan Lannister, Tyrion's uncle, whilst Jerome Flynn continues to banish his easy listenin' pop star days behind him with a great performance as Bronn (and it's great to see new viewers of the TV show asking for what book readers have wanted for years, the spin-off series in which Tyrion and Bronn travel the Seven Kingdoms getting into scrapes). The best part of these scenes, though, is seeing the normally cocksure Tyrion visibly wilting under his father's stern glare, and no-one does stern glares better than Charles Dance.
Tyrion's return left Kevan and Tywin speechless with joy and gratitude.
At the Wall, Jon Snow briefly turns into an undead-slaying warrior as we are reminded about that whole White Walker storyline from the first episode, and it's good to see Ghost more frequently, even if in this episode he does seem in danger of turning into Lassie. "What's that, Ghost? Undead wights are rising from their deathless slumber to destroy the world of men? And you've urinated on my socks?" I'm also not entirely sure if a thrown oil lamp would really act as a firebomb as effective as napalm, but what the hell, it looks cool.
In the east, the Dothraki attack and destroy a Lhazareen village in a scene notably downplayed from the books. This then leads up to a scene where Jason Momoa shows exactly how dangerous Khal Drogo is, as he takes down a rebelling warrior without any weapons. The action beat is great and Daenerys' blow for women's rights is welcome in a series is which has occasionally misstepped in its treatment of women and sexual issues.
"Right, now you come at me and I'll stab you, then you other guys come at me and I'll tug on that guy's cape so he cuts down his own man, then I do a sweet kicking maneuver thing..."
Overall, The Pointy End is the finest episode of the series to date, and I haven't even mentioned the epic face-off between Syrio Forel and the Kingsguard ("The First Sword of Braavos does not run,").
107: You Win or You Die (***½)
108: The Pointy End (*****)
Forthcoming: Baelor (12/6/11), Fire and Blood (19/6/11), Season 2 (2012).
"I know the truth Jon Arryn died for.""I know you know."
"But did you know that I already knew that you knew?"
Episode 7, You Win or You Die, takes its name from the confrontation between Cersei Lannister and Eddard Stark in which all pretences are dropped and they put their cards on the table. The 'shock reveal' of the truth that Jon Arryn died for is perhaps less effective on screen, given that the audience has a had seven weeks to muse on the matter (compared to the few days it takes to read the book, and even then a lot of people work it out ahead of time), but Sean Bean and Lena Headey play the scene for all its worth. Elsewhere, Mark Addy confirms what an excellent - if slightly eyebrow-raising - choice the producers made in casting him as he infuses Robert Baratheon's last few hours with regret and defiance.
The rest of the episode is likewise excellent (excepting one scene), as Eddard is given various options on how to handle the crisis. He can bend the knee now and hope to do something later on when he has a better hand to play, or seize Joffrey before the crisis can arrive in full. Yet at every turn Eddard listens to the wrong advice, trusts the wrong people and tries to rely on his honour and honesty in a court where these things are more hindrances than assets. Events build to the final confrontation in the throne room which is portrayed excellently.
"Man, it worked when Tyrion tried this.""Just think of a waterfall, or drink some more water."
"No, no good."
The intensity of the King's Landing storyline leaves little time for events elsewhere, so no Catelyn or Tyrion this week. We do get a brief glimpse of the Wall, where Jon and Sam swear their oaths to the Night's Watch and Sam shows some smart micro-politicking to appease Jon when he feels he is given an assignment beneath him. There's also a longer scene across the Narrow Sea, when Daenerys faces an assassination attempt in Vaes Dothrak, culminating in Ser Jorah Mormont (I've said it before and will say it again: Iain Glen is excellent in a minor role) choosing sides and Jason Momoa's infamously cool Khal Drogo completely losing it as he vows to invade Westeros and avenge the attempt on his wife's life. Excellent stuff on both counts.
Unfortunately, the episode's ascent towards true greatness is abruptly derailed when we get a five-minute soft porn scene for absolutely no discernible reason. Game of Thrones' biggest weakness to date has been its reliance on sex and nudity to spice up exposition scenes, despite the fact that for most of the history of fiction, powerfully dramatic scenes involving two people talking in a room with their clothes on have been the norm. The scene involving Ros (the only prostitute in Westeros, it feels at times) and another girl faking in the background whilst Littlefinger monologues about stuff we already knew is downright cringe-inducingly embarrassing. I like Esme Bianco's performance and the attitude she gives Ros, but there's the distinct feeling that she's being overused at the moment and her sexposition scenes (to use the buzzword of the moment) are taking time away from other storylines. Is it right that a character not even in the books has had more screentime and dialogue then Sandor Clegane at this point? So, a poor scene that detracts from an otherwise fine episode.
"My first act as king is that I'm going to order the Lannister guardsmen to get some proper helmets. Seriously, what is up with those things? I though a helmet was supposed to protect your whole face? I'm surprised any of you guys have chins left."No such problems with The Pointy End. It's easy to imagine George R.R. Martin showing up to write his episode, running a critical eye over the series, and immediately wading in to fix the (very few) things that need fixing. So no Ros, no sexposition scenes, no clunky explanations of background detail, just the plot-accelerator being slammed to the metal. Sophie Turner and Richard Madden have been a bit under-used in the series so far and, in the case of Sophie Turner's Sansa, made positively unlikable by some questionable writing decisions in the first few episodes. The Pointy End sees both step up to the mark, with Turner delivering a much more relatable performance as she strives to balance her horror at the chaos of the coup against her genuine feelings for Joffrey and her urgent desire to save her father from execution. These things allow Cersei to play her like an instrument into doing exactly what she wants.
Then we see Richard Madden stepping out of the background to turn Robb into a decisive leader, slapping down unruly bannermen, raising an army and even slyly feeding Tywin Lannister false information about his army's numbers. This is the same Robb we briefly saw staring Tyrion down in Winterfell, a point Tyrion remembers well and ponders if his father is severely underestimating the 'green boy'. This part of the episode - Robb goes from sitting at home to commanding an army of 20,000 in the field in just a few minutes - unfolds rather rapidly, but then it does in the book as well, and given the time constraints the series is under, the producers and Martin do a great job of not making it feel too rushed.
More reliable than Hotmail.Similarly, Tyrion's rapid recruitment of the mountain clans (featuring a good performance by Mark Lewis Jones as the manhood-eating, goat-obsessed Shagga) is on the quick side, but the actors manage to sell it very well. It's also good to see solid supporting actor Ian Gelder as Ser Kevan Lannister, Tyrion's uncle, whilst Jerome Flynn continues to banish his easy listenin' pop star days behind him with a great performance as Bronn (and it's great to see new viewers of the TV show asking for what book readers have wanted for years, the spin-off series in which Tyrion and Bronn travel the Seven Kingdoms getting into scrapes). The best part of these scenes, though, is seeing the normally cocksure Tyrion visibly wilting under his father's stern glare, and no-one does stern glares better than Charles Dance.
Tyrion's return left Kevan and Tywin speechless with joy and gratitude.At the Wall, Jon Snow briefly turns into an undead-slaying warrior as we are reminded about that whole White Walker storyline from the first episode, and it's good to see Ghost more frequently, even if in this episode he does seem in danger of turning into Lassie. "What's that, Ghost? Undead wights are rising from their deathless slumber to destroy the world of men? And you've urinated on my socks?" I'm also not entirely sure if a thrown oil lamp would really act as a firebomb as effective as napalm, but what the hell, it looks cool.
In the east, the Dothraki attack and destroy a Lhazareen village in a scene notably downplayed from the books. This then leads up to a scene where Jason Momoa shows exactly how dangerous Khal Drogo is, as he takes down a rebelling warrior without any weapons. The action beat is great and Daenerys' blow for women's rights is welcome in a series is which has occasionally misstepped in its treatment of women and sexual issues.
"Right, now you come at me and I'll stab you, then you other guys come at me and I'll tug on that guy's cape so he cuts down his own man, then I do a sweet kicking maneuver thing..."Overall, The Pointy End is the finest episode of the series to date, and I haven't even mentioned the epic face-off between Syrio Forel and the Kingsguard ("The First Sword of Braavos does not run,").
107: You Win or You Die (***½)
108: The Pointy End (*****)
Forthcoming: Baelor (12/6/11), Fire and Blood (19/6/11), Season 2 (2012).
Friday, 3 June 2011
First review of A DANCE WITH DRAGONS
Publisher's Weekly has published the first (and slightly spoilerific) review of A Dance with Dragons.
The general vibe of the review is positive, but it suggests that the novel has the same 'feel' as A Feast for Crows, despite more important events due to the book's focus on more popular and plot-centric characters like Tyrion, Jon and Daenerys.
The biggest complaint - though one we already knew about - is that the book leaves things teetering on the brink for the sixth volume which, of course, is years away from publication.
Given that no ARCs are being published for the novel, it is unclear how many more reviews we will see before the book's publication in five and a half weeks.
UPDATE: Lev Grossman (of The Magicians fame) has also just Tweeted that he is reading ADWD now and "It's great." He'll be writing a review for TIME Magazine.
The general vibe of the review is positive, but it suggests that the novel has the same 'feel' as A Feast for Crows, despite more important events due to the book's focus on more popular and plot-centric characters like Tyrion, Jon and Daenerys.
The biggest complaint - though one we already knew about - is that the book leaves things teetering on the brink for the sixth volume which, of course, is years away from publication.
Given that no ARCs are being published for the novel, it is unclear how many more reviews we will see before the book's publication in five and a half weeks.
UPDATE: Lev Grossman (of The Magicians fame) has also just Tweeted that he is reading ADWD now and "It's great." He'll be writing a review for TIME Magazine.
RIP Joel Rosenberg
Joel Rosenberg, an American-Canadian science fiction and fantasy author resident in the United States, passed away yesterday at the age of 57.
Rosenberg is best-known as the author of the popular ten-volume Guardians of the Flame series, about a group of role-players who are transported into the fantasy world they are playing in. He has also written SF about a world settled by Jewish colonists centuries in the future, and co-wrote a Riftwar mystery novel with Raymond E. Feist, Murder in LaMut. Rosenberg was also a noted and sometimes controversial proponent of private firearm ownership, becoming one after fending off a pair of burglars from his home. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.
Condolences and best wishes to his family. I have not previously read any of his books (he wasn't regularly published in the UK, Murder in LaMut aside), but have heard good things about the Guardians of the Flame series.
Rosenberg is best-known as the author of the popular ten-volume Guardians of the Flame series, about a group of role-players who are transported into the fantasy world they are playing in. He has also written SF about a world settled by Jewish colonists centuries in the future, and co-wrote a Riftwar mystery novel with Raymond E. Feist, Murder in LaMut. Rosenberg was also a noted and sometimes controversial proponent of private firearm ownership, becoming one after fending off a pair of burglars from his home. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.
Condolences and best wishes to his family. I have not previously read any of his books (he wasn't regularly published in the UK, Murder in LaMut aside), but have heard good things about the Guardians of the Flame series.
Thursday, 2 June 2011
Bradley Cooper wants to direct the HYPERION movie
Actor Bradley Cooper, best-known for his role in The Hangover and its recent sequel (as well as The A-Team movie), has said he wants to write and direct a movie based on Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos novels. Apparently he's already written a treatment and spoken to the people that currently hold the rights.
Could this guy be bringing the Shrike to the big screen?
Interesting. Cooper recently also starred in Limitless, an adaptation of an arguably-SF techno-thriller, but Hyperion would be many orders of magnitude more complex to turn into a movie. However, if Cooper's plans mean one film for Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion (previous rumours suggested that producers wanted to combine them into one two-hour film), that'd be a step in the right direction.
So far this is a hope and little more, but it's nevertheless interesting that someone with some Hollywood clout is talking up the project. Done faithfully, this could be a very different kind of SF movie.
Could this guy be bringing the Shrike to the big screen?Interesting. Cooper recently also starred in Limitless, an adaptation of an arguably-SF techno-thriller, but Hyperion would be many orders of magnitude more complex to turn into a movie. However, if Cooper's plans mean one film for Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion (previous rumours suggested that producers wanted to combine them into one two-hour film), that'd be a step in the right direction.
So far this is a hope and little more, but it's nevertheless interesting that someone with some Hollywood clout is talking up the project. Done faithfully, this could be a very different kind of SF movie.
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
For the Win by Cory Doctorow
The near future. In India and China many thousands of gamers are slaving in PC sweatshops, working as gold farmers, accumulating virtual money in various online games and then selling it for real money to rich Western players who can't be bothered to put the grindwork in. However, there are growing calls for the gold farmers to unite and unionise for better conditions. And when that happens, the authorities strike back hard.
For the Win is based around the process of 'gold farming', a problem in modern computer games like World of WarCraft where poor players in the Far East do the hard work to make money for players in the West. The novel predicts that in the near future, these games' economies will become so vast that the gold farmers will become an institutionalised form of work, another Asian sweatshop churning out product for the benefit of the West. However, due to the fact this work is undertaken on the Internet, it also means that the gold farmers can communicate with not just one another, but other farmers right across the world, and that lays the groundwork for strikes and possibly even revolution.
Cory Doctorow's novel charts the rise of online gaming from a niche entertainment industry into a massive economy which can be gamed and exploited like any other. Many of the issues Doctorow has identified have already been the subject of studies by economic bodies, and he unifies a technical interest in the field with more human stories about worker exploitation and also a larger idea about how much longer can the single Chinese state control everything in the face of such vast influences from outside the country, particularly with regards to workers' rights and unions. For the Win is a slightly stronger novel than his earlier Little Brother, which tripped over itself and muddied up its themes towards the end of the volume. Here, Doctorow remains on-message throughout.
Structurally, the novel moves between several sets of characters in China, India and a couple of guys in the USA. These characters are well-characterised and carefully delineated so it's easy to keep track of who's who (the cast ends up being quite large). However, the novel meanders a little bit in its opening half. Character-building and plot-advancing scenes are bogged down by three-page divergences on economic theory, whilst Doctorow front-loads the book with a lot of MMORPG terms which have mostly disappeared by the time the book ends. At this stage it's like a Kim Stanley Robinson or Neal Stephenson novel (not exactly bad company to be in) with lots of interesting material, but it's unclear what the point of it all is. Then Doctorow draws the plot threads together in the second half, building to a big finale. I wondered if he was going for a world-changing, ushering-in-a-new-age ending, but instead Doctorow gives us something that is somewhat optimistic whilst retaining a fair degree of realism.
On the negative side, it's unclear if the book has already been outdated: the failure of any non-World of WarCraft MMORPG to take off in a significantly profitable manner in the West and the resulting move to microtransaction-fuelled social games (such as CityVille, which launched last December and had ten times as many players as World of WarCraft in less than eight weeks), a move followed by several of the standard MMORPGs, means that Doctorow's economic model in the novel is already looking dubious. Whilst gold farming in these social games is still possible, the much tighter regulations imposed by playing under the framework of Facebook would make some of manipulations as seen in the novel harder to pull off. That said, the recent ability of the Internet to influence political change shows that some of the ideas in the novel that initially look unrealistic are indeed possible. There is also some unrealistic dialogue (a paragraph-long speech from a player on economic power is impressive until you realise the person saying it is 14) and the ending hinges on the goodwill of people who have no real reason to support the gold farmers. But Doctorow just about manages to sell it.
For the Win (***½) raises and addresses a number of thought-provoking subjects related to the emergence of these online economies and their impact on developing countries. The book is available now in the UK and USA, or indeed for free from Cory Doctor's website.
For the Win is based around the process of 'gold farming', a problem in modern computer games like World of WarCraft where poor players in the Far East do the hard work to make money for players in the West. The novel predicts that in the near future, these games' economies will become so vast that the gold farmers will become an institutionalised form of work, another Asian sweatshop churning out product for the benefit of the West. However, due to the fact this work is undertaken on the Internet, it also means that the gold farmers can communicate with not just one another, but other farmers right across the world, and that lays the groundwork for strikes and possibly even revolution.
Cory Doctorow's novel charts the rise of online gaming from a niche entertainment industry into a massive economy which can be gamed and exploited like any other. Many of the issues Doctorow has identified have already been the subject of studies by economic bodies, and he unifies a technical interest in the field with more human stories about worker exploitation and also a larger idea about how much longer can the single Chinese state control everything in the face of such vast influences from outside the country, particularly with regards to workers' rights and unions. For the Win is a slightly stronger novel than his earlier Little Brother, which tripped over itself and muddied up its themes towards the end of the volume. Here, Doctorow remains on-message throughout.
Structurally, the novel moves between several sets of characters in China, India and a couple of guys in the USA. These characters are well-characterised and carefully delineated so it's easy to keep track of who's who (the cast ends up being quite large). However, the novel meanders a little bit in its opening half. Character-building and plot-advancing scenes are bogged down by three-page divergences on economic theory, whilst Doctorow front-loads the book with a lot of MMORPG terms which have mostly disappeared by the time the book ends. At this stage it's like a Kim Stanley Robinson or Neal Stephenson novel (not exactly bad company to be in) with lots of interesting material, but it's unclear what the point of it all is. Then Doctorow draws the plot threads together in the second half, building to a big finale. I wondered if he was going for a world-changing, ushering-in-a-new-age ending, but instead Doctorow gives us something that is somewhat optimistic whilst retaining a fair degree of realism.
On the negative side, it's unclear if the book has already been outdated: the failure of any non-World of WarCraft MMORPG to take off in a significantly profitable manner in the West and the resulting move to microtransaction-fuelled social games (such as CityVille, which launched last December and had ten times as many players as World of WarCraft in less than eight weeks), a move followed by several of the standard MMORPGs, means that Doctorow's economic model in the novel is already looking dubious. Whilst gold farming in these social games is still possible, the much tighter regulations imposed by playing under the framework of Facebook would make some of manipulations as seen in the novel harder to pull off. That said, the recent ability of the Internet to influence political change shows that some of the ideas in the novel that initially look unrealistic are indeed possible. There is also some unrealistic dialogue (a paragraph-long speech from a player on economic power is impressive until you realise the person saying it is 14) and the ending hinges on the goodwill of people who have no real reason to support the gold farmers. But Doctorow just about manages to sell it.
For the Win (***½) raises and addresses a number of thought-provoking subjects related to the emergence of these online economies and their impact on developing countries. The book is available now in the UK and USA, or indeed for free from Cory Doctor's website.
New interview with R. Scott Bakker
Me, Pat and Larry recently teamed up for an interview with R. Scott Bakker. Part 1 of the interview is here and Part 2 should be along in a few weeks (Pat's off on holiday in the meantime).
In the interview Bakker talks about worldbuilding, his hopes for the ultimate critical appraisal of the series and laces in a few hints about the final book in the Aspect-Emperor series, The Unholy Consult.
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