Posts Tagged ‘fiction’

Mags White tagged me into this book-lover meme over on Facebook, and I’m going to post my response over there but I figured if i take the time to share stuff like this about myself, I should post it on the Monkey too. Plus, I know how much my pal Rich Rogers likes memes. I’m definitely tagging him on my Facebook post!

1) Which author has written the largest number of books you own?

If graphic novels count, then it’s either Neil Gaiman or Brian Michael Bendis. Otherwise, it is Terry Pratchett with Jim Butcher not far behind.

2) Of which book you do you own the most copies?

If I understand the question correctly, then it’s the Bible. If I had multiple copies of any other books, I’d give them away.

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?

They DON’T end in prepositions, at least not as they were written when I pulled these questions out of Mags’ Facebook post and pasted them in here.

4) With which fictional character are you secretly in love?

If I told you that, it wouldn’t be a secret. Heh Heh. Actually, if I think about it, the fictional women I have had the longest relationships with and love best are Angua from Pratchett’s Discworld novels and Murphy from the Dresden Files stories. Hey, that’s odd. Both of them are cops. Oh, and I think I’ll be in love with Arya Stark once she is old enough to be in love with, assuming that ever occurs on the page.

5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding books read to children)?

I’m going to self-impose a limitation on this that requires my answer to include only books that I’ve read multiple times in their entirety. Because I’ve read portions of the Bible hundreds of times, and revisited portions of various textbooks and reference books many times. So to actually answer the question – Bard by Keith Taylor.

6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?

Plutarch’s Lives. I kid you not.

7) What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?

I hate to say this, because I love the author and most of his stories. But it has to be Expiration Date by Tim Powers.

8 ) What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch, with Fool by Christopher Moore a close second.

9) If you could force everyone seeing this to read one book, what would it be?

Force? I hope I would not ever have to force someone to read a good book. But I’ll play along and say that I’d strongly recommend either The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch or Lamb: the Gospel According to Biff by Christopher Moore.

10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?

What are the criteria? Does it have to be some sort of highbrow art-house literature thingie? I have no idea. How about Chad Underkoffler? Yeah, he’s my pick.

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?

Unlike most of my peers, I don’t consider a book being made into a movie to be the official stamp of wonderfulness. To me, the best adaptation-style movies seem to be based on Disney theme park rides. There are many good movies based on books I love, but there are more bad movies based on books I love, and in any case, my imagination paints better pictures. But you know what? I just thought of one. I’d love to see the novelizations of the Star Wars prequels made into movies – as long as George Lucas had no creative hand in the movies whatsoever and they were written and directed by someone who appreciates character, nuance, irony, and depth, but can still bring the action. Like Christopher Nolan or Joss Whedon.

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?

I think my answer to #11 probably used up my mindspace on this issue.

14) What is the most lowbrow book you’ve read as an adult?

The word “lowbrow” seems very loaded, snobby, and overly subjective. But hey, I’ll go with Mindspring by Jay Lake.

15) What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?

Fiction: China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station. Non-fiction: The God Who May Be by Richard Kearney.

16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you’ve seen?

The ones I’ve seen on stage have always been the non-obscure ones. The ones I’ve seen on screen are pretty much always the non-obscure ones, too. But if I’m allowed to include productions that I’ve been in (which is sort of like seeing them, just from a different perspective, right?) Then the most obscure one is The Tempest. I was in that twice. Is The Tempest considered obscure? I dunno.

22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?

I almost never read current or “classic” mainstream fiction, and that has been true my whole life. As a result, I lack experience with most of the big name authors and their buzzy works of literary wonder. I’m not particularly embarrassed by it though.

23) What is your favorite novel?

I’ve read too many wonderful stories to pick one. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Lynch’s Gentleman Bastards saga. Powers’ Last Call, Declare, and The Anubis Gates. Lawhead’s Arthurian cycle (the first three, anyhow). Night Watch, my favorite Discworld book thus far. Gaiman’s American Gods.

24) Play?

The Lion in Winter. My favorite to watch, my favorite to perform, my favorite movie based upon a play. (Geoffrey: “Why, you chivalraic bastard! As if the way one falls actually matters.” Richard: “When the fall is all that’s left, it matters.”)

25) Poem?

It is way too obvious to pick Yeats’ The Second Coming or Thomas’ Do Not Go Gentle. But yeah, those are my favorites.

27) Short story?

The Hedge Knight by George R.R. Martin

28) Work of nonfiction?

Credo by William Sloane Coffin.

29) Who is your favorite writer?

Hmm. Terry Pratchett wins for a long glorious streak of consistency. Christopher Moore is poised to move into that realm in my heart, but I’ve only read two of his books thus far.

30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?

As a writer of screenplays – George Lucas. In terms of novelists … I haven’t actually read any of the ones that I often hear being called overrated, so it’d be unfair for me to jump on those wagons without direct experience.

31) What is your desert island book?

Wow. Okay … The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld. That way I get little snippets from a broad spectrum of Pratchett’s best stuff.

32) And… what are you currently reading?

Bard II: The Return of Felemid macFal by Keith Taylor

Making:

I’m coding a nifty image doodad for the Monkey so I can use Flickr’s JSON feed capability to pull in a prettier and more custom-styled slideshow to replace the Picasa show that’s up now on the HM home page.

For Vegas After Midnight, I’m writing flavor text drafts for the characters representing the 16 face-cards, the 4 aces, and the Joker. It feels good to be focused on this again. I like how it is coming together under the Don’t Rest Your Head umbrella.

For Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies, I’m sketching some very loose notes of custom bits to mix into the setting, so that once I find a group to play, we can put our own stamp on it. Basically, my scheme is to commandeer one of the minor Barathi houses, House Lupini, and flesh them out by blending in some cultural and societal bits I wrote up about the Raehalan (from Canon Puncture’s Sojourn 66 PTA series). I’ve made up a basic house sigil (see pic at left) that I’ll be sharing on the S7S wiki, and writing down some basic ideas as well. I don’t want to go too far with it until I can sit down with a whole play group and do some collaborative setting brainstorming. But it’s a fun exercise, and it’s actually helping unscrew my brain to let the VAM creativity flow. And the blogging ideas, too, for that matter.

Enjoying:

Not much of note going on in the TV-watching arena, except that I must say I am liking Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire quite a bit more than I expected to. Yes, it is juvenile, campy, and has moments where the humor falls flat. But it has provided me with as many moments of laugh-out loud entertainment as 30 Rock and The Office do, and I actually think the underlying storyline has a pretty sincere mythic feel to it. I don’t know this for sure, but the show feels to me like it is written and guided by people who actually understand fantasy and geekery, and I even suspect some of them are familiar with roleplaying games. The humor seems to be an homage rather than a satire. If the writers and actors are given a chance to get a feel for characters, I think the consistency will improve and this will emerge as a consistently enjoyable show. Although it probably helps to have a little Skyy (or your mild mood-enhancer of choice) in your system.

Reading:

Comics – I’m catching up on the last few issues of Northlanders, Green Arrow/Black Canary, and the first issue of Warren Ellis’ new steampunker, Ignition City. Northlanders rocks as always. GA/BC is nothing spectacular, but hey, they’re a couple of my favorite characters and their current exploits have me in a decent state of enjoyment.

Novels – I’m still marking time with the mildly palatable The Pirate Queen by Alan Gold until my name comes to the top of the library waiting lists for either Morgan’s The Steel Remains or Butcher’s Turn Coat. Or maybe I ought to go sell off some of my old books at Half-Price Books and maybe scratch up enough flow to buy my own copy of one of the titles I want.

Playing:

Not a darn thing lately. But I have to believe that’s about to change. Otherwise I’ll go crazy.

Night Watch: A Discworld Novel by Terry Pratchett

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was the most serious and dare I say “intense” Discworld book I’ve read so far. This is not to say that it lacks Pratchett’s signature humor and heart – but mingled in with all that is a goodly amount of drama. Definitely one of my favorites.

Non-spoilery overview: Sam Vimes, while chasing down a serial murderer in Ankh-Morpork, finds himself thrown back in time (along with his quarry) to an era where the city and the city watch were much more ragged, brutal, and corrupt. In the process, we get to learn a lot about the true character of Sam Vimes and what made him into the copper we all know and love, as well as getting a glimpse into the rather dark history of Ankh-Morpork.

This is not the Discworld novel to start with if you’re a noob to Discworld, certainly, but it is a must read-for any established fan.
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NOTE: I’ve read and reviewed a few other books on Goodreads since my last LJ post, but I won’t put them up here in full. Instead, I invite you to check them out on Goodreads: View all my reviews.

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Okay, this goes into my “one of the best I’ve ever read” category. Yes, it’s an adventure yarn, not high literature. So what?

I loved this book. All the best vibes of Lies of Locke Lamora, but with compelling female characters and actual pirates to boot!

I want a friendship like the one between Locke and Jean. But I’ll never have it because such brotherhood only comes with many years and many trials.

And this setting, it’s like Lynch took my dream rpg/fiction setting and put it into epic form. I can’t wait to see where this goes next. And I’ve got to try to emulate it in play at some point.

Definitely my favorite novel since Game of Thrones. Hands down. Thanks, Judd, for hooking me on this series!

View all my reviews.

Originally published at Musings of a Misfit Monkey. You can comment here or there.

Originally released as an audio essay in Misfit Brew Episode 4 (January 2006)

Misfit Brew has been causing me to reflect back a lot lately, looking for essay fodder, partly, but also because of Rae’s essays, which have given me reason to think back on the genesis of my own trip into the realm of the fantastical. As I listen to Rae telling us of her current fledgling forays into the world where Geek is good, I can’t help but try to pinpoint where I first walked off of the edge of the map myself.

Read the rest of this entry »