Review of Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban

It is the dismay of people learning the English language everywhere to discover the fact that they must, in fact, learn two languages: the signed (written) and spoken (verbal). For whatever reason, we have 'to', 'two', and 'too' while writing, but pronounce all the same. There are few other languages for whom spelling bees are as dynamic. Literally embracing this fact to tell of a post-apocalyptic future is Russell Hoban's brilliant 1980 Riddley Walker.

Riddley Walker is set an unknown amount of time in a post-nuclear future of England. Shit hit the fan, and the bombs went off. Enter young Riddley Walker. Son of the group's soothsayer, he faces tragedy early when his father is crushed while excavating a large machine from the mud. But more ominous omens occur, including Riddley being attacked by a pack of dogs. He is forced out of the group and into the wilds. Journeying the ravaged, primitive lands, he runs into all manner of people, trying discover a new place for himself.

Review of They'd Rather Be Right by Mark Clifton & Frank Riley

There are many patterns observable in human social behavior. One is copy cats. A person needs look no further than Chinese industry to find millions of people beavering away to recreate Western products in an attempt to make a buck. Not being critical, that's just humans being humans. If the situation were reversed, the West would do the same. And the same is, of course, true in writing fiction. One writer makes a big splash on the reading scene and inevitably a line of writers will queue up to do something similar. Published two years after Alfred Bester's successful The Demolished Man, cue Frank Riley and Mark Clifton's They'd Rather Be Right (1954).

They'd Rather Be Right is the story of Joe Carter and the cybernetic brain he and two university professors create. The brain is nicknamed ”Bossy” and is capable of inferring advanced intelligence and immmortality. Naturally, Bossy becomes much sught after for it. So excited, in fact, the government shuts the Bossy project down. Just as naturally, this pushes Bossy underground where its powers can still be utilized. But while there are many people who want the powers Bossy offers, are they willing to give up what Bossy asks in return?

Review of The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

A decade+ ago I was trying to catch up on everything that had been happening in speculative fiction. After years and years away, I consumed just about everything I could get my hands on. From popular books to forgotten books, well known authors to niche, I was open to anything. The internets had a lot of positive things to say about Brandon Sanderson, so I jumped into the Mistborn trilogy. I climbed out, dismayed. Colorful, engaging ideas but poor, unedited technique. Style, syntax, and execution are important. I was put off. A believer in second chances, however, I recently picked up another popular Sanderson offering to see if a few years could improve technique—to convert those nice visuals into well written story. Let's look at The Way of Kings (2016).

Putting both feet onto the road paved by George R.R. Martin in A Game of Thrones, The Way of Kings is a multi-viewpoint, multi-faction, first entry in a lengthy epic fantasy series. Set in a generic, medieval secondary world called Roshar, it tells the stories of a handful of people who call the land home. One is a female scholar with a secret mission to steal an arcane object from a renowned magician. Another is an assassin wielding magical weapons on the run but trying to find direction in life. And still another is the son of a surgeon. Now a slave, he fights oppression from the bottom up. These characters have lives separate from one another, but binding them together is a lore featuring shardblades—magical swords that cut through anything (lightsabers?), thus granting the bearer supreme status. Everybody wants one...

Cardboard Corner: Review of Star Wars: Unlimited

Poke around this blog a little and you will see a fair bit of content about expandable card games (CCGs, TCGs, LCGs, etc.). I own a dozen and have played twice that. But it was with trepidation I purchased Fantasy Flight Games' return to the TCG market: Star Wars Unlimited (2024). FFG's pedigree and the art had me interested, but looking over the rule set and seeing a couple sample games didn't give me a feeling the game had an edge—an intangible something to distinguish it from the dozen or so other TCGs being released around this time, let alone dethrone some of the great TCGs that are already out there, dead or alive. Me being a sucker for such games, however, I had to have a try.

Unlimited does not revolutionize expandable card games/CCGs. Two players bring their decks to the table: 50 cards each based around a single Star Wars hero/villain. The decks are comprised of units (characters, vehicles, droids, ships, etc.), upgrades (lightsabers, blasters, grenades, etc.), and events (one-time effects). And these cards are deployed based on a very simple resource system. All is as you would expect from a TCG, with each player's goal being to reduce their opponent's base from thirty to zero hit points. First player to do so, wins.

Review of Fire on the Mountain by Terry Bisson

Paul Theroux is a well known writer of both fiction and non-fiction. While I personally find his fiction more compelling than his non-fiction, undoubtedly there are readers who feel his travelogues stand taller. Having literally seen the world, he has a lot of insight to offer in his travel writing. When giving opinion about the West's stance on Africa, for example, Theroux said (I paraphrase) that Africans are capable of solving their own problems, the West's interference unnecessary. Taking this to heart in the context of American race relations is Terry Bisson's Fire on the Mountain (1988)*.

A work of alternate history, the Jonbar point for Fire on the Mountain is John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry in 1859. The raid successful (having failed in reality), it triggers a slave rebellion and ultimately paves the way for the American South to become a free nation. Called Nova Africa and ruled by blacks, it is a free nation which participates and contributes to mankind, including space travel.