So, this is a short story in a collection of short stories based in the Forgotten Realms. At first I thought it wLovecraft in the Realms 28 June 2025
So, this is a short story in a collection of short stories based in the Forgotten Realms. At first I thought it was just a collection of fantasy themed detective pieces, but I then came across this one which is supposed to be horror. In fact I got the feeling that this one was modelled on Lovecraftian Horror. The problem that I have with a horror novel in a fantasy world is that I generally equate horror with our world, namely because horror, or at least Lovecraftian horror, involves the supernatural breaking through into the normal. This really doesn’t work with a fantasy world.
So, the story is about an Abbey that is being decommissioned (another issue I will address) and a former pupil comes and takes a window, no doubt stained glass, to place in his church. However, after doing so some rather mysterious things start happening, which includes his pupil disappearing. When he goes to get some answers, it turns out that the people who sold him the window suddenly don’t want anything to do with him, so he is left on his own. The story then ends in a way that I would expect a Lovecraft short story to end.
The other issue I had with this story is the use of the word church. So, the narrator happens to be a priest of Oghma, and I suspect the use of the words for Christian places of worship and learning is meant to create the feeling of a good deity (though a quick search suggests that this is common usage in the game world). The issue I have with church, despite the claims that a church is a collection of people, is its origins. It comes from the old English word Cirice, which means a building set aside for Christian worship, and has only recently been used to refer to a gathering of Christian worshippers (or the collection of Christians as a whole).
Sure, that may sound like me being a bit of a fundy, and I guess you may be right in assuming that, but I also am a stickler for correct usage, which is why I decided to dig into the origins of the world (and it turns out that Christians actually use it incorrectly as well – the world translated to Church from the bible is actually Ecclesia, which means gathering of people).
Anyway, I guess I give it points for attempting to write a Lovecraftian story in the Forgotten Realms setting, but then I have to say that while it doesn’t necessarily fail, I guess it didn’t so much come across as a horror story, but rather dark fantasy....more
I’m wondering if this collection of short stories that I’m reading are basically murder mysteries (or similar) based Just Corporate Slop 16 March 2025
I’m wondering if this collection of short stories that I’m reading are basically murder mysteries (or similar) based in the Forgotten Realms. I have read another one recently (namely in the last 5 years, after randomly grabbing some at a second-hand bookshop) and for some reason I never really found that it works. Well, come to think of it, it does, but when I have read fantasy novels in the past I’ve been more drawn to the high-fantasy swords & sorcery type. Then again, that was me basically living in a box, and I do appreciate it when authors try something different.
So , this story is set in the Moonshaes, which are a group of islands off the coast of the main continent in the Forgotten Realms that is based on Celtic mythology. Actually, it is set in a small village where the protagonist is an innkeeper and also the village’s constable. He learns of the death of a wizard that had come over to the island to help out and of course he has to work out who is responsible. Actually, it’s also one of those stories where the main culprit wasn’t in the area at the time, even though the victim had indicated who was responsible.
There does end up being an answer to this issue, however I won’t say what the solution is because, well, that would give too much away, not that I would be rushing out to recommend this story to anybody because it happens to be the type of slop that the corporate world keeps on churning out. Well, you could probably figure it out, if you happen to really know the rules, though I have to admit that it has been ages since I played it, or even remember the intricate details.
Look, it wasn’t too bad, but as I mentioned, I’m hardly going to run out and recommend it, and I’m certainly not going to recommend it to my book club....more
Okay, so this is the first of the short stories that are a part of a collection of short stories from one of the ForgottLaughably Bad 7 November 2024
Okay, so this is the first of the short stories that are a part of a collection of short stories from one of the Forgotten Realms books that I picked up in a second-hand bookshop a couple of years ago. To say that this story was bland and boring is a literal understatement. Sure, I was rather distracted by world events when I was reading this book, among other things, but that probably has more to do with the story than anything else.
From what I got from the story is that it is about a party of adventurers (not surprising considering that it is a Dungeons & Dragons story) whose leader wants to travel to a port city to purchase some items from the New World (though in the Forgotten Realms they call it Maztica). They stop off at a fortified inn run by gnomes, and while there somebody is killed, and one of the members is accused of the murder because his knife was used. An investigation begins to clear his name, and then the dead man appears again, and it turns out that he was faking is own death.
Honestly, that is all I got and can remember from it. Mind you, it is also the Forgotten Realms, and I have to say that the world is just so bland and boring, but then again I suspect that it was put together by somebody that didn’t put a huge amount of time and effort into it (though when you compare a world with Middle Earth or Westeros they are generally going to fall pretty flat, but then again it does demonstrate that it is possible to create a realistic feeling fantasy world). Then again, when I played Dungeons and Dragons, or at least played in the Forgotten Realms, my appreciation of history was, well, rather limited.
Anyway, that’s one of the stories that I can put aside, though there are still a few to go. The thing is that these stories basically all seem to have been written by the TSR staff writers, so honestly I have little hope for the rest of them. Oh, and one thing that comes to mind is how I spent all this time trying to break into Dungeons and Dragons when in reality you actually have a better chance of breaking into other games, especially the games that people who love roleplaying, but hate Dungeons and Dragons, play. Yeah, the competition is fierce, and your offerings will generally last as long as a youtube video....more
This was the first book that David Gemmell wrote, and apparently, he wrote it while he was being tested for cancer. HJust One Long Battle 6 July 2024
This was the first book that David Gemmell wrote, and apparently, he wrote it while he was being tested for cancer. He started writing it to take his mind off of the tests, but put it aside when he discovered that he was cancer-free. However, a friend encouraged him to finish writing it since his friend saw potential in the book.
The idea came from the idea of battling cancer, though as I read it the story reminded me of the Mongol invasion on one hand, and the battle of Vienna against the Turks on the other. However, the more I read the more I realised that the enemy seemed to resemble the Mongol hordes (though I don’t know if there was a situation where they were laying siege to a European city before they had to return home due to the death of the king).
Actually, a number of the aspects of the battle to seem to involve the mongol invasion, such as the Nadir being a nomadic army that lives in tents, and also returning home before the battle had been completed and never returning despite claiming that they would return. Mind you, I’m not sure if the Mongols had a huge army in the same sense as the Nadir since most, if not all, of their soldiers were on horseback, and the reason that they were so effective was because they were able to fight on horseback.
Another interesting thing is that while it is labelled as a fantasy novel, it comes across as being rather low fantasy. Sure, there is some magic, and some of this magic appears at the end, but for the most part is seems to mostly be a massive battle where the main characters are defending a city against the rampaging hordes.
Obviously, the book did do well because Gemmell went on to write a lot more novels. However, like, it wasn’t really one of my favourites. In fact, all it really is is just one long battle, or at least half the book is a battle whereas the first part has the main characters coming together and preparing the defences of the city. It was an okay read, but nothing that I’m going to jump out as praise. ...more
Okay, I’ve already read this, but this is the graphic novel that my friend also bought. Mind you, one ofClint Eastwood in Fantasy Land 25 January 2025
Okay, I’ve already read this, but this is the graphic novel that my friend also bought. Mind you, one of the interesting things that I’ve noticed is that working in libraries of late, I am pretty impressed that they have a decent graphic novel section. Well, okay, these libraries have always had graphic novels, because I still remember borrowing Asterix and Tintin novels from the library when I was a kid. The sad thing is that these days graphic novels just don’t seem to have the same quality as Tintin or Asterix.
Anyway, this is one of those graphic novels that don’t meet the same quality. Honestly, I felt it simply did not capture the same essence that the book captured. Then again, I suspect translating something to a graphic novel is probably similar to translating something to a film – they are two completely different mediums and it doesn’t always work. Like, it just didn’t have the same nuances that the book had.
So, the story is about this lone gunman named Jon Shannow who arrives at a farm and saves a woman from being harassed by bandits. However, it quickly switches to a typical fantasy novel where Jon ends up going on a quest to defeat some big bad, and along the way he encounters the Titanic, and gets into a number of difficult situations. Oh, it is also set in a post-apocalyptic world, but the difference is that the poles shifted causing the planet to change position. Mind you, it doesn’t really make much sense considering that for this to happen the sunken plates would have had to rise, and the risen plates would have had to sunk.
Another thing that I noticed that that Jon Shannow seems to pretty much be Clint Eastwood’s man with no name. Well, okay, he actually has a name, and seems to have more development than Eastwood’s character. Also, he goes on a quest where as Eastwood simply just deals with bandits in a town. However it seems to start off like that, but then goes off into a fantasy storyline.
I guess that is the thing with this, that it is basically a fantasy novel that has some western flavours to it. Then again, it is hard to escape the influence of the western, which is all about taming the land. Like it is a genre that pretty much arose during the colonial period, and has become a staple in our society, even though the actual western trope has past. Anyway, yeah, I can’t say much about the graphic novel, but still, a part of me still wants to read some more, namely because they are a quick read, even if they aren’t a particularly deep read....more
Well, I have just joined a new book club, having been invited to it by a very good friend of mine. Anyway, theIndian Game of Thrones 18 September 2023
Well, I have just joined a new book club, having been invited to it by a very good friend of mine. Anyway, they mainly focus on fantasy/sci-fi, which is a genre that I am interested in, and they tend to read three books every two months. One of the books that they selected was 2001 A Space Odyssey, but since there were two others, and they suggested that we read more than one so that I can participate more, I chose this one. The reason for that was because it was the only other one that was in the bookshop.
I’ll start off by saying that the premise of the book interested me, namely that it happens to be a grimdark novel based on an Indian story. I also noticed that the author was really keen on becoming India’s first grimdark novelist and that he was inspired to write this book by George R.R. Martin. All of this I support, however this is where the crunch comes in – I really didn’t like this book.
I guess I write this with a heavy heart because I can see that the author went to a lot of trouble to actually write this book, and with his posts on Goodreads I can see that he is actually very excited to see it in print. Mind you, any fledging author is going to be excited to see their first book in print. However, when it comes to the content of the story, yeah, well that is where the problems start to arise.
The thing is that sometimes I feel that books don’t really need to be written this long. I’m sort of more keen on the shorter stories, the ones that can be read over a couple of weeks. It is also the case when there are too many characters, and a lot of time is spent on events that only need to take a few pages, or maybe even a chapter. Mind you, there are long books that I have read that have lots of characters, and also ones that end up being multiple books long. The Expanse is one that comes to mind. However, the first book of the Expanse was pretty tight, and there were only two point of view characters. This is not the case here as we have a number of them, and the second section seems to throw all of them together.
Yeah, I’m not really all that keen on such books, especially ones that happen to be the first in the series (and then at the end, they tell you to look out for the next book in the series) where they happen to be 800 odd pages long, and have multiple characters. The thing is that I simply get lost. Like, there is one part where it simply seems that we are spending an awful lot of time with somebody just trying to get off of a boat.
I have read a couple of other grimdark novels in the past (not Game of Thrones – I sort of put that to the side when the series came out, and considering the size of the books, and the number of books on my bookshelf, it ended up with a friend, and I won’t be asking for it back).
So yeah, sadly, I really wasn’t all that keen on this book. Some books I will give another go, especially since my mind seems to wonder just a little bit too much these days, but this one, well, I’m going to give it to a friend when I see him next....more
Well, I have been saying for a while that it was the Lord of the Rings that kicked off the modern fantasy geThe classic fantasy novel 13 February 2012
Well, I have been saying for a while that it was the Lord of the Rings that kicked off the modern fantasy genre, but then I stumbled across an animated version of this story and I realised that I had been a little wrong. Granted both Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit are both by the same author, set in the same world, and have similar characters. However the Hobbit was the earlier release and it also was released to a much better reception than the following books. It was also originally crafted as a children's book (the Lord of the Rings is probably a bit too detailed for it to successfully work as a children's book).
Okay, the quest narrative has been around for a very long time and many point back to the Odyssey as the beginnings of this style of narrative, however one can actually go back even earlier to the Mesopotamian story the Epic of Gilgamesh. In Gilgamesh the quest is for eternal life, in particularly the ability to bring somebody back from the dead, however Gilgamesh fails in his quest, though does learn about the origins of the world in which we live.
I should return back to the Hobbit though, which I suspect is a very popular story (I even studied it in highschool). The quest narrative is very clear here in that Bilbo is conscripted into a quest for some dwarves, led by Thorin Oakensheild, to travel to the Lonely Mountain, kill the dragon Smaug, and restore the dwarves to their homeland. Tolkein has everything in this journey: trolls, goblins, dragons, giant spiders, dungeon crawls, and a hobbit that seems to always save the day. However, Tolkien does not simply end the book with 'dragon killed, treasure found, everybody lives happily ever after'. First of all it is clear that this is the prelude to Lord of the Rings and the book paints a little background on the ring that is to play an important role in the next books.
As mentioned, the book does end with a twist, which involves Thorin. It is funny to note that for dwarves these guys are a pretty pathetic lot. They get trapped underground and captured by goblins, after escaping (with the help of Gandalf) then then get caught by giant spiders and then by elves (and not forgetting the trolls). I always had an impression (maybe it is from years of playing Dungeons and Dragons) that dwarves were a warrior people, but these guys seem to spend more time running away than not and the person who steps in to save the day multiple times (other than Gandalf) is a single hobbit. They don't even kill the dragon: Bard from Laketown does.
However, once the dragon dies, and Lonely Mountain is claimed on behalf of the dwarves, suddenly everybody else wants a piece of the action and Thorin is too stubborn and greedy to seek allies. As such, when the elves and the men approach Lonely Mountain, Thorin pretty much tells them to get lost. However, they don't take this lying down and they suddenly find themselves at war with the men and the elves. They do get reinforcements from other dwarves, but then the goblin hordes swarm down out of the mountains to take the stronghold themselves.
It is this last part of the book that made it stand out for me and for some reason every time I think of the story of The Hobbit I forget about this last section. I believe this part holds and important to understanding the nature of the book and the nature of greed. Thorin does not survive this final battle, though he could have if he had not been so demanding. One questions whether the treasure was really his anyway. He did not kill the dragon, Bard did, and he did not do much to recover his mountain home, Bilbo did. It is almost as if he is one of those people who hides while the fighting is going on, and when it is over steps out and takes the glory for the victory. In then end Thorin is actually not much of a noble character, and his stubbornness results in the deaths of many friends.
One question I should ask though is whether Bilbo actually gains anything from his quest. Okay, he gains the ring, and we see the effects of it in the next story. He also comes away with a story that he writes and publishes, but it is suggested in the Lord of the Rings that he has become quite insular and alone. He does have his nephew Frodo, however he ends up fleeing to the elves. Then there is Gollum, a creature that one has no choice but to pity. Everytime I see or read of him I pity the state into which he has fallen. He killed his best friend over the ring, and the ring has come to so dominate his life that when he loses it his entire world collapses. He has been long corrupted by the ring, however once it is lost he goes to extraordinary lengths to attempt to recover it, even going into the heart of Mordor to do so. While Gollum plays a minor role in this story, his role becomes a major part of the next....more
I am surprised that some commentators have indicated that this story is more reflective of The Odyssey since it litThe Aeneid with Rabbits 8 July 2023
I am surprised that some commentators have indicated that this story is more reflective of The Odyssey since it literally seems to follow the exact plot of The Aeneid, right down to where they go to war with their neighbours once they had founded a place to settle. Sure, the initial part of the book doesn’t involve a Trojan style battle, but it does involve a prophecy that the warren will be destroyed and that they must flee.
Of course, many don’t actually believe the prophecy, and it is explained down the track that the problem with prophecies is that a lot of rabbits spout them, and if they responded to every prophecy of doom and gloom then they would be forever on the run. Of course, the rabbit in charge of the warren forbids them to go, but they leave anyway. It turned out that the prophecy was true in that the paddock in which the Warren was located had been set aside for a new housing development.
Mind you, the story is actually rather problematic in that while the first part of the story involves the rabbits attempting to find a new home, the second part involves them trying to find some does, or female rabbits, so that the warren may grow and thrive. At first it involves attempting to rescue some from a farm, but while they manage to get some, it turns out that they are way too traumatised to actually procreate. The next solution is to go to a nearby warren, Efafra, and see if they can have some of their does.
This is what I find rather problematic because it seems to be treating women as commodities. Like, one could argue that Efrafra is a tyrannical city-state and when the rabbits arrive they are captured and made a part of the warren. However, they managed to escape and then they concoct a plan to return to Efafra and ‘rescue’ a bunch of does. Sure, the does do have names, and they actually want to leave because of the leadership of the warren isn’t the best. Yet, it still makes me somewhat uncomfortable.
However, from what I can remember,and it has been a while since I read The Aeneid, I believe that is basically what happened in the story. Actually, I believe that is what the ‘Rape of the Sabine’ women was all about, though that was probably after Rome was established as opposed to the colony Aeneas established. Still, there was this issue of the current inhabitants having issues with the Trojans settling where they settled.
There does seem to be some parallels, though the story seems to more be the journey to a new land, and then finding citizens so that the warren might thrive. There is a scene where they come across a warren that seems to be living in a good position, though it turns out that there is a reason for this – the local farm is actually breeding the rabbits, and they will randomly come and take some away, and of course, it is always the trick to try to avoid being taken. However, they pretty much get everything they need, and as long as they are not unlucky, then life is good.
The final thing with this story is that it has a couple of legends placed between the chapters. The thing with the rabbits is that they are master storytellers, and this comes to play with the stories that are being told. This is certainly a rather good, and somewhat unique. Then again, I do suspect that he was borrowing a lot from the Ancient writers, and they certainly include similar stories in their works.
Yeah, it’s actually pretty good. Different, though I probably wouldn’t necessarily say that it is unique or original. Mind you, when I encounter stories where they have animals going on quests (such as Tailchasers Song for cats and the Dunction novels for badgers, I seem to always look back to this book as being the original. Look, there were no doubt other, earlier stories (Wind in the Willows) where we have anthropomorphic animals, but this seems to move into the concept of the quest/adventure....more
So, I’ve now managed to complete this set of four books, which as I’ve probably said before, I’ve probably alreaThe Final Conclusion 26 November 2022
So, I’ve now managed to complete this set of four books, which as I’ve probably said before, I’ve probably already read. But then again I’ve read so many of Moorcock’s books that I can’t quite remember the ones that I’ve read or not, and also, I have no idea what happened to all the other ones. Actually, I’m not even sure if I ended up giving them to my friend (because even though I suspect that I have read these ones, I’m not sure if he landed up with them because I gave them to him).
Anyway, the book starts with Hawkmoon and d’Averc making their way back from Amerek to return to their princesses, but it seems that the powers that be have other ideas for them. While they are crossing the ocean they are attacked by some creatures that then proceed to drag them back to Amerek and the city of Dnark (which I believe is supposed to be New York). When they arrive they encounter one of the barons from the Gran Bretan, and of course, a battle starts which, not surprisingly, Hawkmoon wins. It is here that he discovers the bane of his existence, and that is the Runestaff.
It’s odd because throughout the series we are being told about how the Runestaff pretty much dictates people’s destinies, but when they finally find it, it simply happens to be a piece of wood that is used as a standard. Yet everybody seems to hold it in some mystical awe, that is everybody but Hawkmoon who comes across as being seriously inconvenienced by the fact that the Runestaff has mapped out his destiny. Well, I suspect that it might have something to do with Meliadius’ foolish oath back in the first book, where he swore by the Runestaff that he would destroy Hawkmoon.
Yeah, this book seems to explore the nature of destiny in that the suggestion is that there are forces beyond our control that dictate our every move. Mind you, there are a lot of sects in the modern world that believe that (and I’m looking at the hyper-Calvinists here) and sadly these beliefs do lead to some very nasty beliefs (you are in that position because it is God’s will that you are in that position – and I hear it being said a lot in regards to poverty). Yet, it is clear from Hawkmoon that he finds this to be rather frustrating, yet you also get the impression that the Runestaff seems to know best.
The reason for that is because of the nature of the final battle. In fact, that last section of the book was probably the best, and I personally don’t want to say too much about it because I feel that it might actually ruin what ended up being a pretty good conclusion. However, one of the things that I have noticed in Moorcock’s books is that the battles seem to be all one-sided affairs, which is why the final battle in this book was so much better, namely because he had given us something completely unexpected. All I will say is that it turns out that just because you happen to be a main character, doesn’t mean that you are going to survive until the end of the story (though it isn’t anywhere near as bad as some other books that I haven’t read).
Yeah, I actually really liked this one, and I also appreciated the fact that the whole story was broken up into smaller books, which were all quite small, and quick to read. This is definitely something that seems to be ignored these days, with the number of bricks that seem to be appearing on the shelves. Honestly, I would like to go back to the days where the novels were of such a size that you could read a book in a couple of days....more
It is so annoying when you write a review and then suddenly discover that it didn’t save. Honestly, I thought I hadNever Stop Dreaming 24 October 2022
It is so annoying when you write a review and then suddenly discover that it didn’t save. Honestly, I thought I had actually saved my work, but when I went to find it again I discovered that it had completely vanished. Maybe next time I’m out and about writing reviews while sitting in a craft beer brewery drinking an IPA, I’ll make double-sure that the review saves. Mind you, it’s okay because I do remember what I was going to say about this short story.
Actually, I went up to a friend at church the other night, one who has published a Call of Cthulu adventure and asked her about Lovecraft. I was surprised that she was interested in the setting because I knew that she would be put off by his racism. She is, but still likes the setting, and also prefers the roleplaying game because they have since done away with all of the racism in his works. Anyway, I told her that I had read this story, and encouraged her to keep on practicing her art because what I learnt from this story is that the minute you give up your dream on becoming an artist is the minute that you die – in a way the desire to be an artist is that which keeps you young at heart. Her response was ‘I never expected to come to church and be given a word of encouragement by HP Lovecraft’.
My other friend said it was an interesting interpretation of this story, but the thing is that this is what I think it is about. Iranon is a bard, and he has this memory of a beautiful city that he knew that he was in when he was younger. However, everybody in his town is telling him to give up his work as an artist and simply do what they consider proper work. Honestly, I know how he feels because I have experienced that a lot in my time as well. I said ‘stuff them’ and went back to university and studied computer programming, which is an art form in and of itself.
The thing with Iranon is that he seems to be eternally young. He then meets somebody who believes he knows where the city is, and they travel together only to discover that it isn’t the city, but just another normal city. However, Iranon continues to perform as a bard, and is quite popular, that is until a newer artistic group arrives and he goes by the wayside. That is when he realises that the city only existed in his imagination, and upon concluding that grows old and dies.
That can also be a problem with being an artist because something new is always going to come along and replace you. Sure, there are some artists that are quite long-lived, but many of them, once they cease to be new, end up being forgotten, only to end up performing in a pub to a bunch of old people who barely remember their names, let alone their songs. Then there is the problem that being an artist that you are comparing yourself with the masters, and when you come to the conclusion that you could never excel their works, you give up, and once again a bit of you dies on the inside.
As such, this book is a reminder that we should keep that desire alive, don’t let the dream die, even if it is a dream that can never be achieved. That desire to embrace beauty that is the world of art is what makes up human, and it is not only what keeps us alive, but keeps us youthful and vibrant....more
I said that I would read this one, and I have, but honestly, I am finding that I simply can’t get into PratchMore Discworld Technology 6 November 2022
I said that I would read this one, and I have, but honestly, I am finding that I simply can’t get into Pratchett’s books the way that I used to. Okay, I know I’m probably committing heresy here, but even a friend of mine who has been a long-time Pratchett fan, has said that many of his books are turning out the same, namely that Discworld invents something that resembles a modern device, and then everything goes crazy. Yeah, this is pretty much what is happening here, though in this case you could say that it is mobile phones.
Well, not quite because what has been developed are towers known as clacks. These are towers that are separated and are used to pass messages along using semaphore. Look, it isn’t as if this was a new invention – the Persians would use bonfires on mountains to pass messages across its empire, and I’m sure we have also heard of smoke signals, however, the way that the clacks have been designed does make me think of mobile phone towers.
I say that because we are told that these towers are being built on pretty much anything that happens to be high, and they are pretty much becoming ubiquitous as well. In fact, there are references as to how they are located all over the city. I remember when I was young the same complaints were made about mobile phone towers, though it seems that these days they have started to disguise them quite well so you don’t actually see as many (though that could be because I am simply not looking for them).
So, the story is about a character named Moist Von Lipwig. He is a con artist, but he has been arrested and is awaiting execution. However, at the last minute, he is pulled off of death row and comes before the Patrician who gives him a choice – run the post office or die. Well, not quite like that because he can walk through the door, and to do so would mean certain death. Then again, some might argue that neither option is all that great, and some could even suggest that there are people who would choose death over running a post office.
Basically, this is a story about two competing technologies. The post office has become run down because of the Clacks, and it is Moist’s job to revitalise it. The thing is that the guy who runs the Clacks turns out to be a rather shrewd businessman, shrewd in the way that he will make sure that any competition will not get off the ground. In a way, I’m not surprised, and I also suspect that it is intentional, that the name of the offices is Tump Tower (not that Tump is shrewd like this guy, he is more like Moist Von Lipwig).
There were a couple of things that were a little confusing at first, like this whole pin-collecting fad, but it actually started to make sense as the book progresses. Once again, it is a very Terry Pratchet thing to create something that makes no sense whatsoever, but it turns out that it is what the Discworld would do before something was invented, in this case it was stamps.
Look, it wasn’t too bad, but as I mentioned, we are sort of getting to the point where, well, many of Pratchett’s books just don’t seem to have the charm that the first books happened to have. While it wasn’t too bad, as I mentioned, I did struggle quite a bit to get into it....more
I’m going to be giving this book some credit for actually trying to be something that isn’t a typical pulp fantasSomething Different 29 September 2022
I’m going to be giving this book some credit for actually trying to be something that isn’t a typical pulp fantasy novel that you are going to expect from the people that brought you piles of useless materials that make up the Dungeons and Dragons game (though it is sort of to be expected, especially when there is a huge demand from the corporate masters to make as much money as possible, and there are only so many Players Handbooks, Dungeon Masters Guides, and Monster Manuals that you can conceivably sell – though I do work on the principle that the only book you really need is The Players Handbook).
The reason that I was actually impressed was that they decided to try and do a murder mystery, which certainly differs from the typical books that you get, namely a group of people going on a quest of some sort and either defeating some bad guy, or getting some MacGuffin, maybe even having to save the world, though it always surprises me the number of world-shattering events that seem to end up happening.
So, the story goes that in this small town on the edge of the Kingdom of Cormyr there are stories of this ghost of a brigand that lived something like five hundred years ago, and because of this ghost, people are somewhat hesitant to travel along the swamp road at night. Then one day this quarter halfling (its a bit of a long story) that happens to be the indentured servant of a wizard that no longer wants to use magic (also a long story, but it adds quite a bit of flavour to the novel) meets the ghost, runs away, and the next morning discovers that it wasn’t a ghost, but rather one of the people from the town pretending to be the ghost. As such, the wizard, who isn’t a wizard, decides that it might be a good idea to actually try to find out what is going on.
Look, for a murder mystery, it seems to be more like a Sherlock Holmes novel as opposed to an Agatha Christie novel, though there are probably enough hints left around for you to actually work out what is going on. The thing with the Sherlock Holmes novels is that they are always split in two, namely that you have the background as to what happened, and then you have Holmes spending the next half of the novel explaining to everybody, or at least to Watson, what happened, and usually you aren’t really able to work things out because there are a number of key issues that happen to not have been revealed until Holmes actually explains everything. This story is a bit like that.
As I mentioned, it is certainly different to pretty much all of the other Forgotten Realms novels that I have read and I certainly give them credit for that. It reminds me of something that my English teacher once told me, and that was to try to go outside of your comfort zone and to write stories that you normally wouldn’t want to, or be able to, write. For instance, if you are a horror writer, then many write romance. Actually, if you are any type of writer, maybe write romance, not that I’m particularly keen on writing romance, but I’m sure you know what I mean. Mind you, when I did do that, I sort of wrote a Jane Austen romance, though I’d never actually read any Jane Austin at that point. Mind you, that is actually something that Shakespeare did, which is probably why he stands above and beyond pretty much every other playwright that was around his time, and since....more
One of the things that I like about Moorcock’s books is that they tend to be rather short, though as it turns out iIt Ain’t Over Yet 22 September 2022
One of the things that I like about Moorcock’s books is that they tend to be rather short, though as it turns out it is basically a single story that has been split across four volumes. However, each of them is fairly self-contained, except that you do actually need to read the earlier ones to actually understand what is happening in the later ones. Sure, you could read them separately, but it does become somewhat confusing, not that I haven’t done it in the past mind you.
So, from the previous story, the Karmag has been shifted to a new place to escape the invading hordes of the Dark Empire of Gran Bretan. However, when they are out for a stroll one morning they encounter somebody who turns out to be this playwright from Granbretan. Further, it turns out that this playwright had written a play that had offended the king, and as such fled the city to attempt to redeem himself. He did so by discovering a means of travelling through the dimensions, which is how he landed up in the Karmag. The problem is that if he can do it, then they suspect the rest of the army, including Baron Meliadus, who happens to be Hawkmoon’s arch enemy, can do it as well.
Mind you, when this playwright was introduced I immediately thought of Shakespeare, though as it turns out this playwright is not a nice person. Apparently, the way that you can tell that he is lying is that his lips are moving. Then it is also interesting that there is this subtle exploration of censorship, though I do wonder whether there was a lot of self-censorship going on in Shakespeare’s plays – no doubt there was. It also makes me wonder how many great works were never written because of self-censorship (though some of them were, but the sub-text wasn’t all that obvious to the original audience)
It turns out that Meliadus has been told not to pursue Hawkmoon and his allies, but being the type of character who is obsessed with dealing with his enemies, and also desires Hawkmoon’s wife Yisselda (though I suspect this has something more to do with demonstrating his power over his enemies), he goes behinds the emperor’s back, which ends up getting him into trouble. Actually, the scene in Granbretan and Londra is actually pretty cool, because Moorcock uses a pretty cool bait and switch that turns out to be a rather interesting twist.
Look, it is rather mindless, though the more I think about it there is some subtle ideas permeating through the works, such as Meliadius’ desire for Yisselda. Anyway, Moorcock’s works are somebody better than a lot of the fantasy novels that we tend to get these days. In a way they are written in a way that does have the ability to bring us into the world, and into the adventure, but he doesn’t waste any space for things that don’t really need to be talked about. Okay, as I mentioned, this is pretty much a single story that has been split into four books, but that does help me because not only does it give me more books to review on Goodreads, it also allows me to split them up into more bite sized pieces so that I can explore other books in between....more
Well, I’m now sitting in the Lyons Part-Dieu railway station waiting for a train to take me to Paris, anNeo-Classical Lovecraft 25 August 2022 – Lyons
Well, I’m now sitting in the Lyons Part-Dieu railway station waiting for a train to take me to Paris, and then to transfer on to a train to London, where I will then catch a train through to Manchester. It will be interesting to see how long that will take (it took 9 ½ hours), and whether it will still be light when I get to Manchester (it was). Mind you, one of the things I love about these French railway stations is the little tune they play before their announcements. If you have ever been in one you will know what I’m talking about.
It seems like Lovecraft is delving into classical mythology with this story. It is about a tree that sits in a graveyard on a mountain in Arcadia. At first I thought it was one of his imaginary lands, but it turns out that it is Greece. Anyway, the story goes that the tyrant of Syracuse in Sicily has heard of some great sculptures in the area and asks the two of them to make him a statue that will last for the ages. Anyway, the condition is that they compete, but also co-operate.
So, they make the statue, but in the process one of them is killed, and is buried in the graveyard where the tree is located. The statue is also placed under the tree as a testimony to the sculptor’s skill. When the envoys of the tyrants arrive, they see the statue, but before they can move it, a branch falls from the tree and destroys it. I suspect the idea is that the soul of the sculptor now inhabits the tree, and was in a sense teasing the tyrant with the promise of immortality before removing it. Mind you, the tyrant has obtained some form of immortality anyway, though only as a nasty side character in Plutarch.
This story reminds me of the poem Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelly45882. The thing is that when we read this poem, or at least when I first read this poem, I had no idea that it referred to Ramses II. Then again I’m not quite sure if Egyptology was so advanced at the time it was written that they knew that he existed (though I can say that my knowledge of Egyptology at the time when I read it was quite limited), but since it was Napoleon who discovered the Rosetta Stone that enabled us to read hieroglyphics, we probably did (and then there is the Bible, but that is another story). However, the name is hidden from us because the whole idea of the poem is that it our immortality is not assured, no matter how many sculptures of ourselves we build. I suspect that Lovecraft is doing that here as well.
The whole idea of the sculpture was to no only immortalise the tyrant, but to immortalise his glory. This never happened, as we know, because all we have is a reference to him, and a reference as to how much of a brute he was. Mind you, there are quite a number of humans who have attained immortality, and in a good way as well. Cleopatra comes to mind (and we don’t even know what she looked like). Well, okay Jesus Christ as well, but then again it depends on whether you consider him to be a man, or the Son of God. Still, it doesn’t really matter how you perceive him, he has obtained immortality in a way that the tyrant of Syracuse hasn’t. The whole idea of the sculpture was to no only immortalise the tyrant, but to immortalise his glory. This never happened, as we know, because all we have is a reference to him, and a reference as to how much of a brute he was. Mind you, there are quite a number of humans who have attained immortality, and in a good way as well. Cleopatra comes to mind (and we don’t even know what she looked like). Well, okay Jesus Christ as well, but then again it depends on whether you consider him to be a man, or the Son of God. Still, it doesn’t really matter how you perceive him, he has obtained immortality in a way that the tyrant of Syracuse hasn’t. The whole idea of the sculpture was to no only immortalise the tyrant, but to immortalise his glory. This never happened, as we know, because all we have is a reference to him, and a reference as to how much of a brute he was. Mind you, there are quite a number of humans who have attained immortality, and in a good way as well. Cleopatra comes to mind (and we don’t even know what she looked like). Well, okay Jesus Christ as well, but then again it depends on whether you consider him to be a man, or the Son of God. Still, it doesn’t really matter how you perceive him, he has obtained immortality in a way that the tyrant of Syracuse hasn’t....more
Well, now I’m sitting at a cafe in the town (or is it a city, I’m not quite sure with these European A Deadly Addiction to Dreams 20 Aug 2022 – Aachen
Well, now I’m sitting at a cafe in the town (or is it a city, I’m not quite sure with these European places) of Aachen waiting for a couple of friends with whom I will be going on a tour of the city. I actually think it’s pretty cool to meet up with people I know on the otherside of the world because, well, being so distant from Australia means that there is an element that I’m disconnected from everything happening there. Okay, there was the time that I ran into a couple of people I knew at Hong Kong airport, so it does happen.
This is another of the stories that seem to be a part of Lovecraft’s Dream Cycle (at least that is what Goodreads calls it). The stories seem to follow a similar pattern in that the central character goes into an imaginary world, and then gets a rude shock at the end. Well, I would probably say that we as the reader gets a rude shock. In this story the main character enters these worlds through his dreams, and he finds one he loves so much, the Celephais of the title, that he wants to return. The problem is that everytime he dreams he goes to a different world.
To solve this problem he starts taking drugs to make him sleep so that he can get to this world, and he does, but sure enough he awakens, and when he goes back to sleep he is in a different world. Thus what we have is a character that is spiralling ever further into destitution just so that he can return to this dream world.
In fact, it reminds me of when I have pleasant dreams, and then we are rudely awakened to suddenly discover that I am back in reality. Mind you, the dream itself pretty quickly disappears from my mind and then I end up going back to my life. There is still one dream that I vividly remember for some reason though, but maybe that had to do with a couple of things that it predicted that ended up coming true. Oh, I do remember the dream I had last night, but that was because it was last night, and that I went to a party where all of my cousin’s children were present, and the kids were all absolute ratbags.
It also makes me wonder about other worlds of imagination, such as Dungeons and Dragons, and computer videos games. I have noted that some people really didn’t like us playing these games because they took us out of the real world and placed us into a world purely of our imagination. Then again, some of us lived pretty horrid lives at the time, and the only way we could escape was to go into the worlds where things weren’t anywhere near as bad (such as when a bully decided to push you around you could either chop their head off with your sword, or simply send a fireball in their direction). The problem is that like the main character in this book, we can end up getting so obsessed with these imaginary worlds that we end up losing touch with reality....more
Dreaming of a Voyage 13 Aug 2022 – English Channel
Okay, I’ve just come out of the Chunnel (I was going to say ‘pulled out’ but I could just imaging BeDreaming of a Voyage 13 Aug 2022 – English Channel
Okay, I’ve just come out of the Chunnel (I was going to say ‘pulled out’ but I could just imaging Beavis and Butthead snickering at that, not that I’ve ever actually watched any of their shows). It is annoying that the wifi is so patchy on this train, and honestly I have no idea if it is because of the operating system that I’m running, or if it is the train’s wifi. Anyway, the guy sitting next to me seems to be able to live stream on his phone.
This short story was sort of similar to the previous one, namely because it involved exploring an unknown world. Actually, it is about this chap named Basil Elton. that sees a white ship piloted by a man with a white beard. Also, he happens to be a lighthouse keeper, and one day he sees a beam on light going over to this ship so he decides to cross over to the ship and have an explore, which he does. It turns out that he visits these magnificent islands, of which are greater than anything to be found on Earth. However, it is one of those stories that have an interesting twist at the end.
Basically it is about how Elton gets the opportunity to go exploring, though the suggestion at the beginning is that it is something that comes out of his imagination. Mind you, this is one of those stories that questions what the difference between the imagination and reality. None of the places that Elton visits is on Earth, and there is a suggestion that he spends quite a lot of time away. However, the story ends asking the question whether this experience was all in his imagination or not.
It does raise the question about the nature of fantasy, not so much fantasy worlds, but rather the worlds or our imagination. The one of the previous stories explored the nature of dreams, but Lovecraft seems to go further with this one and starts to explore the nature of imagination, and how the worlds of our imagination could quite possibly have the same reality and that of our dreams....more
My initial plan was to write this review while sitting at Ye Old Road to Jerusalem, arguably England’s oldest puEmpires Fall 13 Aug 2022 – Nottingham
My initial plan was to write this review while sitting at Ye Old Road to Jerusalem, arguably England’s oldest pub, however when I got there I discovered that pretty much everybody else had the idea of having a drink there (and that it is so busy that a broken glass is the least of their problems). I did go to another pretty old pub, dating back to the 13th century, but it turned out to be a bike pub. Yeah, only in England is there a pub that dates back to the 13th century that turn out to be a bike pub.
Anyway, while I’m on the train heading back to London from Nottingham (and the only reason I went to Nottingham was to have a beer at Ye Olde Road to Jerusalem – and I was assured that a horde of crusaders weren’t going to barge into the pub while I was there drinking there). Fortunately that turned out to be the case, so I was able to sit on my stool and read my book, which wasn’t this one because I had already finished it.
To be honest a part of me felt like I was reading a Dungeons and Dragons sourcebook, and another part of me felt as if I was reading a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. That’s sort of what came to mind, though I might have been thinking of somebody else, but couldn’t quite grasp the name, so I’ll stick with Samuel Taylor Coleridge since it did remind me a lot of Kubla Kahn. Actually it reminded me so much of Kubla Kahn that I sort of wondered whether Lovecraft was on drugs when he wrote this (though the internet explicitly says that he didn’t take drugs, which is what I suspected).
So, the story is basically about the rise and fall of the city of Sarnath, and it spends most of the time giving some particularly detailed descriptions of this city. In a way that is why I related it to some roleplaying sourcebook since they tend to go into some pretty detailed descriptions of their cities, despite the fact that I consider these sourcebooks a complete waste of money. However, it also sounds as if it is one of those cities, like Myth Drannor in the Forgotten Realms, that was once a powerful, and beautiful, city that has since been destroyed and is now ruins inhabited my monsters that adventurers will explore looking for treasures and experience.
Then again, it also makes me think of the other great cities in our world, the ones that arose to prominence, dominated the region, or even the world, only to be brought low by their neighbours. Well, maybe not Rome, who had expanded to control most of Europe, though I do think of London which was eventually brought low by the Germans, who were neighbours (and well, you could consider that the barbarians that eventually sacked Rome were neighbours, but that was a rather complex collapse). However, as is typical with Lovecraft, the city turned out to be inhabited by some rather nasty beings. This wasn’t a city of barbarians, or people that spoke a different language, but a city of green creatures and ended up attacking and destroying the place. Yeah, while it comes across as being a fantasy, the introduction of Lovecraftian monsters raises it to another level....more
I was sitting in the pub reading this book and some guy, who by the looks of it was really into fantasy/sci-fi, A Dangerous Journey Back 13 July 2022
I was sitting in the pub reading this book and some guy, who by the looks of it was really into fantasy/sci-fi, came up to me to ask me what I was reading. When I showed him he exclaimed that the title of this book was the best title that he had ever seen. Mind you, this is the second in the series, and it is clear that he hadn’t discovered the first book Jewel in the Skull.
This story starts shortly after the conclusion of the previous book. Hawkmoon and his companion, the dwarf giant Olabdan (it seems as if word order matters), have managed to neutralise the said jewel in his skull, and are returning to Europe so that he might get married. However, things sort of takes a turn for the worse when they land up in a ruined city in the middle of Syria and run into a battalion of Dark Empire troops.
It is at this point that the plot twists start happening. Firstly they are forced to go on a detour through Ukraine, firstly because they discover that the Dark Empire is now operating across the Meditteranean, and when they attempt to cross the Black Sea, they encounter a ship full of howling maniacs. They end up having to switch boats, and while they are making their way to Sevastopol, they rescue a couple of shipwreck people clutching to a raft, and it turns out that it is one of Hawkmoon’s enemies. Of course, they create a rather interesting dynamic and these two enemies end up travelling together.
The whole Mad God aspect of the story comes about because Hawkmoon discovers a hand upon which is the ring of his beloved. Moreso, the Warrior in Jet and Black turns up again, and honestly, we have little idea as to who he is, though he does provide some guidance to Hawkmoon. This is because there is an amulet that rightfully belongs to Hawkmoon, even though Hawkmoon has no idea why, and has never heard of this amulet before. It does relate to the fact that Hawkmoon is the Eternal Champion, something that is consistent across many of Moorcock’s books.
Yeah, it’s short, and it’s fun. It might not be the crowning face of literature, however, it does stand out in a way that a lot of other fantasy books don’t. On the other hand, like a lot of Moorcock’s books, this one has an awful lot of battles where a handful of characters are able to defeat a whole army. Then again, it isn’t as if they are invincible because it is indicated in a number of places that if they continue the battle then they will surely be defeated.
I won’t go into further detail because I have probably given away too much already, but it is a rather fun, and enjoyable, high fantasy romp, that while ending on a victory, we know that there is still more to come....more
I really do find these books rather dry and boring. It’s not because the stories are bad, or that the characterJust Another Dungeon Crawl 25 July 2022
I really do find these books rather dry and boring. It’s not because the stories are bad, or that the characters aren’t interesting, it is just that there really doesn’t seem to be all that much life in them. In fact it feels as if they are simply churned out to meet a specific market that simply gobbles these books up without much thought. Actually, there is probably a good reason why my English Teacher would refer to these books as airport trash. Actually, I would even go as far as suggesting that these aren’t even they type of books that you would read if you simply want a rest.
Like, it wasn’t as if the characters weren’t interesting or anything like that, it is just that despite an attempt to give them some backstory, they just don’t seem to have any life. The main characters in the book, two apprentice wizards, would have come across much better if they were, well, bumbling in the way that such characters would be in say, well, a Terry Pratchett book. Okay, Terry Pratchett’s books really do come across very cartoonish, but the thing is that despite some interesting aspects, they still tasted like cardboard. Actually, come to think of it, I’d probably suggest something more along the lines of Riggs and Murtagh (from the Lethal Weapon series).
It isn’t as if the author wasn’t trying though. Like, for quite a while goblins were simply considered cannon-fodder for low level characters, however the author does her best to try to paint them as being more like a grey area, and also that they are real people with real needs. It is obvious that they breed like anything, and because of this they are going to have an enormous drain on the resources of a region, even a rather remote region like the one here. There is discussion as how they regularly come into town looking for food, and if they are given food, then the whole tribe of them will descend upon the town. It isn’t that they are violent either, that they just simply overwhelm the place.
It actually takes about half the book for the adventure to actually start, and sometimes that is actually a good thing, though in this story it really isn’t. We are given a backstory to the characters, and how their mother was killed in a raid by the Red Wizards, and how both of the main characters somehow survived (well, one of them ran and hid, so there is that). Yet while there are references to the Red Wizards throughout the story, they don’t actually play a major role. It sort of makes me wonder what the point of that first section was, unless it was to outline how one of the characters landed up with an artifact. Still, that could have been covered in a much shorter space, but I guess there was a page count to consider. Another thing, the artifact didn’t even play a major, or even minor, role in the story (or at least not that I noticed, but then again I did find it difficult to remain focused).
Honestly, I really found it a struggle to get into the book, it felt poorly written, including a number of grammatical errors that were present (which is more the editor’s fault than the author’s). There was quite a bit of potential here, but I felt that the author was quite hamstrung by the requirements of the publisher, and I suspect that when you happen to be writing a book set in one of the Dungeons and Dragons worlds, then there are time limits, among other things. I still remember when I was a kid that a release schedule would be put out on a yearly basis so you know what was actually appearing. In the end I fell that this book should probably be put back and something else considered instead....more
It has been ages since I’ve read a Michael Moorcock novel, and a part of me, even though I have already read a The Post Apocalyptic Novels 6 July 2022
It has been ages since I’ve read a Michael Moorcock novel, and a part of me, even though I have already read a bunch of them back in my youth (that makes me sound really old), a part of me really wants to read them again. The problem is that I pretty much gave them all away. However, one of my friends had a collection of Hawkmoon stories, so I decided to grab them and give them a read.
Actually, I vaguely remember actually reading this one. The reason I say this is because I suddenly remembered the silver bridge that crossed the English Channel, and that the story started off with this guy who only ever wore brass. Rather imaginatively, his name was Count Brass. The other thing is that this story is set far in the future, after what was called The Tragic Millenium. We are never told what actually happened, but it sounded as if there was a huge war, possibly even nuclear, and the world reverted to a medieval state, though some technology remained.
Anyway, the British Empire has been revived, sort of, but it is now known as The Dark Empire, or the Empire of Granbretan. Well, one could probably say that it has more to do with the English empire during the Hundred Years War, namely because they have invaded France, and are slowly making their way to attempt to conquer all of Europe, and then the world. The empire had recently captured the city of Cologne, of which Hawkmoon was the ruler, and one of the Barons, Meladius, travels to Count Brass to attempt to negotiate a truce. Instead, he decides to kidnap his daughter and is promptly kicked out. So he goes to Hawkmoon, plants a Jewel in his skull, and tells him to go and kidnap the daughter for him.
The story is split into four parts, the first part introducing the conflict between Meladius and Count Brass, the second introducing Hawkmoon and also his trip to visit Count Brass, the battle between the Dark Empire and the forces of Brass and Hawkmoon, and finally Hawkmoon’s quest to disable the jewel. The thing is that the Jewel not only allows the minions of the Dark Empire to spy on him, but it is also a time bomb in that if they desire, they can simply kill Hawkmoon.
Yeah, the story was okay, though it is fairly basic. Actually, the interesting thing is that it isn’t quite like some of Moorcock’s other stories, which pretty much twists the whole standard narrative of the typical fantasy novel on its head. However, it was written before the whole fantasy genre took on a life of its own. Actually, a part of me almost considers his works to be a counter-point to Tolkien’s works, where the main characters are more anti-heroes than heroes. Yet, this isn’t the case with Hawkmoon – I get the impression that he is a fairly noble and upstanding individual. This is probably why I never really liked these stories as much as the other ones.
Still, it is a rather short read, and entertaining as well....more
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