book news, Challenges

The 2013 Science Fiction Experience

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(image sans text property of Stephan Martiniere, used with permission)

“For my part I know nothing with any certainty,
but the sight of the stars makes me dream.”

~Vincent Van Gogh

How about you?

When you look up at the night sky do you wonder? Do you imagine what is out there, get caught up in the unfathomable immensity of creation, do you dream? When you were a child did you gaze up longingly at the night sky dreaming that your adult years would bring with them routine trips to the moon and travel to other worlds? Does the sight of a full blazing moon or bright shining planets inspire a sense of wonder? If so, then you know exactly what it is like to be in my shoes, especially as the nights turn colder and the stars seem to shine that much brighter. (If not, please humor me through the rest of this post, šŸ™‚ )

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Home

A Merry Cinematic Christmas

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Every year for the past several years Kelly and I have come together on Christmas Eve to share something festive with you to close out the annual Virtual Advent Tour. It is something I look forward to doing with her every year. We generally try to do something fun and this year we decided to create crossword puzzles. This way you can have something seasonally appropriate to occupy a few minutes of your time while also working the little gray cells. The answers to all of my crossword puzzle questions have to do with Christmas movies, or films (like Die Hard) that I consider Christmas films because the holiday is featured in the movie. When I felt it was needed I have given you the name of the movie in parentheses after the related question. You can access the puzzle online here or if you want to utilize it for a family activity you can download it in PDF format to print here. Please be sure to visit Kelly’s site for hers. If you need answers to any of my questions, feel free to leave me a comment and I’ll shoot an email your way. Hopefully the easier ones will give you enough letters to help you get the more obscure ones.

Before I let you go off to your own celebrations, please let me offer you the very merriest Christmas. May you have time over the next few days to hug the necks of people you love and may all the stress that can come along with the day disappear in the warmth of get-togethers with family and friends. I am so thankful for another year in which I can sit here at my computer to send out virtual hugs and well wishes to all of you in this community. It is a privilege and a pleasure. Be safe, have fun, and have a very, Merry Christmas.

Tune in on Christmas Day for a special gift: the official announcement for the 2013 Sci-Fi Experience (or 2013 Science Fiction Experience if you are so inclined) with amazing art that one of my favorite illustrators has generously allowed me to use for the event this year.

Book Reviews, Science Fiction

The End of Eternity ~Isaac Asimov

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Andrew Harlan, the insular protagonist in what is arguably one of Isaac Asimov’s best works, is a man who lives outside of time. Harlan is an Eternal, a member of a clandestine organization that exists outside of time, an organization that makes “necessary” changes to reality in order to ensure the very best for mankind. In this realm Harlan is one of the elite, a Technician, skilled in the art of making subtle adjustments that nevertheless send ripples through the stream of time. There is a solitary aspect to being a Technician that Andrew Harlan is ideally suited for, until one fateful assignment brings him in contact with Noys Lambent, a woman whose existence in real time calls into question Andrew Harlan’s vocation and the role of Eternity in the lives of humanity. And once Andrew Harlan falls in love, the very nature of time and Eternity may be irrevocably changed.

With more contemporary examples of stories involving the manipulation of time and matter and/or extreme governmental oversight into our lives (movies like Dark City, Gattaca and Minority Report spring to mind) it can be difficult to recommend a book like The End of Eternity. There is an argument to be made that the older work will have a ‘been there, done that’ feel to it and that a more modern work eliminates the dated elements of decades-old storytelling. When it comes to a work as well executed as The End of Eternity, I don’t buy that argument. One can easily posit that it is important to understand the history of science fiction and the foundational novels upon which more current stories are built. I certainly get that out of much of the classic genre fiction that I read and believe it to be a justifiable reason to read older works. But beyond the historical merits there are stories that simply should not be passed up because they are just too good to miss.

The End of Eternity is one such novel.

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Book Reviews, Mystery

I am Half-Sick of Shadows ~Alan Bradley

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“I am half sick of shadows,” said
The Lady of Shalott.

~Alfred Lord Tennyson, The Lady of Shalott

Alan Bradley’s fourth book in the Flavia de Luce series takes place during the heart of the yuletide season, with the dilapidated manse of Buckshaw acting as movie set for a cinema cast and crew while the de Luce family is expected to stay out from underfoot. While this directive may be quite simple for Captain de Luce and his two eldest daughters, 11 year old Flavia de Luce is too curious an observer of the human condition to do anything but insinuate herself into the very inner workings of the happenings at Buckshaw.

For those who may be unfamiliar with Bradley’s works, this series of cozy mysteries set in England in 1950 features the eleven year old science-obsessed…or more accurately poison-obsessed…Flavia de Luce. With boundless curiosity, a sharp mind and the assistance of her faithful bicycle Gladys, young Flavia stumbles across mysterious deaths with the frequency of her literary predecessors Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. If you can get past the idea that folks are dropping dead at a very unhealthy, pardon the pun, rate then you are sure to love this delightful young lady. In Bradley’s ongoing series the death du jour is rarely the main focus of the story. Instead we find a family broken by the possibly suspicious death of wife and mother, Harriet de Luce, and a dysfunction that may be very real or may be the result of a story told through the eyes of an eleven year old child. With each successive novel we learn more about the de Luce family and their complicated relationships and the overarching mystery of what happened to Harriet.

While I am Half-Sick of Shadows stays true to form in the larger sense of the series, the holiday theme gave Bradley an opportunity to take a bit of a breather from form and in the course of so doing the reader is given an engaging glimpse into the Christmas season in a country not yet recovered financially, psychologically or emotionally from the devastation of World War II. The result is pure satisfaction.

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Film

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, a non-spoiler film review

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My obsessionā€¦is that the right word?…with J.R.R. Tolkienā€™s Middle-earth and Peter Jacksonā€™s film adaptations is certainly no secret. I was brought to Tolkienā€™s work by the films, having not ready any of them in my youth. Because of the release of The Fellowship of the Ring I did choose to read The Hobbit back in the year 2001 so that I would have that background going in (unlike the Lord of the Rings books and The Silmarillion, I haven’t read it other than that one time). For the past 12 years I have had Tolkienā€™s creations and the interpretations of Peter Jackson (et. al) close at hand. I wear a One Ring on my right hand. I own multiple copies of Tolkienā€™s work and read something Tolkien related several times a year. I watch each extended edition film at least once annually and watch the extras on those films even more often. I get an inspiration from the passion and creative energy of Tolkien and all those who worked on the film versions of The Lord of the Rings that could be the subject of many, many posts.

So what was I expecting going in to what will forever be considered the prequel trilogy to The Lord of the Rings? Unlike some critics, I was not expecting it to be better than, or entirely equal to, The Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit is a book written for children whereas The Lord of the Rings is a more mature work. I had hoped for the sake of Tolkienā€™s creation that Peter Jackson and company would manage to bring the more lighthearted nature of the book into the films while at the same time making some effort to give these films the feel that they belonged to the same universe of The Lord of the Rings. I had hope, but I also had some pretty strong doubts about whether they would even attempt to pull that off.

Well, they did. And what’s more The Hobbit defied my expectations and left me wondering how long I might have to wait before I can sneak out to the theater and see it again. As I did last year when I went to see all three extended editions in their theatrical debuts, I am not even going to make an effort to structure a reviewing masterpiece. I am going to ramble. I may gush a little. I am most certain to come off as a Tolkien/Peter Jackson fanboy and that is just fine by me.

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Eclectic Musings of a Renaissance Geek