CV Rick's Reviews

Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction by Brian W Aldiss with David Wingrove

As a fan of the genre and as a writer working to break through into its ranks I was looking forward to this volume for the history it contained.  The study of the people and landmark works I thought would help me fill large gaps in my knowledge.  In this I was not disappointed.  Brian Aldiss's knowledge is extensive, his research remarkable and the way he brought the giants in the field to life was nothing short of brilliant. 

It started with the acknowledged core beginning of the genre – Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.  The back story and literary criticism of that work shows Aldiss at his best. He also cruises gracefully through such giants as Kafka, Verne, Burroughs, and Wells, bringing their stories to the fore as importantly as their works.

If only the rest of the book had been so richly rewarding.  Once he arrived at the Hugo Gernsback era Aldiss digresses into opinion and subjective accusations.  He presents his view of what was and was not important as fact and in that he diluted the craft he'd so carefully put together.  This habit extended throughout the past century becoming more annoying the closer to the present he delved.  I do wish he'd have realized that peppering his chronicle with ugly dismissals rendered the entire volume less educational and more petty in feeling and value.  I was deeply disappointed – not because I disagreed with him, but because I can make up my own mind about the writers and their works. 

I learned a lot and respect the authors less. 

- CV Rick, May 2008

So You Want to Write Professionally?

You're Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop won't teach you anything about how to write great stories, articles, and books other than the most important thing – you have to write to be a writer.  Over the years he's compiled blog posts and articles into this volume and it's quintessential Scalzi, blunt and dogmatic. 

I'm taking my volume and mailing it to a friend who's decided to become a writer because better than I can ever do, Scalzi debunks the mythology and rose-colored dreams of the relaxed writer sitting at coffee shops and waxing poetic on the soul and the purity of art. Writing is a business and if you don't approach it as a business, you're going to be a hungry writer. 

The most valuable lesson in the book is about selling your writing.  If you want to be a paid writer, you have to write what people (editors) will buy.  That lesson applies to articles and novels alike.  It's great to write what's in your heart and it's great to be true to your vision of art, but if you want to receive royalty checks perhaps you should look at what's selling and also do whatever adjustments and rewrites your editor suggests.  Good advice.

Another eye-opening recommendation he gives is not to quit your day job.  Further he explains that rather than quitting your job look at it as freedom to write without the constraints of having to pay your bills from your writing output.  This is a great way to view it. Give yourself some time to learn the trade, figure out the markets, and explore your talents. 

If I have one knock it's more with the format than the content. Because it's an assemblage of posts, there's a lot of repetition. The upside to that is that you can open the book to any page and instantly get good advice and interesting insights.  I recommend this book to anyone who wants to write professionally.

- CV Rick, May 2008

On Writing, Inspiration, and Practical Advice

Stephen King manages to create the most interesting and inspiring writing advice book I've had the pleasure of reading.  It's part memoir and part practical writing instruction.  He takes the reader on a journey through his own life - what made him the writer he is, the nuggets and kernels of his earliest creativity, and both his failures and successes. 

Through telling his own story he leads you comfortably along until he gets to the basics of writing.  Throwing out traditional English Composition coursework he gets down and dirty with what makes a sentence, what style is and how to apply it, and when, where and how to write.  You can't help (well, I couldn't) but to be inspired and want to jump right out there and start writing after reading his stories. 

This is a must-read for every would-be writer as well as every Stephen King fan. 

- CV Rick, April 2008

Obsessions and Donkey Kong

Sugar and I watched The King of Kong last week.  It's a documentary about the guys who battled (yes, battled is the right word) to be recognized for the world record score on Donkey Kong.  It's a great movie because it'll keep you riveted to the disaster that is the main character's lives and how they are dominant and famous in only an isolated group.  Fame for Minutia - the American Way. 

We are a nation obsessed by Fame.  The entertainment and sports sections are more read than the front page.  The political races are only interesting when celebrities like Clinton and Obama clash. Britney Spears is a ratings juggernaut despite her debilitating pyschological defects.  Paris Hilton is also a marketing genius despite her inability to pass any math or grammar test in our public schools. Celebrity, fame, and notoriety drive more money and more effort than anything else in America.  Or so it seems.

The celebrity in the King of Kong is this one guy, Billy Mitchell, who held records in the classic video games, Donkey Kong and Centipede.  In 1999 Billy Mitchell performed a perfect game of Pac-Man, an unheard of act.  He's a self-promoter, a guru of hot sauce for the Chicken Wing industry and a restauranteer in Hollywood, Florida.  In this little circle of people who closely follow classic video game records, Billy is the most widely recognized person and he revels in his fame, flaunting it as if he were the Emperor of San Francisco. He's an ass.  He graces video arcades with his presence and phone calls as if they should be grateful and loyal just to know him. 

The movie is about upstart Steve Wiebe, an unlucky guy from Washington who'd never made his mark in any facet of his life despite working hard and with dedication.  He sought to make his mark in Donkey Kong and Billy Mitchell sought to thwart him. 

We are a nation obsessed by Fame.  The entertainment and sports sections are more read than the front page.  The political races are only interesting when celebrities like Clinton and Obama clash. Britney Spears is a ratings juggernaut despite her debilitating pyschological defects.  Paris Hilton is also a marketing genius despite her inability to pass any math or grammar test in our public schools. Celebrity, fame, and notoriety drive more money and more effort than anything else in America.  Or so it seems.

The celebrity in the King of Kong is this one guy, Billy Mitchell, who held records in the classic video games, Donkey Kong and Centipede.  In 1999 Billy Mitchell performed a perfect game of Pac-Man, an unheard of act.  He's a self-promoter, a guru of hot sauce for the Chicken Wing industry and a restauranteer in Hollywood, Florida.  In this little circle of people who closely follow classic video game records, Billy is the most widely recognized person and he revels in his fame, flaunting it as if he were the Emperor of San Francisco. He's an ass.  He graces video arcades with his presence and phone calls as if they should be grateful and loyal just to know him. 

The movie is about upstart Steve Wiebe, an unlucky guy from Washington who'd never made his mark in any facet of his life despite working hard and with dedication.  He sought to make his mark in Donkey Kong and Billy Mitchell sought to thwart him. 

Outposts of Empire - Forgotten History

Simon Winchester made it his mission to visit the forgotten outposts of the British Empire.  A century ago the Empire spanned the globe, hundreds of islands, dozens of countries and protectorates and the sun truly never set on the territories.  But the Empire shrunk and collapsed in on itself yet straggling islands across the planet still lay claim or are claimed by the shadow of day's long gone.

Sure, as other people have said, it's a dated book.  But it was written in 1985 and reading it with that in mind it's a fascinating travelogue.  I loved the author's attempt to "invade" Diego Garcia accompanied by the disappointing story of how residents were evicted and the U.S. put in a major (nuclear) base.  The empire has done so many things in its best interest, unfortunately that doesn't always include protecting individual rights. 

I also learned a lot about St. Helena where exiles resided for decades (Napoleon, Mbelini - head of the Zulu Nation).  I knew nothing about the beauty of the island or of the mansion where Napoleon took his walks and dictated his memoirs, staff on hand and British Guards out of sight. 

The Pitcairn islands are the last refuge of Britain in the Pacific not even administered nearby, but instead thousands of miles away from Australia.  The resident population shrinking and forgotten.  The average British citizen doesn't know much about its current empire.  Maybe if you ask they'll say the Isle of Mann or the Faulklands.  But these Outposts are historic and present.  It's a great read.  I love learning the minutia of history:  the forgotten places, the discarded histories, and the neglected peoples. 

Dated?  Maybe, but is history ever dated and does travel lose its romance.

- CV Rick, March 2008

Is Malcolm Gladwell a Tipping Point?

This was a really cool book.  I was completely intrigued by the ideas, although I'm not completely sold. However, if anyone can describe the Tipping Point, it's Malcolm Gladwell.  That guy could explain quantum physics to the short-bus crowd and they'd understand.

Here's what it is: "the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point."  But what it really tries to describe is that event we've all seen and wondered about, when small ideas or trends 'catch on' and become the big deal – the next big thing.  If we can understand what makes that change, what pushes it over the top, then we can manipulate the markets and get rich.  Unfortunately that's the book's biggest weakness as well. If everyone knows what it's going to take to push their idea or product over that threshold, then the boundaries move and the requirements change.  There's really only room for so many 'tipping point' ideas in the marketplace.  We can't all win in this capitalistic system, right? Not when the winners come on the backs of the losers.

So, the book describes tipping point events as epidemics and delineates them into three rules: The Law of the Few (where select people are the movers or leaders in these things), The Stickiness Factor, and The Power of Context.  Each of this he masterfully illustrates with real world examples, from the ride of Paul Revere to Rebecca Wells' novel, Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.

I loved the book and instinctively it all makes sense, but in the nature of things, the moving goalposts still bothers me.  It is no wonder that Malcolm Gladwell is one of the most sought-after public speakers in America – he tells a great story and makes you believe.  He might be his own tipping point.

- CV Rick, March 2008

The Largest Manhunt in U.S. History

The best history books read like novels - like dramas.  In fiction, the characters are great actors who have powerful motivations and take enormous risks for great gain.  Rarely does a real life story incorporate all those elements or contain grand characters.  Manhunt by James L. Swanson is a great story and would be regardless its genre, in this case it just happens to be true. 

The story is one we all know.  John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln in the back of the head while he was watching My American Cousin in his Presidential Box in Ford's Theater.  Perhaps we know much more about it, or perhaps you did, but I didn't.  I didn't know that after Booth's famous leap to the stage of the theater he gave a speech for the shocked, frozen audience.  I didn't know that he charmed his way past a road blockade after curfew and disappeared into the woods.  I didn't know that his compatriots failed in their missions to kill the Vice President, Andrew Johnson and the Secretary of State, William H. Seward.  The Seward attack was particularly gruesome and while it failed, several people were injured including the Secretary of State.

I didn't know that Booth was the nation's most famous actor and perhaps after Lincoln himself, the most recognizable person in the country.  I didn't know that Booth expected to be honored for his action, to extend the civil war and to rally the South to victory over the North single handedly.  I didn't know that Booth's flight lasted twelve days, including several days laying under a bush in the elements and cold beside a river unable to stand because the severe break. 

I also didn't know what a compelling story it could be and how an anti-hero like Booth could be the catalyst that turns a great man immortal.  The irony that Lincoln is revered like Booth could never dream is the result of his grandiose assassination.  That Booth is reviled as the worst example of traitor is the only true punishment for Booth, for whom adulation was the greatest reward.

This book is what history is and how it should be taught.  Bravo, Mr. Swanson.

- CV Rick, March 2008

Harry S. Truman

This is far and away the best Presidential biography I've ever had the pleasure of reading.  The subject, Harry S. Truman is a likable man who rose to the office of President in an unlikely manner and is the last common man to earn that office.  The Biographer is a fabulous storyteller who creates a tapestry of Truman's life that is complex in detail but simply explains his rise and the choices he made along the way. 

 

Reaching back to the earliest white Missouri settlers, McCullough mixes together the elements that formed the family into which Truman was born – poor, hardworking farmers whose luck was never good, misfortune piling upon misfortune.  From this Truman grew and became self-made time and time again. It always seems that Truman's about to thwarted in life, but instead he's just propelled in a new direction.

Things I really like about Truman – he was loyal.  He was loyal to his friends to a fault.  He was loyal to his country and his family.  To his wife whom he adored he was completely faithful.  He was humble, wondering always at his good fortune even when his business was crumbling, the farm worthless, and his mother-in-law (who thought he was never good enough for her daughter, even when he was president of the United States of America).  He took responsibility.  When was the last time we heard the Chief Executive say, “I made the decision and I stand by it.”  Truman stood by his decisions and took responsibility for those under him.  The Buck Stopped There. 

How did he come to prominence? - He joined the army late in life despite horrible eyesight, but he quickly found that men liked him and he could lead them.  As an artillery officer he commanded respect from large groups of men.  After World War I, he went back to Missouri and attempted to be a businessman, but failed.  During that time he caught the attention of local party bosses because of his ability to lead men and influence their decisions, and he earned a spot as a county judge.  From there he rose through the corrupt party organization of local boss, Tom Pendergast.

He wasn't a wealthy man – ever.  He was always worried about paying the bills and even when he was in the White House, he and his wife stuck to a strict budget to make ends meet.  Despite his humble circumstances he never sold out his principles for money.  He stayed true to himself.

Truman was the most progressive president we've had.  He proposed universal health care in the 40's. He pushed civil rights legislation, despite his own racism and antisemitism.  Under Truman the G.I. Bill came to be, which arguably created the modern middle class in America by improving and not abandoning the veterans. 

He dropped the bomb.  Yes he did.  He did it and he took responsibility for it and he believed that it was the right thing to do.  That's a point that can be argued ad infinitum.  But what he did do is keep the control of nuclear weapons in the hands of civilian authorities. Why?  Because it's not a military decision to kill hundreds of thousands of civilians, it's a political one.  He was right about that.

I could go on, but I won't.  It's a startling work of nonfiction and I can't recommend it highly enough. 

- CV Rick, February 2008

Southwestern Flavor - Wise and Comfortable

I really enjoyed this book.  It's a small volume with a series of essays that Tony Hillerman submitted as part of Master's work in journalism.  They read just as you'd expect from the premiere Southwest mystery writer of our time – slow, lazy, and full of humor.  They're true tales woven to feel like fiction and the characters step right out of the terrain of New Mexico.  Funny antics and folk wisdom are interspersed with character quirks.

The title story is the best, but all of the others held my interest and I read them in a single sitting. 

As is my custom with anthologies, I'm including the table of contents in my review

The Great Taos Bank Robbery
The Very Heart of Our Country
We All Fall Down
The Conversion of Cletus Xywanda
The Hunt for the Lost American
Las Trampas
Othello in Union County
Quijote in Rio Arriba County
Mr. Luna's Lazarus Act

- CV Rick, February 2008

Climate Change is Not in Doubt

Elizabeth Kolbert chronicles the true face of what so many refuse to believe to be real: Global Climate change. Far from being alarmist, she carefully assembles eye witness experts and scientific papers to such disparate topics as species migration, toad species extinction, ice sheet core analysis, and ice flow consistencies from all over the globe. It's as careful as her journalism and as sourced as a dissertation and rightly so, since it springs from the series of articles she wrote for the New Yorker on the subject.

The work isn't new and it isn't hidden, this is what has been available to all of us for quite some time. The earth is warming and the human contributions are no longer deniable. There are things that can be done, if only we are willing.

A truly striking theme in the book is the notice that scientists are being characterized as alarmist and extremist. When have scientists ever fit that bill? When have they thrown the scientific method to the wind and gone on the vagaries of belief as a crux of argument? They have not ever done that and they aren't now. As a group they agree on the principle elements - the earth is warming, humans contribute to that, and it's going to be a major and drastic change that no one is sure whether we can survive - provided nothing is done to stop it.

Never before have we been so threatened by simple profit motive. But who is out there to actually discredit science? Kolbert takes us carefully through the science and also through the opponents of the science to show that there is no real benefit in lying about the warming, but there is profit in denying it.

It's a valuable book, with beautiful material and illustrations. It's also a sad book which shouldn't be read by anyone who has already lost hope.

- CV Rick