Book Twenty-nine

Swan Song by Robert McCammon

Continuing in my End Of The World trifecta....

Okay, have you read The Stand? Humanity being wiped out by a short-sighted government, small groups of people struggling to survive in an America laid low? A dramatic escape from New York through a dark and scary tunnel? An evil adversary from an unknown place whose only dream is the end of the world?

Yeah, that's Swan Song, too. Only with nukes instead of a virus.

It really is an alarmingly similar story, published about ten years after The Stand, but - and this is important - it's still a really good book.

The story starts in an alternate world, one that seemed all-too-probable in 1987. The US and the Soviet Union are toe-to-toe, fighting proxy wars all over the world. Nuclear exchanges have already happened between smaller nations. In New York City, the city has fallen to crime and decay - drugs, trash and whores are all that can be found, and if any city deserves destruction it's this one.

In the western mountains, a group of survivalists have hollowed out a shelter against the possibility of The End, and Earth House is full to bursting. Young Ronald Croninger and his parents are there, but the boy is not impressed by what he sees. Colonel Macklin,the ex-soldier who is the public face of Earth House, seems to have gone to seed, and the shelter itself is falling apart.

The world is going straight to Hell, and it's all too easy for the US and the Soviets to send it all the way there.

The book has an epic scope and a massive cast, lined up pretty equally on the sides of Good and Evil. As the book progresses, the disparate groups finally come together in a final confrontation that will decide the fate of the world.

In the midst of all that, a certain mystical quality has arisen. There's a... being, a creature of demonic countenance who can change his face and travel freely throughout the wasted land. His sole desire is to see the end of humanity - he revels in destruction and despair and wants nothing more than to see the end of Our Heroes. On the other hand is the title character, Swan. As a girl, she loved plants and flowers, and had a strange affinity for the natural world. As she grew up, however, her powers matured, and that affinity became a full-on partnership.

And then there's the Job's Masks - a mysterious growth that covers a person's head in an impenetrable shell, only to crack open years later and.... Well, I'll let you find out.

The characters are compelling, and the world is vividly drawn, so as long as you're not thinking, "But this is just like The Stand!" you should greatly enjoy it. I highly recommend it.

It's my own fault, really. going back to The Metro for 80s night for the first time in, I don't know, five years.... Nothing like going back alone to the ol' nightclub to make you feel old and lonely. But a had stinky ramen on the way home, and I got a funny card from my mother in the mail when I got here, so that's all right....

BBC - Edward Kennedy Has Brain Tumor

The first image to come to my mind is Ted in a wheelchair, looking frail and tragic, expending his last bits of life energy to campaign for Barack Obama. The rigors of the campaign will take their toll, and he'll live just long enough to attend the Inauguration in January....

I knew that UPS was going to deliver today, and based on their previous delivery attempt, I figured they'd be here around 11:30. So to prevent embarrassment, I took my shower at ten - and as soon as I got shampoo in my hair, there he was.

He didn't look at all fazed, though - I reckon UPS drivers and other delivery personnel get this kind of thing all the time.

I am now in possession of a box from Amazon.com, so I figure it's something birthday-related. Must... wait... until... Thursday.

Thanks, matthewandian....

I love the schmuck's little thing at the end, "WHADDYA MEAN, blank slate??"

Gosh, G.communication CEO Masaki Inayoshi sent me 5000 yen in gift certificates for my birthday, good at any G.Communications-owned restaurant.

Mmm... yakiniku.

California lifts gay marriage ban

The Supreme Court of California has ruled that the state's law from back in 2000 is unconstitutional, which means that California is on its way to becoming the second state in the Union to allow gay marriage.

Nicely done....

Book Twenty-eight

The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham

I have a long fondness for Apocalyptic novels. The Stand was one of my early favorites from junior high school, and I really enjoyed its cousin by Robert McCammon, Swan Song. There's something about the End Of The World that just grabs me and won't let go. Maybe it's the thought that, should the world end, I would be one of the survivors. The rule of law would break down, all shackles of modern life would be loosed, and I would finally be free to choose my own destiny. Which, knowing me, would probably be very short and end up with me getting shot by some kind of Mad Max pirate tribe.

I can say with some certainty, however, that in this book's scenario I would not be coming out on top. Because I love astronomy.

Let me explain. The end of the world came in two parts, one of which was definitely of our own doing.

It started with a comet. Or a meteor shower. Or something, but whatever it was, it lit up the sky. Green streaks of light brightened the night skies around the world, and everyone who could go and watch them did so. I'm a sucker for a natural light show, so I probably would have spent the night watching the skies and enjoying myself. And I would have woken up stone blind the next day.

That in itself - the vast, vast majority of the human population on Earth being blind - would have been a pretty good apocalypse. Wyndham describes rashes of suicides, accidental deaths and, of course, murder in just the first few days. Without vision, the carefully crafted world we've made kind of falls apart. But it would have been survivable. Co-operation groups spring up pretty quickly, both voluntary and otherwise, where sighted people assist the blind in surviving. It would have been tough, yes, but not impossible. If not for the Triffids.

While we don't know what caused the green comet, the Triffids were definitely our fault. Bioengineering gone haywire, the Triffids are ambulatory carnivorous plants with a poison sting that can kill a grown man from ten feet away. And while they're not intelligent, they are remarkably... aware. They follow sound, they learn and co-operate in hunting, and are very difficult to eradicate.

But by themselves, they're manageable. Their stingers can be removed, even though they grow back eventually, and they make interesting garden plants. And they're immensely profitable - the oil derived from a Triffid outdoes every other kind of vegetable oil available. In normal times, the Triffids are under human control.

Two problems, when put together, make for a truly terrifying end. And an exciting story. Wyndham has created a brave new world for us, with a wide variety of characters who all react to their new situation in different - and realistic - ways. From the girl who believes that the Americans will save her to the man who believes that polygamy is the way to a brighter future, everyone has an idea on how to survive.

But first they have to deal with the Triffids....

There's lots of mothers out there, but mine's the best. So there. *smile*

Just about a year ago, she and a representative sample of The Family were in Kyoto, which was a wonderful thing to have for my birthday. And next week she's flitting off to Rome, no doubt to give Darth Benedict a good talking-to.

Also, Mom totally looks like some kind of arch-villainess in this photo, which is wonderful. I need an appropriate line for her. Something like, "You need an attitude adjustment my dear. And it will be my pleasure to give it to you."

Bonus points for the source of the quote.

Love ya, Mom.

Book Twenty-seven

The Godfather by Mario Puzo

This is a book that you can't refuse....

Sorry, just had to get that in there.

This is truly a fantastic book, better than the movie, and the movie is really good. One thing that I marveled at is how closely the movie stuck to the book - word for word in places - and how well it treated the source material. Coppola gave the book the respect it deserved, and as Don Corleone would say, respect is the best thing there is.

We all know the story - it's the tale of a powerful mafia family, brought to the edge of destruction, only to rise up stronger than before. We know the characters - the brilliant patriarch, Vito, the hot-tempered Sonny, and Michael, whose destiny brought him to the heights of illicit power. We find out that Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes, Carlo Rizzi damned himself the first time he hit his wife, and there's no worse way to wake up than with a horse's head in your bed.

But what makes the story even more entertaining is that it's not really a story about the Mafia. It's the story about family, about standing by the people who stand by you and about the high standards a true man must live by. Yes, they make a living by doing things that in polite society might be "illegal," but they do so because the legitimate authorities do not provide them with the means to see that their families are safe and successful. It's all anybody wants, really, but for a young Vito Corleone, there was no way to do that within the bounds that the law provided.

So he made his own law. He did it, though, with respect and friendship first, acting on the basic principle of the Golden Rule - if I act as a friend to you, you will act as a friend to me. Is that not how reasonable men behave? Should that friendship be betrayed, however, the consequences could be dire....

It does rather glamorize the mafia culture, turning the Corleone family into a kind of benevolent lordship. The reality of the mafia and organized crime is, I'm sure, much less noble than as portrayed here. But I'm not reading this for research material - I want a good story and characters I can really get behind. This book has them in spades.

...on a tray advertisement at a fast food joint. How do they expect a guy to concentrate on his meal?

Seen at First Kitchen in Motomachi.

On a moving van in Kyoto

Book Twenty-six

Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher

"Hell's Bells" count - 16, with 7 instances of "Stars and Stones." I think it's clear which one is Butcher's favorite....

It's one year later....

Many things have changed for Harry Dresden. He has family now, and a giant dog. He has a job - a real one, as a Warden - and all the responsibility that goes with it. He also has the shadow of a fallen angel in his head and a war with the vampiric Red Court to contend with. And in the midst of all this, he's given two small, seemingly unconnected jobs to do: find who's been dabbling in black magic in Chicago and find out why the Red Court vampires have been allowed to use the lands of the Faerie to attack the White Council of Wizardry.

They should be simple, or reasonably so. But they're not. They never are.

Whoever's been using black magic has caused a whole world of hurt, bringing forth creatures that feed on fear and take the forms of some of the most terrible movie monsters we know (all of whom are, of course, based upon real characters, with only the names changed to protect Butcher from Lawyers). These creatures have already killed, attacking at a crowded horror movie convention, and Harry is determined to see that the person who called them forth pays for doing so. With blood and pain, if possible.

Unfortunately, when he finds out just who it is that's been calling up these things, Harry finds himself and his friends in a situation that no mortal should be in - an attack against the Winter Queen of Faerie herself, Queen Mab.

When all is said and done, we get another glimmer of insight into how Dresden's world works. His relationship with the non-Wizarding people he cares about, the laws and strictures that bind the wizard community together, all are tested and pushed to their limits in this book. It's compelling and very, very hard to put down. As with all the Dresden books, I can't recommend it enough....

What's on your mind, TV land....?

Book Twenty-five

Dead Beat by Jim Butcher

"Hell's Bells" count - 12. Under average, although Harry's newest expletive, "Stars and stones," brings up the rear with 7 instances.

Me? Obsessive? Never....

Anyway, many thanks to arcaedia for supplying me with crack more books. I received this one and Proven Guilty yesterday afternoon, along with the "Hell's Bells!" pin. Also, The Boyfriend may have found a hidden message in the cover art - if you look at Harry's staff on the front cover, the glowing letters read "Matrix" in katakana. why this should be so, only the artist knows, but The Boyfriend saw it immediately....

Anyway, I mentioned in the review to the last book that it appeared Butcher had decided to really stir things up, and I was right. Aside from the physical injuries done to Harry, there was a lot of spiritual wounding going on as well. While I was on the train, I wondered what the Harry Dresden from Storm Front would have made of the Harry Dresden from this book. He probably would have been scared. For good reason...

There's necromancy afoot in Chicago, and as much as he doesn't want to be, Harry is in the middle of all of it. He's been charged by one of the most dangerous vampires in the Black Court to find the missing volume of a series written by one of the most notorious necromancers in human history. It's a mission he can't refuse, which is too bad - there are other powerful people who are also hunting for the book, and they're bringing all their Evil Dead powers to bear on it.

In the midst of all this, Harry discovers that past actions still have present consequences, and that the choices he has to make are not always good ones. While Harry does save the day, he does so at a cost.

Aside from its general awesomeness, this book introduces a few really good new characters, including Butters, the Medical Examiner (and no matter how hard I try, I can't help but make him sound a little like Butters from South Park). And there was at least one "Holy SHIT" moment, which is big points in my book. It's at the end of chapter 38, you can't miss it. ( I can't keep my mouth shut.... )

I think that from here on out, this is going to be a very different series. Bigger, darker, as if that were possible, building on the foundation of the previous books to make something far more elaborate and interesting. I can't wait to see what it is.

EDIT: And while we were sleeping, The Dog decided to jump up on the couch, chew off the front cover of the book and gnaw at one of the corners for a while. The only thing standing between him and a Chinese restaurant is the fact that I've finished the book....

*grin* Thanks, Jenn...

No need to panic.

Book Twenty-four

Blood Rites by Jim Butcher

"Hell's Bells" count: 16

Although he has added a new expletive, "Stars and stones," and the two were brilliantly combined to great effect in the phrase, "Hell's holy stars and freaking stones shit balls" on page 346. I have got to commit that one to memory.

This is book six of the series, and it's about time that things took a bit of a turn. As far as I know, The Dresden Files is an open-ended series that Butcher will continue to write until he decides to end it, which is fine with me. One of the dangers of such a plan, however, is stagnation - you end up rehashing similar plot points, perhaps throwing in a few twists and turns, but never really advancing the plot because, well, you don't know where the plot is going.

While I don't know if Butcher knows (or knew at the time he wrote this book, since the series is up to book ten now, I think) where the series will finally end, he does manage to avoid stagnation very nicely. This book really stirs things up for the world of Harry Dresden and lets the readers know that there is far, far more in store for us than we knew. So bravo to you, Jim.

In this volume, Dresden is asked by his kind-of-sort-of friend Thomas to do a favor for him. Despite being a vampire of the White Court and a soul-sucker, Thomas is an okay kind of guy and has helped Harry out of a few tight spots in their time. He can't say he trusts Thomas, but he likes him. The job sounds simple: a movie producer has been having weird accidents happen to people linked with his movie, and two women have already died mysterious deaths. Harry's job would be to figure out who's putting the mojo on the movie studio and stop it.

The fact that it's an adult movie studio is not brought up until later.

In the process of trying to help out with an astoundingly powerful (and regular) Evil Eye curse, Harry runs afoul of the Black Court vampires, nearly falls into the bad books of an assassin who is much, much more dangerous than he appears to be, almost gets murdered by a lord of the White Court and sees one of his greatest nightmares brought to life.

All of this, though is incidental to the things he learns in this book, both about himself and the people he trusts. Those are the things that truly shake up his world and which will shape the books that are to follow.

As with the other books in The Dresden Files series, this is great fun to read. Which makes it no surprise that it's had some measure of success outside its original format - a TV series and a comic, at last count. I look forward to reading the rest of the series and pestering my local bookseller to keep me up to date as the new books come out....

...when you can be a complete douchebag at the same time?

There's been a wave of suicides in Japan recently involving hydrogen sulfide gas. Easy enough to make from household cleaners, hydrogen sulfide is decidedly lethal. What it is not, however, is easy to keep to one room. So while you're breathing your last, you're also making everyone in the immediate vicinity really sick.

I'm not a big fan of suicide - with very few exceptions I find it entirely too selfish to forgive - but if you're going to do it, don't be a dick and don't try to take other people with you.