I do love a good Leslie Fish song, and this is one of them. The Gods Are Not Crazy is a silly tribute to the Greek pantheon and Charles Fort, a dedicated researcher into anomalous phenomena. When strange things are happening like rain in the sunshine or frogs crawling from giant hailstones, have no fear; "the Gods are not crazy, they're higher than kites."
The Ranger's Apprentice
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
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It's been awhile since I did any book reviews, even though I've read three terrific books over the past few weeks. The pixies demanded that I tell you about one of them today, so I'm picking the one I whooshed through yesterday.
The first book of the Ranger's Apprentice series: The Ruins of Gorlan was a lot of fun. John Flanagan kicks it off with big baddie Morgarath making plans to revenge his defeat 15 years earlier. It's clear from his thoughts that it was a good thing for the kingdom that he'd been defeated. He's not a nice guy. Morgarath plays little direct role in the first book, but it was important to show that he's preparing to make his move by sending his allies to take out some of those personally responsible for his defeat.
Most of this book is about Will's apprenticeship to Ranger Halt, a member of a secretive group with a very important role. They spy around the kingdom searching for information to keep the kingdom safe, sometimes even dealing with a problem directly. Without them, Morgarath would have succeeded in his goal to kill the young King Duncan and usurp rulership over Araluen.
Woven around Will's training and becoming involved in the overall plot is the subplot involving Will's long-standing issues with one of his fellow castle wards, Horace, primarily because Will is the smallest of their age group and the only one with no paternal name. Horace teases him whenever they get together. He thinks he's superior because he's big and strong and Will wasn't accepted into Battleschool to train as a knight.
Their animosity erupts into an outright fight during Harvest Day, despite their friends' attempts to smooth things over. Not even Alyss, who was apprenticed to become a kingdom diplomat, could prevent it. That combined with the intense bullying Horace was facing from three of the second-year warrior apprentices made me concerned for what Horace was going to do and become, especially with his potential clearly shown by Flanagan's skillful use of omniscient POV. I didn't like how Horace treated Will, but I liked him well enough that I didn't want him going bad. I won't tell you what happens, but I will admit to crowing with delight over how the issue with the bullies was resolved. It was perfectly satisfying, built out of changes both boys had made in themselves and with each other. Ranger Halt's role certainly helped, too. Muha muhaha.
All in all, this is a wonderful MG book. It's suitable for the 10+ age level and something I will enjoy reading with my son when he's a few years older. I know I would have enjoyed it when I was a tween, and the theme with improving social skills put it high on my recommendation list. It might be a little obvious in spots, but for the targeted readership, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's well worth buying for the story, the themes, and the wonderful example of how to use omniscient POV.
The first book of the Ranger's Apprentice series: The Ruins of Gorlan was a lot of fun. John Flanagan kicks it off with big baddie Morgarath making plans to revenge his defeat 15 years earlier. It's clear from his thoughts that it was a good thing for the kingdom that he'd been defeated. He's not a nice guy. Morgarath plays little direct role in the first book, but it was important to show that he's preparing to make his move by sending his allies to take out some of those personally responsible for his defeat.
Most of this book is about Will's apprenticeship to Ranger Halt, a member of a secretive group with a very important role. They spy around the kingdom searching for information to keep the kingdom safe, sometimes even dealing with a problem directly. Without them, Morgarath would have succeeded in his goal to kill the young King Duncan and usurp rulership over Araluen.
Woven around Will's training and becoming involved in the overall plot is the subplot involving Will's long-standing issues with one of his fellow castle wards, Horace, primarily because Will is the smallest of their age group and the only one with no paternal name. Horace teases him whenever they get together. He thinks he's superior because he's big and strong and Will wasn't accepted into Battleschool to train as a knight.
Their animosity erupts into an outright fight during Harvest Day, despite their friends' attempts to smooth things over. Not even Alyss, who was apprenticed to become a kingdom diplomat, could prevent it. That combined with the intense bullying Horace was facing from three of the second-year warrior apprentices made me concerned for what Horace was going to do and become, especially with his potential clearly shown by Flanagan's skillful use of omniscient POV. I didn't like how Horace treated Will, but I liked him well enough that I didn't want him going bad. I won't tell you what happens, but I will admit to crowing with delight over how the issue with the bullies was resolved. It was perfectly satisfying, built out of changes both boys had made in themselves and with each other. Ranger Halt's role certainly helped, too. Muha muhaha.
All in all, this is a wonderful MG book. It's suitable for the 10+ age level and something I will enjoy reading with my son when he's a few years older. I know I would have enjoyed it when I was a tween, and the theme with improving social skills put it high on my recommendation list. It might be a little obvious in spots, but for the targeted readership, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's well worth buying for the story, the themes, and the wonderful example of how to use omniscient POV.
Adding flavor with slang
Monday, January 17, 2011
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Making dialogue distinct between characters is sometimes tricky. You want your primary and secondary characters to have their own way of talking. Sometimes you want a whole group to have a way of talking that is different from those outside the group, such as a street gang or a culture new to one of the characters.
Slang is one of the ways to enhance dialogue without resorting to a great deal of dialect phonetics. Now some dialect words have become common enough that they are easily translated like "Whatcha gonna do?" But sometimes it can be confusing. To suggest dialect without writing as much out, make use of a few easy-to-understand phonetical words and a scattering of slang words and phrases.
When choosing slang, don't dump everything in that you know. It can be too much, and you may not understand the terms as well as you think you do. Be selective. Some terms might be common to a group, while others can be specific to a character.
If you want to add flavor with slang or just understand popular terms better, check out this great resource: The Slang Dictionary. You can search through general slang or go to one of the specific categories like the Lexicon of Thieves' Cant. They also have links to some other specialized dictionary sites such as the Urban Dictionary and 60's Slang.
Slang is one of the ways to enhance dialogue without resorting to a great deal of dialect phonetics. Now some dialect words have become common enough that they are easily translated like "Whatcha gonna do?" But sometimes it can be confusing. To suggest dialect without writing as much out, make use of a few easy-to-understand phonetical words and a scattering of slang words and phrases.
When choosing slang, don't dump everything in that you know. It can be too much, and you may not understand the terms as well as you think you do. Be selective. Some terms might be common to a group, while others can be specific to a character.
If you want to add flavor with slang or just understand popular terms better, check out this great resource: The Slang Dictionary. You can search through general slang or go to one of the specific categories like the Lexicon of Thieves' Cant. They also have links to some other specialized dictionary sites such as the Urban Dictionary and 60's Slang.
Filk Friday: Never Split the Party
Friday, January 14, 2011
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Now that I have internet, alertness (I was so tired past couple days), and time again, I'm here to give you this week's filk video. Even though the lyrics are slanted toward fantasy roleplaying games, the title Never Split the Party is one of those rules that many stories across genres break whenever they can.
Sometimes characters have a good reason to split up. Maybe someone kidnapped a few of them, a rockslide interrupted a tricky crossing, they had a big fight amongst themselves, they are doing a pincher type move on the bad guys, or something like that. But sometimes characters seem to think they should split up for the sake of splitting up. Why? I don't know. They're usually the ones movie goers and readers are yelling at to stay together for better safety.
I'm sure you can think of a few movies and books where it didn't make sense why the characters would think it was wiser to break up an already small group into ones and/or twos to go off in opposite directions. It's one reason I can't sit through horror movies. I don't like fear for fear's sake, and I think 90% of the characters are idiots for doing things like splitting up just because the author wanted them to.
Don't be one of those authors.
If they need to go in different directions, give your characters valid reasons to go off on their own built out of what has been happening and based on their personalities. Your goal may be to increase tension because some thing from Dimension X is stalking them, but if the characters have no valid reason to split up, it turns into major cheese instead of real worry.
This video makes great use of pop culture, utilizing clips from LotR, The Mummy movies, Avatar: Last Airbender (anime), Dresden Files, and The Road to El Dorado. Jonathon as the sneaky rogue makes me giggle every time. He did keep wandering off to find the treasure in the Mummy movies. Enjoy!
Sometimes characters have a good reason to split up. Maybe someone kidnapped a few of them, a rockslide interrupted a tricky crossing, they had a big fight amongst themselves, they are doing a pincher type move on the bad guys, or something like that. But sometimes characters seem to think they should split up for the sake of splitting up. Why? I don't know. They're usually the ones movie goers and readers are yelling at to stay together for better safety.
I'm sure you can think of a few movies and books where it didn't make sense why the characters would think it was wiser to break up an already small group into ones and/or twos to go off in opposite directions. It's one reason I can't sit through horror movies. I don't like fear for fear's sake, and I think 90% of the characters are idiots for doing things like splitting up just because the author wanted them to.
Don't be one of those authors.
If they need to go in different directions, give your characters valid reasons to go off on their own built out of what has been happening and based on their personalities. Your goal may be to increase tension because some thing from Dimension X is stalking them, but if the characters have no valid reason to split up, it turns into major cheese instead of real worry.
This video makes great use of pop culture, utilizing clips from LotR, The Mummy movies, Avatar: Last Airbender (anime), Dresden Files, and The Road to El Dorado. Jonathon as the sneaky rogue makes me giggle every time. He did keep wandering off to find the treasure in the Mummy movies. Enjoy!
Filk Friday: Hero of Canton from "Jaynestown"
Friday, January 7, 2011
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It's been an odd week , so I haven't gotten around to mentioning my planned theme for the next few weeks. Since I spend most of my time on fantasy topics, I thought I'd spread some fan love to SF, since the SF stories I do enjoy, I enjoy as much as the fantasy ones; there's just fewer SF stories I can sink myself into.
One of the series that sucked me in is Firefly. (If you couldn't already tell by my gleeful choice in Wednesday's video) Characters, setting, everything about it felt fresh, or in this case, dust and engine fumes. It is a space western after all. The first episode I saw was "Train Heist." Even though I knew nothing about the actors, characters, setting, or themes, just the combination of an old fashioned train heist combined with space ships made me stop flipping channels and watch to the end. After that, I deliberately tuned in to find out what they'd do next.
One of the middle episodes, "Jaynestown," took the crew to an out of the way planet to deliver a bunch of cows. But when they got there, Jayne remembered that he'd been there before for a robbery that went bad, prior to joining the rest of them. Expecting trouble, they were all surprised to find a statue in Jayne's honor. He was the Hero of Canton with a song and everything. The townsfolk believed that the strewn money from the robbery had been him distributing it to them on purpose, a modern day sort of Robin Hood, even though it had been an accident. You should watch the episode for the contrasts between normal character traits and trying to live up to the hype of a different view. Jayne surprised himself the most.
Here is Adam Baldwin, who played Jayne on the show, singing "his" song: The Hero of Canton. He even wears Jayne's hat. You can really tell how much he enjoyed the character, especially when you see his grin at the end.
One of the series that sucked me in is Firefly. (If you couldn't already tell by my gleeful choice in Wednesday's video) Characters, setting, everything about it felt fresh, or in this case, dust and engine fumes. It is a space western after all. The first episode I saw was "Train Heist." Even though I knew nothing about the actors, characters, setting, or themes, just the combination of an old fashioned train heist combined with space ships made me stop flipping channels and watch to the end. After that, I deliberately tuned in to find out what they'd do next.
One of the middle episodes, "Jaynestown," took the crew to an out of the way planet to deliver a bunch of cows. But when they got there, Jayne remembered that he'd been there before for a robbery that went bad, prior to joining the rest of them. Expecting trouble, they were all surprised to find a statue in Jayne's honor. He was the Hero of Canton with a song and everything. The townsfolk believed that the strewn money from the robbery had been him distributing it to them on purpose, a modern day sort of Robin Hood, even though it had been an accident. You should watch the episode for the contrasts between normal character traits and trying to live up to the hype of a different view. Jayne surprised himself the most.
Here is Adam Baldwin, who played Jayne on the show, singing "his" song: The Hero of Canton. He even wears Jayne's hat. You can really tell how much he enjoyed the character, especially when you see his grin at the end.
Castle's Costume
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
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My son is sick today, so I thought I'd just post a little bit of video fun: a snippet from Castle, one of my favorite tv shows. This is one of the best Firefly references Nathan Fillion got to do, about 5 years after Firefly got canceled.
Ninja fun for the new year
Monday, January 3, 2011
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I thought I'd start the year off with something fun. In browsing my Fun Things folder on my bookmark list, I rediscovered Deadly Accurate Search, the ninja way to search the internet. You can imagine the big grin on my face and the gasp of shock as I went, "How could I have forgotten something so cool?"
In keeping with the goal of sharing something fun, that's what I typed in the search bar: fun. Here's my favorite link: The Bored Ninja, an archive of "fun, interesting, and cool stuff on the internet." It has videos, games, and pictures. The Trustworthiness of Beards, Shark Face Paint, and Snow-Jabba-the-Hut are three of my favorites. Ms. Shark would probably enjoy that second one.
Have a wonderful beginning to 2011!
In keeping with the goal of sharing something fun, that's what I typed in the search bar: fun. Here's my favorite link: The Bored Ninja, an archive of "fun, interesting, and cool stuff on the internet." It has videos, games, and pictures. The Trustworthiness of Beards, Shark Face Paint, and Snow-Jabba-the-Hut are three of my favorites. Ms. Shark would probably enjoy that second one.
Have a wonderful beginning to 2011!
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