Bourbon and Big Black Delta

Current Mood:

Fear Agent's Out of Step by way of Big Black Delta's Huggin' and Kissin'.

That whole issue is just so damn perfect.

If you've read one, look at the other and tell me they don't invoke the same feelings.
Or just watch it anyway, it's a good song and an interesting clip.

I'm having a good time, how about you?

-----

"Life was not a valuable gift, but death was.
Life was a Fever-dream made up of joys embittered by sorrows,
pleasure poisoned by pain,
a dream that was nightmare-confusion of spasmodic and fleeting delights,
ecstasies, exultations, happinesses, interspersed with long-drawn miseries,
griefs, perils, horrors, disappointments, defeats, humiliations, and despairs,
the heaviest curse devisable by divine ingenuity.

But death was sweet.

 Death was gentle.

Death was kind.

Death healed the bruised spirit and the broken heart,
and gave them rest and forgetfulness.

Death was man's best friend.

When man could endure life no longer,
death came and set him free."

Samuel Clemens,
aka
 Mark Twain

Review: Sigvald, Darius Hinks

No sooner did I complete the last post on the Upcoming Warhammer Chronicles than I picked up the book that I said I would have to read before the book that I really wanted to read; Valkia the Bloody. There's no real argumentation for this as Sigvald is only the first novel in the omnibus that collects three, with Valkia being the second. It's not as if Sigvald takes places chronologically before Valkia, or if there's even a connection between the two, apart from the two novels taking place in the same setting and focusing on Chaos Heroes but, well, you know. It's one of those things of mine. I can't help it. One after the other, I need to read them in the order as they've been presented to me.
Good thing I had this novel still lying around.

Mild Spoilers ahead.

Now then.
Just as the Time of Legends novels do, the Warhammer Heroes series introduce us to the status quo of several important characters in the most current time frame of the Warhammer world (right before the End Times that is) and this one focuses on the titular prince Sigvald the Magnificent, a champion of the Chaos god Slaanesh, god of pain, pleasure and all round lord of excess.
It means that we'll be reading about Sigvald as he is on the tabletop and that no matter where the novel begins, he must end it exactly as he is, capable and strong as he is as the model. Which means that, for the largest part, our story can do some quite original stuff. And even then, I admit that for me; the latter parts of the novel were still the standout moments.

We begin our story several centuries into a decadent lifestyle that has begun to become boring. The bright prince, Sigvald, is not yet the perfection of the tabletop miniature as he still has remnants left of his soul, and a hidden yearning for the simple life he once had the option of having.
Now; something important that is quite spoilerific: As Sigvald still has remnants left of his mortal soul, it means he can die.
It's important to know this as it takes away the preconception that you might have going in, that nothing matters in this story, because such a named character couldn't possible die, could he?

I'll admit, it's what made the first half of the novel not as interesting as it could have been. There was this constant sense that I was treading water. The events didn't seem to matter, because every revealed character motivation had been revealed to be about killing Sigvald. But the novel did play with character motivations a bit and there were some surprises in store. The story is standard, though above average for 'named' Warhammer stories.

As for characters, Sigvald himself almost continuously acts like a spoiled child, as for his expected nature, as a vain, perfect killing machine used to getting everything he wants. His more annoying moments are offset by his personal chancellor, Oddrùn who is the heart and soul of the novel and the only character you can really root for (though I've found rooting always an overrated thing to do) and has the more emotionally charged moments of the novel on his side.
Actually, for the most part, Hinks introduces a whole bunch of characters that are interesting and, something that is unusual for the setting, proved to be quite durable. It's an odd thing, a subversion almost, where you expect the usual Chaos-backstabbing and wanton carnage (and, oh that is there), but... it could have been way different. Always engaging and occasionally surprising, throughout the novel managed to avoid the usual clichés, from the Princess, to Schuler, to Viga Baroi, to the Norscans, when the scene moved away for a last time from these characters I couldn't have anticipated exactly where they ended up.

When one is trekking in the Chaos Wastes, you never quite know what you will see, and it was no different here. This was the biggest draw of the novel for me. As a Chaos lover I always devour new views and insights into the landscape of the Wastes or of the Warp.
Apart from some of the expected maddening fluidity in an ever-changing landscape there were some legitimately original moments, particularly in the 3 quests Sigvald has to undertake to gain access to more power. From a meeting with Galrauch to the journey to Sigvald's patron God him/itself, these are the scenes why you will be reading the novel. Among these standout moments though, it were the scenes in the woods which were particularly memorable, giving hints of primordial horror and bringing to mind dark mysteries of the deep woods and the hidden monsters lurking there. Think the Ritual or a messily horrific version of Mythago Wood (though, that IS an assumption as I still haven't read it, I know, shame on me!).

The battles are decent, and the novel itself ends in an epic no-holds-barred free-for-all. Gleefully chaotic, and horrifically violent. On the one hand it's the most facile depiction of epic warfare as possible, delivered in bite-sized chunks that are just as easily forgotten as they are digested, and utterly ludicrous in its mind-numbing over-the-top violence. But on the other, it's also badass as hell.

Sigvald placed a foot on his throat and forced his head into the bloody slush.
The ground fractured and split, allowing Sigvald to stamp the man's head beneath the surface. Then it folded back into place over his neck, leaving the man to thrash his limbs, with his head embedded in the stone.

It's insanely over the top and occasionally also quite hilarious and, like Sigvald himself is constantly laughing, you're right there laughing along with him.
The madness and carnage in the end is on such a scale that it becomes hard to believe and loses some of its impact, but then, this is why we're here. This is pulp, baby. The Black Library at its best: Glorious, fast-paced and fun.

Stirrings for Sci-Fi

I'm eyeing some sci-fi at the moment. For some reason been wanting to read something with spaceships again.

But this comes with a bit of a conundrum. I had already picked something out. Heard it mentioned a few places, it started to take a bit of space in my head even. But there's a problem with it.

Basically, I'm wondering if I can go and read Rendez-Vous with Rama without feeling as if I have to read its sequels.

I know the arguments against but I'm still wondering if my compulsive nature will let me start reading this work* and leave it unfinished.

*This work Consisting of the original Rendez-Vous with Rama, the direct sequel novels written by Gentry Lee; Rama 2, The Garden of Rama and Rama Revealed, and the 2 novels set in the future of the universe; Bright Messengers and Double Full Moon Night. Making in total 6 novels.

For now I'm argumenting that Rendez-Vous with Rama was written as a stand-alone and that no continuation was originally planned for it. It also seems easier to dismiss it, as the sequel novels aren't actually written by Arthur C. Clarke. I have no special reverence for the man, but this, to my mind, seems to classify it as something else, a completely separate work, even if it starts out from the same basis. The first book also has some sweeping power of its own, and the sequels apparently have a different focus and style, leaning more on conventional characterization. Basically, Just more stories.

Everything seems to point towards; read only the first, drop the rest. But then there's that completionist thing and that other thing where I caught some spoilers about the grand reveal in Rama Revealed making me half convinced this might be just the thing for me.

In any case, I already have Rendez-Vous with Rama in Gollancz's Space opera edition so I wouldn't have to search out a new one. I will anyway though, because as this one is a second hand copy I don't want to work the spine over any more than it already has been.

Also, in my pondering I reasoned that if I just want space opera I could just continue on with my chronological read of the Polity series, which has the Transformation trilogy completed right now. I don't have the third book yet but that's easily fixed.

The currently read Polity-verse

I always enjoyed reading an Asher novel. But I'd seriously need to read a synopsis or two again to remember what it was all about.

Gorgeous Jon Sullivan art.

Here's what I remember:
-Prador Moon: my first introduction to Asher, had that moon thing, which was awesome. And I do remember, because it is pretty memorable.
-Shadow of the Scorpion: had emotional and cool cyborg sex, or was it robots? That war robot had an amazing voice in my head, was based on something, wish I could remember.
-Gridlinked: was emotionless but the story had a cool coming full circle thing.
-The Line of polity, I can not remember a single damn thing of. looking at its cover, this is the orgin piece of Cormac's main antagonist?
-Brass Man: might still be my favourite of the bunch, Mr Crane is such a cool character and Asher's amazing aliens own every other chapter. Genuinely good fun.
-Polity Agent: Dyson Sphere and that's all I remember.
-Line War: Sensory overload. seriously, violence, explosions, lights, cool revelations and a damn good ending to the Cormac arc.
-The Technician:

 "Gabble, Gabble, said the Gabbleduck."

 Just fucking stunning. Scratch Brass Man, THIS is definitely my favourite. Still gives me chills. Both hilarious and jaw-dropping :)

And this is what's next in the Universe reading order. 

For the most part Jon Sullivan art, though I gather War Factory has a different artist.

So, we have the Transformation trilogy up next. Then the Spatterjay trilogy, the Gabble Short stories and then the stand-alone Hildiggers (though given how crucial The Technician turned out to be I kinda have high hopes for this one). Apparently Asher also has the first book in a new trilogy coming out this year, set in the Polity verse as well, as if this isn't enough to be reading.

I've actually made myself excited to be reading him again, but I guess for now I don't have time for a complete Sci-fi trilogy as I still got (self-imposed) deadlines so I'll just pick up something short instead.

Hardly something with spaceships, but it'll do I'm guessing.

I've read the Time Machine and War of the Worlds so the style is familiar.

This one was originally bought around the time when Penny Dreadful was going to expand its menagerie of gothic characters with Dr Moreau. In season 3 however, instead of Moreau, they used Dr Jekyll as Henry's partner, which actually makes a lot more sense.

The island was also quite an important novel in Orphan Black and with that one wrapping up last year I guess it's a good time to go back and binge watch that series beginning to end. Would also be nice to scream 'I have read that book!' at the television this time.

Small World

Though I've been browsing I haven't yet bought a copy of The Postman Always Rings Twice. Mostly that's because I told myself I shouldn't buy any more books until at least February.
But I still had a hankering to read something in that vein, but not a single detective or crime novel on my To-Be-Read shelves. Never really read much (or anything) in that vein. So instead I went to my unread comics section and picked up Fatale, thinking that this one looked like it might scratch that itch.

I originally picked Fatale up because it was described as a lengthy comic with Lovecraftian horror and an original spin on the Femme Fatale trope. I was in the mood for some good, epic horror at the time so this looked like it would be well suited for the job.

I read through book 1 in a few sittings. It was a lot sadder than I was expecting, but there is a lot of engaging mystery, some violence and the art style is aesthetically pleasing. The horror is there too and it is pretty much what I wanted. I'm curious to see how book 2 will wrap things up.

But here's the reason for this little post.

I tend to avoid reading the introductions first before plunging in these things, as you never can tell how much is going to be given away. So upon completion of the 2 stories in the book, and before reading the essays at the end of the collection, I doubled back to read the introduction.

Halfway through I was struck by how this was written with such an obvious level of thought and passion behind it and I looked at who wrote it.

Heh.

Small World.

-----

"I see these... coincidences..."

Fantasy Masterworks: Voice of our Shadow, Jonathan Carroll

I suppose you could label her just a shade south of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl type, but India Tate and her husband Paul are still the best and truest friends I've ever had.
I live in Vienna, I write.
I didn't know what to do with my life until I wrote a short story which got adapted into the world-famous play 'Voice of our Shadow'. It doesn't much resemble my short story and I don't like it. I suppose it's not such an odd response for an author to have. Nobody likes to see their work butchered.
Especially if that work means so much to the writer.
So, I don't like it, but it did make India and Paul reach out to me in the theater where they saw me. They had recognized me before but acted dumb on the first introductions.
I didn't have a great childhood. My brother was a grade A asshole and it's because of how he died that I began writing. A friend of his accosted me in a bar years later. He blamed me, and he wasn't wrong.
I wrote the short story then, to cope. Most people know only the play, and when they meet you they become kind of disappointed when they realize how little you actually had to do with the thing they love. But not India, not Paul. They care.
Their stories are fascinating. They watch movies, read novels, they travel and India draws.
She draws well.
There's a still-life that she's made, it hangs in their appartment. 'Little boy', it is called. It's a watercolour drawing of a table with a top hat on it. Beside it are spotless white gloves.
Paul and India smile at each other when I ask about it.
 They laugh. 
They say they will tell me soon.

Jonathan Carroll is one of those odd writers that seem to defy classification, with story-lines employing elements of fantasy under a layer of contemporary fiction, usually labelled magical realism. He frequently employs first-person narration with a tendency towards to the unreliable and offers up endings that seem abrupt and raise more questions than they give answers.

In Voice of our Shadow our narrator is Joe Lennox, who from his house on Formori, Greece, embarks on a swift but intimate account of his life leading up to this moment. Along the way we are treated to a beautiful and sometimes painful look into the troubles of growing up, a friendship in Vienna, and a third act that is undeniably memorable but hard to classify.

Part bildungsroman, part horror story, part something else, Voice of our Shadow is a fascinating and enthralling read that doesn't wholly fit into any genre and you'll find that most every blurb will give away over half of the novel in trying to present the reader with a hook.
I have, besides putting my blurb in first person, restricted myself to convey more the tone of the novel rather than the broad story line. I've tried to introduce a hook for the reader but as it's almost impossible to do that without giving huge swathes of the story away, so I ended up with introducing the Little Boy drawing because that is where things will ultimately start to get weird, and I had hoped to give a hint of that.

It's at any rate an odd novel to talk about because for the most part of the book, nothing seems to happen and to tell anything is to give parts away that should maybe experienced during the read itself, as Carrol tells it. You have to settle with going in blind and letting him whisk you away and regale you with his narrative. But this can be problematic as there's a point where the story seems to switch genres, from contemporary fiction straight into something else; something more ominous and fantastical, where elements are introduced that can only be described as surreal. The divisive ending itself is another problem, it's odd enough to leave a wide variety in its interpretation and is likely one that will leave many readers either cold or irritated. It's horrific and abrupt, and there may in fact be no resolution to be found.

But there is satisfaction from the read to be had and it comes from the author's voice which is good and engaging. Carrol, who lives in Vienna, uses that town as the backdrop for many of his stories and it is no different here in his second novel. The love for his town comes pouring out in his main character Joe, which might be that one's only pleasing quality.

At a glance Joe doesn't seem such a bad character, but the longer you read the more you notice something missing in his telling. And it might be a spine.
For all that the narrative is his, Joe doesn't seem to be such an active character, and if you look at what he does in the novel, you find that he mostly only reacts. Characters introduce themselves and guide the telling, and while Joe only lives in his relating to us, drawing us in solely through their stories, their characters, he doesn't have much going on on his own outside of them.

And maybe this is why that ending is the way it is. Unsatisfying because our main character, devoid of interactions with others, and having just offered up his only story, doesn't have anything else left to satisfy us with.
But it's more than that. Because there doesn't seem to be a resolution. It is almost a non sequitur, only acceptable after the story, because of 2 lines at its beginning.

However, there are a few ways of looking at that ending.
And I'll give a few theories on it, together with another theory which I'm not very certain about but still had too much fun in the actual writing phase to just delete.

Keep in mind. Absolute Spoilers!

Weekend Update

Played Monster hunter World's Beta a bit this weekend. Finished 2 missions before going straight to the hardest and getting my ass handed to me. In the end I nearly got him though, he was desperately limping away from me when the time ran out.

Ugh, the timers.

Somewhere I do understand their continued inclusion, but fuck me, I wish they would have just left that shit out. It always was the most frustrating thing about the game.

I'm an old hand at Monster Hunter. 

I played days and days and days on Monster Hunter Freedom 2 on the PSP back in the day. I'm not sure what Hunter Rank I got but it was high. It was all I did for the longest time. Everything and everyone dropped by the wayside in my dedication. Killed Akantor on me onsies. Dual Rajang too I'm thinking, and to be honest: I did everything by myself.
Nobody to play with and all that. I was in it mostly to get every end-level weapon. Every evolution path to its completion, all neatly stacked next to one another in my weapon box.
When Monster Hunter Freedom Unite came along announcing itself as a magnificent upgrade I held off for a while before finally transferring my save file. It's only then of course, that I checked out the weapon lists and saw that practically every end-weapon of Freedom 2 had further divergent paths to new levels of rarity. A mindbogglingly large amount of them.

I stubbornly tried to hold on but after a while I nonetheless quit in frustration. The mountain was just too big and I just felt cheated.

When Monster Hunter Tri came out on Nintendo 3DS I bought a 3DS just to play it.
But I found the system itself unpleasant to play, the blurry-smooth graphics of the game a whole leap backward from Freedom's jagged familiarity, its 3d functionality was laughable and hideously annoying. And of course, the monsters themselves were dull as old sin.
Maybe I just missed the snowy mountains. I do tend to love snow in video games. And in real life too of course. Cold over heat any time.

And now here comes a new Monster Hunter game, on my dedicated gaming system no less.
Its graphics are a monumental upgrade from what I was used to, the gameplay is stunningly familiar, like riding a bicycle but with so many ease of comfort additions to it, and of course global multiplayer for when you get really stumped. It's tempting, indeed.
So that's what's up: I'm starting to think about purchasing it.

But it would likely kill my reading pace even more and that is a definite problem.
I have a lot of books I want to read.

As for the reading itself:
Sigvald is smooth-sailing and a lot of fun to read. It's always fun to be back in the Chaos Wastes, you never know what you're going to find.

I'm reading a short story a day, and for now that's Time and the Gods by Dunsany, still. I'm also quietly, slowly starting to put together some thoughts on it, but as I've been reading this particular short story collection for more than half a decade, my thoughts are more than a little fragmented.

As for the Write-up for Voice of our Shadow, that will hopefully be up later today. I'm almost pleased with it now.
I tend to sit on the Fantasy Masterwork reviews and hammer at them until I'm absolutely pleased, and this one had some difficulties that didn't crop up before. But the end is a spitting's distance away.

I also saw a really cool quote by Frances Mcdormand on twitter today.

If that doesn't sound appealing I don't know what does.

So now I'm torn between wanting to read The Postman Always Rings Twice, or to just watch the Jessica Lange and Jack Nicholson film. I'd like to do both, but as I have too many books already and when I look at my TBR shelf I'm torn between a giddy 'I can do this' and a despairing wail.
I'd have to search out a collection that would have included it in its list, or choose an edition at random and pretend there's no strings anywhere.

It's not as if it's a long book though and apparently it's a very good classic but the movie (the one I want to see has stuff like this

Jessica Lange and Jack Nicholson looking very good, if I may say so.

Likely there's also a good soundtrack, and you know, if the movie-magic works then there's nothing quite like it.

The question is then, would experiencing the movie first diminish the returns I'd get from reading the book afterwards, and vice versa. Normally the answer to that is obvious. Book before adaptation, no second thoughts, no questions asked.

 But you take a look at that picture and tell me that leaves you cold.
So the question remains valid. Which one first?

Upcoming Warhammer Chronicles (and a smidgen of 40k and Age of Sigmar)

So far We've had the Legend of Sigmar, The rise of Nagash, and The Von Carstein trilogy. Next month brings the epic Sundering of Elves.

Don't be expecting a neat storyline where one book flows seamlessly into the next, oh no. Gav Thorpe is a marvelously good writer but the way that every novel ends on a cliffhanger and every subsequent novel refuses to resolve those cliffhangers, switching to new characters and settings like it's malignantly defying your expectations, is something that made me pull my hair out in frustration.

I guess that the scope of the war was a little too big to be handled by any sort of conventional storytelling.

And they were very good stories but damn me if I wasn't fed up by Caledor though.

The trilogy's resolution is also one that won't be resolved for thousands of years in-world either.

Expect to read the End Times for the full tale on this one.

I suppose it's something that should be expected. As the elves are long-lived their tale necessarily must be one of those that needs the longest time to resolve itself.

For the Old World setting, the Time of Legends novels were meant to give readers the information on the prevailing status quo of that world.

This means that as long as the setting continued, the Sundering trilogy was good enough as it is.

But with the End Times, the effective end of the Old World, The Sundering ends on a cliffhanger, which won't be resolved for millenia.

And of the Time of Legends novels I've read, The Sundering is unique in this. It's the only one without an actual finale, ending with promises instead of definite resolution.

The Rise of Nagash's ending delivered a perfect circle, the Legend of Sigmar had full resolution, even though it did not end with Sigmar's ascension.

-----

Up and coming in April we knew of the Champions of Chaos omnibus which quite frankly is drop dead gorgeous and something I'll clear some time off of my designated reading schedule when it comes out.

And can I just say that I'm so happy that the initial cover that I posted in the earlier blogpost on the Chronicles did not turn out to be the one they picked.

This is also the first one of the Chronicles Omnibi of which I haven't already read everything of, and so I'll be going in pretty blind. I did already read the short story Reaper by Sarah Cawkwell, which I picked up in a chapbook somewhere and which was utterly brilliant.So I'm very much looking forward to this one.

Sigvald will be read in anticipation so that when the omnibus arrives I'll have no qualms about directly moving into Valkia's storylines (apparently all the short stories in the omnibus are hers!)

----

Now those are the omnibi that we knew of.

But now in the darkling quiet there's whispers. rumours, quiet natterings of the coming of a Great Betrayal in May,

(And it's going to be one of these two,

I'm partial to the above, but until they release them you never can tell...)

the hunting of witches in the summer of June,

Note the Twin-Tailed Comet iconography

 but maybe most intriguingly; the return of the Bloodborn Lady in july.

And it is this one above all others that makes me anticipate the return of my favourite duo of the Old World. But the fact that Ulrika is here before them makes me expect either a surprise release somewhere up ahead or maybe even a limited edition treatment, which quite frankly is more than a little overdue.

-----

I have read the Witchhunter omnibus, though I honestly can't remember much of it, which doesn't necessarily mean much as I used to gulp down Warhammer like it was air in those days.

The War of Vengeance is the one that actually made me stop reading the novels. I didn't actually read it, mind you, but the Black Library was in a very bad period again where they just switched cover styles right between novel releases and it was teeth-grittingly infuriating enough that I just stopped buying the novels and ended up waiting for the inevitable omnibi releases... which then never came...

I've also not read any Ulrika though I did love her in the Gotrek and Felix series.
Really clever move by William King doing what he did. Genuinely memorable.

----

In 40K news which I usually don't dabble in I did find something of note, which was the (unexpected) omnibus for Armageddon, which I might pick up.

Helsreach is just an absolute classic and genuinely good in its own right. Shades of David Gemmell, but in melancholy first person, and with bolters, chainswords and aliens.

How can you say no to that?

-----

And this one, which also intrigued me, and which isn't 40k and rather of the Age of Sigmar setting.

This is volume 1 out of a total of 2 which will be collecting the entirety of the Realmgate Wars.

2, I tells ya!

That means that besides the Gates of Azyr novella, this one will collect the first five novels of the Realmgate Wars saga. What the hell, man? How small is that print going to be, how large the book?

But then again, it's not as if the Realmgate novels were that big to begin with anyway.

Guess we'll have to wait and see in August somewhere.

-----

(Oh yeah, and in more Age of Sigmar news: Nagash is gonna start duking it out with Sigmar in July in Josh Reynolds' Soul Wars, presumably tying into the whole Malign Portents thing. Nagash coming into Azyr and all that jazz.

I guess it's a little refreshing, Chaos not being the big baddie again, though hmm, I don't know, I like Chaos. But I'll be honest, I like Nagash too. I'll be interested to hear some opinions on this one when it comes out.)