The Sci Fi Guy

On rare occasions a book shows up in the mail from a publisher or publicist. I am always grateful when they do, because at least I know someone came to the website! But I also like to make sure that you the reader understands when something has been provided to me so that you can judge whether or not I’m being biased. Well, lo and behold, one publicist discovered Scifi-Guy.com and noted that I’m an Orson Scott Card fan (which is definitely true) and she was kind enough to send me a copy of The Authorized Ender Companion.

When it arrived, I was first struck by the sheer size of the book! At 429 pages, this is about twice as long as the original Ender’s Game novel itself. But, it proved to be well worth the depth. There is a bounty of information contained within this companion, and it provides an amazing review of all things Ender.

The core of the book itself is an alphabetical listing of the characters, settings, features, and basically any nouns that exist within the Ender-sphere, noted as the “Encyclopedia”. It ranges from ansible to Xenocide, from Jane to Ender himself, and allows a singular place to reference virtually anything related to any of the books that have been written to date.

In addition to the encyclopedia, there are also some other sections of the book, including a breakdown of the technology Card uses thoughout his novels, as well as a short essay regarding the creation (or, ahem, lack thereof) of an Ender’s Game movie. All told, even for this hard-core Ender aficionado, there’s a lot to consume. It’s an amazing compilation of work, and it’s a tribute to Card’s imagination that a book like this even can exist, let alone fill as much shelf space as this one does.

However, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my ultimate reaction to the book. It’s a strange reaction, but bear with me. It shouldn’t exist.

This isn’t to say that the material contained within isn’t valuable – far from it. Author Jake Black has done a wonderful job of summarizing every detail and character imaginable from this universe. What I mean by that statement is that the book itself is ultimately the wrong format for this material. Perhaps it’s the “wiki” in me, but an alphabetized encyclopedia seems like a step in the wrong direction. However, the flip-side of the coin is obvious; there’s no medium available as of yet for a book like this to exist, profitably but without annoying advertising and sponsorships, on the Internet today. When I say that the “wiki” in me is frustrated, what I mean is that just like the Ender stories and characters, everything is interconnected. In a flat alphabetical structure, the material suffers because those interconnections cannot be revealed; or at least struggle to be maintained. And the ultimate curse befalls this format as well: If Card writes a new book, this collection of resources that Black has assembled becomes less relevant, or even potentially wrong. What if Card suddenly decides that the buggers are actually an off-shoot of another species which is now invading populated space, but operates on a whole different set of rules than before. I’m not saying that these are likely, but the same value placed in print (the fact that its a fixed medium) upsets the value in a book like this (which would fit much nicer in a dynamic environment such as the web).

So here’s the final word. This is a valuable book in and of itself. Jake Black has done a great job condensing the Ender-verse in to merely a few hundred pages (considering the thousands upon thousands that Card has crafted, this is hardly a small feat). If you are a fan of the Ender novels, or the Bean novels, or the various short stories also circulating about Ender and this universe OSC has generated, you may find great value in having this companion nearby. There are references to far-flung characters and clarifications of complex character developments that took several books to complete, and these resources are remarkably well written and complete. That all being said, I still wish it were a website, or somehow dynamic in nature. I know authors cannot pay mortgages with website traffic (sometimes), and it fits outside of the model traditional publishing has been built upon for a hundred and fifty years… But a SciFi-Guy can wish, can’t he?

If you’re in the mood to view some really innovative and inspirational artwork related to science fiction, I’d strongly suggest you take a visit to CoolVibe.com, a site I just recently discovered while stumbling around the internet. The website features artwork from various artists across a range of styles; from mecha designs, character pieces, cityscapes, planets and galaxies, and more. Even browsing through just a few pages of artwork has already provided me with dozens of ideas for stories, settings, and inspiration for worlds that could be.

A few images that immediately stood out included Viking Hunter, Orbit, and Where Did You Go. While each one has a different tone, each one could provide enough material to fill the pages of a novel with ideas of the worlds and the stories they contain.

The website itself is pretty new (archiving back to just November of ‘09) but they creator seems to be doing a good job of updating it on a regular basis. If you’re seeking inspiration or just a look at some innovative science fiction images, give it a shot.

So, it’s been a long time since I updated the Scifi-Guy.com blog. I know. I’ve been busy. Turns out the last update was April of last year. Since then, lots has changed, but my love of science fiction hasn’t waned. To be fair, I wish I had more time to read the various books that are sitting on my shelf, but sit they do (thanks to a 50+ hours a week of work!) but in this economy – work comes first.

It also has turned out that this blog is running on software that’s about 3 major upgrades from the current version, so that’s going to have to change sometime soon. I’m imagining perhaps sitting down some weekend soon and revamping the entire site from the inside out. All websites deserve a good redesign every now and then!

For what it’s worth, I can say I’m eagerly looking forward to the return of Lost tomorrow night, though I get the feeling no matter what happens this season I’m going to be a little disappointed. JJ Abrams has created quite a mess of characters, settings, time lines, and various pseudo-science. It’ll be interesting to discover what he decides to wrap up and what he decides to leave unknown. I think a complete re-watch of Lost Season 5 may be in order too; I can barely remember all the twists and turns of that season…

I’ve also gotten a few samples from a few publishers for review and dissection, so hopefully in the next couple weeks I’ll cover some new material that has landed on my doorstep.

Look for some changes to come soon! Back to the drawing board.

The Day the Earth Stood Still. An exciting title for a movie created a half-century ago about our penchant for violence and a sinister love affair with Miley Cyrus headlines [wait, what?]… Moral of the story: Let’s all be good or the interstellar space consortium won’t let us in to the club.

Enter Keanu Reeves. As a socially inept alien:

“Whoa bro… Like, the Earth is special, and, like, all you humans are trouble ‘cuz you want to mess it up.”

Enter Jennifer Connelly. As a scientist with a widow-production bastard step-child. (This is true, I’m not creative enough to conjure that character struggle out of thin air):

“But, like, we can change. I won’t actually demonstrate how we can do it because that would require actually creating a plot mechanism to demonstrate that humans are capable of denying the fundamental issues that have raged on our planet since we learned we could hurt each other by hurling rocks at one another, but seriously… Change is totally our thing.”

And sayeth the Klaatu/Keanu:

“Oh. I see, like, your bastard step-son [sorry, I'm just enjoying that phrase too much] is, like, capable of hugging you because I, like, scared him and stuff. You can change. Good times. I shall sacrifice myself.”

-Fin-

There. I just handed you the movie. Don’t waste your time. It’s a B-movie in an A-movie’s clothes – and even that might be pushing it. Some of the special effects are movie-of-the-week quality (although the disintegrating truck is cool; but that was on the movie’s trailer so it doesn’t count). All this movie needed to save it was some sort of actual, believable method to show that humans really can change. The truth is that an alien visit might prompt us to work together, get over our differences quickly, and go star-hopping. But it’s not in the movie, so the whole thing falls apart. There’s really nothing redemptive about the whole movie – no standout performances, no saving moment of awesome visual effects. It’s just a dud. Don’t waste your time.

I don’t review a lot of video games on this blog. In point of fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever reviewed a video game on the site here. However, Battle Forge came across my desk the other day, and I felt it deserved a quick note.

I used to be a big fan of Magic: The Gathering. If you don’t know what that is, you’re either older than me (but not old enough to have kids that remember the 90’s), or were one of the cool kids that didn’t find themselves hanging out in libraries and around kitchen tables many an evening in your youth. That’s alright, I won’t hold it against you; but I was, and frankly, it was a great time in life!

Enter an heir apparent: Battle Forge. The game reminds me of a lot of other Real Time Strategy games like the Command & Conquer series, or Warhammer. The twist in Battle Forge is that it integrates a real-time, resource-based gaming experience with the card gaming experience (Magic-esque, not poker). You design your “deck” of cards that you’ll use to thwart your enemies. There are 4 main groups of power that you can tap from… Frost, Fire, Nature, and Shadow. You design your potential army through a deck management system, and then battle opponents online (or vs. computer in solo-play). The game really takes shape in the online system, where you can challenge others to combat in an experience that happily reminds me of my library-bound youth [Side note: I turned out cool enough]. There are even “booster packs” available which let you pick up more units (some more rare than others).

The fundamental problem with Battle Forge, as I see it, is the fact that it’s rated ‘T’ for Teen gaming. I’m not sure if parents even pay attention to those ratings when considering what games to let their kids play, but the experience seems like it ought to be well within the reasonable capabilities of a 4th grader. There’s a lot of depth here, don’t get me wrong, but this particular style of game might not appeal to the older, more advanced gamers looking for a more comprehensive RTS experience.

Ultimately, Battle Forge is a fun game, filled with surprising variation and nearly limitless opportunities to tweak your deck and fight the perfect fight. If you’re in the mood for something just off the beaten gaming path, Battle Forge may well be worth the try.

I’ve enjoyed Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child as authors in the past. The movie adaptation of Relic was probably their most notable mainstream success, but this author pairing has managed to punch out hit after hit of science-fiction meets ancient relics. They premise Indiana Jones-like stories with an FBI agent. Think Mulder meets Indy.

The Wheel of Darkness is one of their more recent paperbacks, and I picked it up to take with me on a quick trip out of town. Overall, it was a good read – a page turner with mystery, suspense, vivid sets, and an internal struggle between main characters. The ship becomes a central character too, as mysterious dangers emerge while steaming across the Atlantic ocean. Like I said, it’s a page turner. My only complaint in the book really centers in the fact that there’s too much of this book that feels like the movie Titanic. There’s the no-BS captain that feels archetyped from years of naval movies and books where the crew subverts the captain thinking that he’s out of line. It just felt typical.

However, don’t let a couple nagging characters bring down an otherwise enjoyable trip book. It’s not a spectacular piece of literature with some deep moral or moment of insight. What Wheel of Darkness will give you is a good, complete novel.

If you haven’t noticed by now, I take my jolly time getting around to seeing movies. This year I’ve actually visited the movie theater more than once! Imagine that. Anyways, yes, I finally got around to seeing Iron Man and decided I’d share some of my thoughts on the film.

First off, I’ll admit it… I liked it. For someone who’s grown utterly tired of the nonstop comic-book-turned-movie machine that hollywood has become, I had enough people let me know that this might be worth my while. And I’ll admit they were right. Iron Man is a very enjoyable movie. It’s slightly silly in almost every aspect, but nonetheless it delivers where it counts. There’s a giant awesome suit of armor. And the suit of armor kicks ass.

Personally, I think the secret to the movie is actually the casting of Robert Downey Junior. He’s not entirely plausable as super-mechanic and weapons guru extraordinarre, but he does fit the bill of Rolling Stone magazine cover party boy quite well. But more than that, Downey is a capable actor that can actually play the role and look like he’s having fun doing it. The cast of supporting actors and actresses fits the bill well, and there’s another great Stan Lee cameo (”Heya Hef, how’s things?”) that you have to pay attention for to even catch.

So, as the story goes, Tony Stark (Downey) is a weapons expert who’s made protecting America “cool”. Weapons rock – and Stark Industries supplies the US military with the best in the world. You know, to defend freedom and all that. But of course, lo and behold, Tony has a realization when he discovers (while being shot at by his own weapons) that his weapons are falling in to the wrong hands. And after saving himself from the evil terrorists, he returns home to say that his company won’t produce any more weapons and that they’re going to stop them from falling in to enemy hands.

Now, at this point, most rational business people would say, “Okay, let’s do some inventories, let’s figure out how to ensure arms don’t fall in to the wrong hands, yaddi yaddi yada.” But nope, Stark has his heart plugged in to a super compressed battery that’ll run a suit of armor for a little while… So why not build an even better suit of armor? And so he does, hence the title of the movie.

Overall, it’s a fun one. Downey gets several one-liners in throughout the movie, and his robotic assistant becomes one of the best sidekick’s I’ve seen in a superhero movie. It’s absolutely built for a sequel, so I have no doubt that this is just the beginning of yet another Marvel-based franchise.

Scifi-ness: 6 out of 10. There’s a holographic design studio that kinda rocks. Oh yeah, and the giant suit of armor.

Special-effects-rather-than-plot: Again, a 6 out of 10. This is a special effects movie – the action definitely trumps the dialogue, and most of it is CG.

Overall Grade: 7 out of 10. Worth the trouble to see it in theaters just for the fact that it is a big blockbuster type of movie. Oh, and if you like Audi’s, you’ll love the nonstop product placement (yuck – not at the Audi’s but just at the blatant commercial… Sorta like Will Smith’s I, Robot)

I struggled with the title of this post … It was a tossup between the shortened version of the official movie title (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), “George Lucas has lost his mind”, or “Indiana Jones has jumped the shark“.

Truthfully, Indy 4 was a let down, on several levels. I know this review is a little late, but if you haven’t managed to see Indiana’s latest adventure, all I can say is wait for the DVD. The rest of this review probably contains spoilers, so if you do want to see it and don’t want to be surprised, move along (lots of other great posts to peruse )

Harrison Ford is one of my favorite actors of all times, and much like Will Smith has been involved in a long line of great science fiction (along with action & drama, etc). Let’s not forget he’s the original Indy, and the original Han Solo. George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, also great creators of fine science fiction. But somehow all these people got together with rooms full of other intelligent and creative people and produced something that just doesn’t represent the Indy franchise well. And ultimately, much like the latest Star Wars trifecta, it seems like Lucas and company are straining to replace plot, character, and dialogue with fancy computer generated effects that aren’t convincingly real and aren’t adding to the story as a whole.

The Indy story opens at the “Area 51″ vault filled with all the treasures of the past – including a cameo appearance by the Ark of the covenant courtesy the first movie. Action ensues as Indy tries to keep our valueables from the Russians, including car chases, gunfire avoidance, and … oh yeah … a freaking nuclear explosion. Ahh, the 5o’s were great, huh? And Indy discovers that in the event of a nuclear detonation, all you really need is a Frigidaire model 205 lead-lined fridge and you’ll walk away from a nuclear blast unscathed – even after being tossed a kilometer across town. 50+ Harrison Ford doesn’t even get so much as a leg cramp.

The story continues as Indy gets caught up in a spy-game trying to outdo the Russians to get to the prize – a crystal skull supposed to reveal amazing powers of psychic abilities. The Russians are after it. Apparently the Americans aren’t. Shia LaBeouf channels Steve McQueen and is the heir-apparent to the Indy franchise. Poor kid. It’s a shame that River Pheonix died as a young man – he was already lined up to become the adult-replacement for Ford… Sorta like James bond never ages nor does Jack Ryan (of the Tom Clancy stories). LaBeouf is competent but so stereotyped that as an audience-member I don’t even care.

So, there you have it. Overall, if you were a fan of the Indy trilogy, just keep it that way. It’s a trilogy of movies that should stand by themselves. Don’t count this one in the tabulation – it’s the same series in name only. The adventure and fun of the first three have been replaced by a facade of it’s former greatness.

Well, thanks to a break in my schedule, I’m taking a little vacation this week. Of course no vacation would be okay without some reading – so I’m going to bring with me the Solaris Short Fiction Volume 2 that I’m still working on. My Volume 1 arrived a couple days ago, so hopefully I can get to that sometime soon this summer.

Hope everyone enjoyed a great Memorial Day weekend! See you in a week or so.

The short and sweet? This is a bad movie. It’s one of those movies where you really have to wonder – how did it make it past the pitch? let alone actually get cast, produced, edited, distributed, and finally make it in front of me? Aren’t there rooms full of smart people in Hollywood getting paid large sums of money to make sure that they don’t produce crap?

(Nevermind, I’m pretty sure said room and said people don’t exist)

Anyways, welcome to Fantastic 4, edition 2, Rise of the Silver Surfer. I want to preface this post by stating that I did not purchase FF4, rent it, or in any way actually decide this was worth a shot. It was on HBO. Late. And I wasn’t tired. And uhm… (working on further excuses)… I lost a bet. And Jessica Alba is in it. Yeah, that’s it! I watched it to see Jessica Alba.

The story begins with a planet being destroyed. A surfer flies away from it, en route to Earth. We’re doomed. Mr. Fantastic and The Invisible Woman (Alba) are getting married. And wouldn’t you know it – the Silver Surfer ruins the whole thing. What a bastard. Now it’s personal. There are two funny parts of the movie – one of them involves Stan Lee during the wedding scene (it’s always good to see a cameo).

Anyways, the moral of this review is don’t bother. There’s nothing near the entertainment value of some of the other comic book hero movies. Hell, I’d rather watch Ben Affleck in Daredevil than this again, and frankly that should say a lot. Hopefully we can all band together and ask Hollywood nicely to stop making this crap.