Back in the Groove?
Aug. 17th, 2007 10:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
le_bebna_kamniParents coming to visit can be so disruptive. And tiring. I think it's taken me a week to recover, and I'm still feeling the after-compulsion to make sure everything is obsessively-compulsively neat. I find myself bending over to pick up a speck of lint that has fallen onto the carpet.
Unfortunately, my reading has fallen dangerously behind, and the summer is waning very quickly. My calendar says that this is the the 33rd week of the year, so I foresee that I will not be making the 50 book goal...but one can always hang on and hope and pray for the winter holidays to make a last-minute comeback.
Book #24: Storm Front, by Jim Butcher
**Due to carelessness and thoughtless writing on my part, I have rewritten the review of this book. I don't recommend seeking out the original review, but the text has been moved to one of the comments for people who want to reference it.
I recently started watching the television series "The Dresden Files", and when I found out it was based on a series of novels, I thought I would check them out. For those not familiar with the show, it's about a real-life wizard who lives in the mundane world and solves magically-based crimes.
Storm Front is the first in the series of Dresden Files. Harry Dresden is drawn into investigating a series of black-magic murders, and ends up being accused of them himself. Harry has to race to find the real killer and clear his name before the wizarding law force executes him for using forbidden black magic.
For those of you who only want a recap of the TV show, there are similarities, but not enough to warrant reading the books. The Dresden Files are much better suited to real fantasy lovers, and not just prime-time watchers who wouldn't normally peruse the sci-fi/fantasy section of the bookstore. If you enjoy reading Anita Blake novels, Jim Butcher has much the same tone and quality of writing. He has a lot of violence, some racy sex (although not as graphic as Laurell K. Hamilton), and tons of magic and supernaturalism. I will definitely give kudos to Butcher, though: he seems to know his magical lore better than the Anita Blake series, at least the flavor I'm familiar with. I'm a bit curious whether his knowledge came from a background in any spiritual/religious practices, or whether he's just a good researcher.
Occasionally you run across a book that digs up unexpected memories and gets you reminiscing, and Storm Front was one of those books. For most of high school I dated a very interesting guy who introduced me to the wonders of geekdom. I had always been a sci-fi/fantasy reader, but he introduced me to things like computer games, Jolt cola (a kind of Holy Grail, because we had to drive 2-5 hours to buy any), anime, and of course role-playing games.
My boyfriend was a great storyteller, and I ate up his campaigns like candy. He had unique ideas and knew how to draw people in so that you were waiting on the edge of your seat for the next thing to happen. And it didn't help that I liked looking at him while he talked. While I've been told my tastes in men run geekier than most, his long, dark hair was gorgeous to me in a hick town full of crew cuts. He was leanly athletic and amazingly graceful from several years of martial arts training -- he could pull moves on a dance floor that would confound your average geek.
Most non-geeks don't realize how many geeks take up some form of hand-to-hand or melee weapon skill, but from my own acquaintances I'm convinced it's pretty common. When we geeks put together our character sheets and start playing epic heroes that kick ass, are adored by women (or men) and/or admired by the average joe, sooner or later we want to *be* those heroes in real life. Either that, or stop being beaten up on the playground. ;P I know that my boyfriend and many of his friends felt that way (at least about the former idea), and he certainly convinced me it was *cool* to do it. Even today -- especially with swords -- if someone says they've fought or studied a combat skill, a certain amount of geekly respect wells within me.
About six months after we started dating, my boyfriend expressed a desire to be a professional writer. He started showing me his work, in part because I was his girlfriend and he wanted to impress me, but also because I was an English tutor and got good marks on my school-required stories and compositions. And it made sense that he would be a writer: after all, he was a great GM with fantastic storytelling abilities, and many fantasy writers say they get story ideas from their campaigns. Soon my boyfriend's friends were coming to me to check over their stories, and consequently I got a lot of exposure to teenage geek fantasy writing.
One thing I learned very quickly was this: the two skills of writing and GMing are very different, even if they seem like they should be similar. What sounds stunning when proclaimed boldly in a manly warrior voice becomes cheesy and lame when lying inert in Times New Roman font. Campaigns rarely scratch below the surface of the characters who play, and even then gamers have to think on their feet to act out a person who isn't necessarily themselves. What you often end up with is a mish-mash of stereotype and the player's real personality -- a bad combination if the gamer is playing a personality vastly dissimilar to their own. Gaming characters are rarely as rich, complex, or realistic as well-thought-out fictional characters, which is why character development is probably the weakest point in a teenage geek writer's repertoire (action sequences follow a close second).
Like the teenage epic game, everyone in the world is beautiful and/or muscular -- except for the people you're obviously supposed to despise, in which case they're overweight, underweight, unsightly, or in some way visibly repulsive. The main character of teenage fantasy is almost always the author in idealistic form, which generally ends up being a bit cheesy and unrealistic.
My boyfriend had a penchant for dark, brooding characters -- characters who were both kick-ass (physically adept) and bad-ass (cold, hardened, don't-touch-me types), but who had a hidden soft spot that said he was really a good guy underneath it all. His characters were always chivalrous types, even if it seemed old-fashioned, and there was often a certain old-West feel to them in spite of the fantasy. The problem is, he could get the "good guy underneath it all" part right, but he was never very good with the bad-ass part -- largely because my boyfriend himself was a really nice guy who probably didn't have a true unfeeling, bad-ass bone in his body. From my writing classes I can tell you this axiom: even though the authors aren't necessarily their characters, you can't write what you don't know, or at least not well.
So when I read Storm Front and met Harry Dresden, suddenly I felt like I was reading my old boyfriend's work. All the characters, even some of the dialogue and action scenes sounded like they might have escaped from his pen and onto the pages I was reading. A read of the "about the author" section of the book, and a visit to the author's website and blog confirmed two things for me:
Of course, Jim Butcher is a lot better writer than my ex (and other teen geek writers rarely match his writing ability), but I think Butcher's work still falls prey to several of the stereotypes of gamer-geek writing listed above. The women in his books are very attractive: the female detective that Harry works with, Murphy, is beautiful and athletic, as are the reporter named Susan and obviously the vampiress Bianca. In contrast, Detective Carmichael, Murphy's annoying partner who you're obviously supposed to dislike, is of course overweight, rumpled, and spills food on his clothes.
As for Harry Dresden, he sounds a lot like a fulfillment of a gamer-geek's dreams. He was once a youngster beaten up on the school playgrounds; now he's a powerful wizard who can also use guns and fight hand-to-hand. He's dark, a loner, and can scare people off in stare-down, but he also has a hidden, kind nature that doesn't fit with his hardened exterior. Some writers can pull that contrast off well, but for Dresden it just loses credibility (I have my suspicions that it's for the same reason that my boyfriend couldn't pull it off: Jim Butcher is a really nice guy). And even though Dresden supposedly isn't good with women, beautiful women always seem to show up at his doorstep. Sounds like teenage geek masturbatory material to me. ;P
Like my ex, Butcher has a way with story-telling: the plot is good -- reasonably page-turning. But somehow I just can't get connected with his from-the-gamesheet characters, and characterization is everything for me. I'm actually more pleased with the television show's choice of characterization of Harry Dresden, which is very "average joe" who happens to have powers. Now I just have to decide if Butcher's good plots are worth checking out a second book from the library.
And now for a book I'm not going to review, because I couldn't finish reading it (but I'll let someone else review it for me):
The Afterlife Experiments: Breakthrough Scientific Evidence of Life After Death
Let me just say that if you're of any scientific inclination, this book will make you scream. The man who carried out this investigation is an accredited scientist, not your average lay-person, so I have much higher standards for the reading. All I can say is his experiments are improperly controlled, the data is subjectively scored, and the assumptions he makes are atrocious. Even if life after death exists, he's doing the wrong experiments to find evidence for it.
Grrrrrr.......
Unfortunately, my reading has fallen dangerously behind, and the summer is waning very quickly. My calendar says that this is the the 33rd week of the year, so I foresee that I will not be making the 50 book goal...but one can always hang on and hope and pray for the winter holidays to make a last-minute comeback.
Book #24: Storm Front, by Jim Butcher
**Due to carelessness and thoughtless writing on my part, I have rewritten the review of this book. I don't recommend seeking out the original review, but the text has been moved to one of the comments for people who want to reference it.
I recently started watching the television series "The Dresden Files", and when I found out it was based on a series of novels, I thought I would check them out. For those not familiar with the show, it's about a real-life wizard who lives in the mundane world and solves magically-based crimes.
Storm Front is the first in the series of Dresden Files. Harry Dresden is drawn into investigating a series of black-magic murders, and ends up being accused of them himself. Harry has to race to find the real killer and clear his name before the wizarding law force executes him for using forbidden black magic.
For those of you who only want a recap of the TV show, there are similarities, but not enough to warrant reading the books. The Dresden Files are much better suited to real fantasy lovers, and not just prime-time watchers who wouldn't normally peruse the sci-fi/fantasy section of the bookstore. If you enjoy reading Anita Blake novels, Jim Butcher has much the same tone and quality of writing. He has a lot of violence, some racy sex (although not as graphic as Laurell K. Hamilton), and tons of magic and supernaturalism. I will definitely give kudos to Butcher, though: he seems to know his magical lore better than the Anita Blake series, at least the flavor I'm familiar with. I'm a bit curious whether his knowledge came from a background in any spiritual/religious practices, or whether he's just a good researcher.
Occasionally you run across a book that digs up unexpected memories and gets you reminiscing, and Storm Front was one of those books. For most of high school I dated a very interesting guy who introduced me to the wonders of geekdom. I had always been a sci-fi/fantasy reader, but he introduced me to things like computer games, Jolt cola (a kind of Holy Grail, because we had to drive 2-5 hours to buy any), anime, and of course role-playing games.
My boyfriend was a great storyteller, and I ate up his campaigns like candy. He had unique ideas and knew how to draw people in so that you were waiting on the edge of your seat for the next thing to happen. And it didn't help that I liked looking at him while he talked. While I've been told my tastes in men run geekier than most, his long, dark hair was gorgeous to me in a hick town full of crew cuts. He was leanly athletic and amazingly graceful from several years of martial arts training -- he could pull moves on a dance floor that would confound your average geek.
Most non-geeks don't realize how many geeks take up some form of hand-to-hand or melee weapon skill, but from my own acquaintances I'm convinced it's pretty common. When we geeks put together our character sheets and start playing epic heroes that kick ass, are adored by women (or men) and/or admired by the average joe, sooner or later we want to *be* those heroes in real life. Either that, or stop being beaten up on the playground. ;P I know that my boyfriend and many of his friends felt that way (at least about the former idea), and he certainly convinced me it was *cool* to do it. Even today -- especially with swords -- if someone says they've fought or studied a combat skill, a certain amount of geekly respect wells within me.
About six months after we started dating, my boyfriend expressed a desire to be a professional writer. He started showing me his work, in part because I was his girlfriend and he wanted to impress me, but also because I was an English tutor and got good marks on my school-required stories and compositions. And it made sense that he would be a writer: after all, he was a great GM with fantastic storytelling abilities, and many fantasy writers say they get story ideas from their campaigns. Soon my boyfriend's friends were coming to me to check over their stories, and consequently I got a lot of exposure to teenage geek fantasy writing.
One thing I learned very quickly was this: the two skills of writing and GMing are very different, even if they seem like they should be similar. What sounds stunning when proclaimed boldly in a manly warrior voice becomes cheesy and lame when lying inert in Times New Roman font. Campaigns rarely scratch below the surface of the characters who play, and even then gamers have to think on their feet to act out a person who isn't necessarily themselves. What you often end up with is a mish-mash of stereotype and the player's real personality -- a bad combination if the gamer is playing a personality vastly dissimilar to their own. Gaming characters are rarely as rich, complex, or realistic as well-thought-out fictional characters, which is why character development is probably the weakest point in a teenage geek writer's repertoire (action sequences follow a close second).
Like the teenage epic game, everyone in the world is beautiful and/or muscular -- except for the people you're obviously supposed to despise, in which case they're overweight, underweight, unsightly, or in some way visibly repulsive. The main character of teenage fantasy is almost always the author in idealistic form, which generally ends up being a bit cheesy and unrealistic.
My boyfriend had a penchant for dark, brooding characters -- characters who were both kick-ass (physically adept) and bad-ass (cold, hardened, don't-touch-me types), but who had a hidden soft spot that said he was really a good guy underneath it all. His characters were always chivalrous types, even if it seemed old-fashioned, and there was often a certain old-West feel to them in spite of the fantasy. The problem is, he could get the "good guy underneath it all" part right, but he was never very good with the bad-ass part -- largely because my boyfriend himself was a really nice guy who probably didn't have a true unfeeling, bad-ass bone in his body. From my writing classes I can tell you this axiom: even though the authors aren't necessarily their characters, you can't write what you don't know, or at least not well.
So when I read Storm Front and met Harry Dresden, suddenly I felt like I was reading my old boyfriend's work. All the characters, even some of the dialogue and action scenes sounded like they might have escaped from his pen and onto the pages I was reading. A read of the "about the author" section of the book, and a visit to the author's website and blog confirmed two things for me:
1) the auther was not my ex.The author even looked a lot like my ex-boyfriend, down to the quirky smile and raised eyebrow on his "About Jim" page.
2) the author sounded a lot like my ex in so many ways it was funny, from his interests to a few of the comments he made on this blog.
Of course, Jim Butcher is a lot better writer than my ex (and other teen geek writers rarely match his writing ability), but I think Butcher's work still falls prey to several of the stereotypes of gamer-geek writing listed above. The women in his books are very attractive: the female detective that Harry works with, Murphy, is beautiful and athletic, as are the reporter named Susan and obviously the vampiress Bianca. In contrast, Detective Carmichael, Murphy's annoying partner who you're obviously supposed to dislike, is of course overweight, rumpled, and spills food on his clothes.
As for Harry Dresden, he sounds a lot like a fulfillment of a gamer-geek's dreams. He was once a youngster beaten up on the school playgrounds; now he's a powerful wizard who can also use guns and fight hand-to-hand. He's dark, a loner, and can scare people off in stare-down, but he also has a hidden, kind nature that doesn't fit with his hardened exterior. Some writers can pull that contrast off well, but for Dresden it just loses credibility (I have my suspicions that it's for the same reason that my boyfriend couldn't pull it off: Jim Butcher is a really nice guy). And even though Dresden supposedly isn't good with women, beautiful women always seem to show up at his doorstep. Sounds like teenage geek masturbatory material to me. ;P
Like my ex, Butcher has a way with story-telling: the plot is good -- reasonably page-turning. But somehow I just can't get connected with his from-the-gamesheet characters, and characterization is everything for me. I'm actually more pleased with the television show's choice of characterization of Harry Dresden, which is very "average joe" who happens to have powers. Now I just have to decide if Butcher's good plots are worth checking out a second book from the library.
And now for a book I'm not going to review, because I couldn't finish reading it (but I'll let someone else review it for me):
The Afterlife Experiments: Breakthrough Scientific Evidence of Life After Death
Let me just say that if you're of any scientific inclination, this book will make you scream. The man who carried out this investigation is an accredited scientist, not your average lay-person, so I have much higher standards for the reading. All I can say is his experiments are improperly controlled, the data is subjectively scored, and the assumptions he makes are atrocious. Even if life after death exists, he's doing the wrong experiments to find evidence for it.
Grrrrrr.......
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Re: Hey Thank You!
on 2007-08-19 05:03 pm (UTC)My boyfriend in high school was wonderful. Let me just say that my reference to his looks was intended as a complement to you, not an insult -- I found my boyfriend attractive, and you fit my conception of an attractive man very well. He was the one who introduced me to the geek *lifestyle* (;P), and it stuck perfectly. We dated for 2 1/2 years because we were a great match, but I wasn't ready to be on the we're-going-to-get-married-right-out-of-high-school track. Now I almost exclusively date geeks. I've dated non-geeks before, but it never works for very long because they're so boring.
The assertions weren't intended as badmouthing, but rather observations, and I did it with the assumption that by discussing geek culture I'm also indicting myself (and that people who know me would understand that). I chose my boyfriend for the example because I got to read a lot of his writing in high school, but I could have said that about any number of people I know, including myself. We (i.e., myself and the people I know) are usually, at least initially, drawn to martial arts because we want to be the characters that we read, see on TV, or play on our character sheets. If you never felt that way, then I apologize -- you are unique and rare among the people I have met.
I make the assertion that you're not bad-ass because Dresden doesn't read like someone who is. By bad-ass, I don't mean someone who is physically adept; I mean a certain kind of untouchable don't-mess-with-me attitude, or an I've-killed-someone-and-that-has-hardened-me-inside attitude. I'm certainly not a bad-ass, and I could never be one if I tried (and wouldn't want to be). Even if the characters aren't actually the author, I know one from my English/creative writing classes in college: writers can't write something that isn't a part of themselves in some way -- at least not well. It says on your websites that you've taken some writing classes, so I'm guessing you've heard that axiom before from one of your instructors. What I should have written was "I think Mr. Butcher is really a nice, loving, caring guy inside, because Dresden doesn't come across as a bad-ass very well". But maybe I'm wrong? ;) I apologize if my original statement was insulting.
Many writers make their main character some kind of idealized form of themselves, especially in the fantasy genre. From reading my boyfriend's [and his friends'] writing, Dresden's character was very familiar and seemed to fit the pattern. Once again, I apologize for misjudging your intentions.
I think my statement "While I would definitely say that Butcher is a better writer than my ex..." was a little unclear, and I'd like to post an amendment that clarifies what I was trying to say:My intent in that sentence was not meant as an attack on the writer, but the writing style, and I apologize for how poorly the sentence was worded.