Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Across the Nightingale Floor

Tales of the Otori, Book One

Set in an ancient world of warring clans, birthright, and ancient powers we start our first story of the Otori clan – Across the Nightingale Floor. Whether you look at this story as a brilliant fantasy or a skilled presentation of storytelling in multiple points-of-view, it’s a book not to be missed. Set in an alternate feudal Japan, we are introduced to a people of fierce pride, honor, and hidden skills. The sword is still the greatest weapon and the mainland is mainly stories told by the scarce few who have actually seen it. The emperor is still deferred to, but he is a distant figure on a distant throne, far from the lives of our characters.
The Three Nations have been in upheaval for half a generation now, ever since the battle of Yamagata which secured the strength of the Tohan and pushed the Otori back to a minuscule remainder of their land. To the west lie the Seishuu, the Maruyama, and the Shirakawa who have so far stayed out of the bloodier struggles, but now they feel pressure from the Tohan to cooperate or be quashed as their neighbors have.


Otori Shigeru has been left alive but striped of his position as ruler of the clan, instead he travels the land studying and improving farming methods and food storage. At least, that is what his resentful uncles and enemies have been led to believe – that the once powerful and beloved Otori Shigeru has been reduced to nothing but a simple farmer. Will he be able to prove that the love and loyalty of his people and knowledge outside of a standard ruler (you must all obey me) is the true key to success?
The Hidden, persecuted, hunted down and adamantly anti-violence to their deaths. Wanting nothing more than to be left to their quiet lives and simple beliefs, these people are slowly but surely being eradicated by the Tohan. Tomasu spent his life in one of their quiet villages until Iida Sadamu, lord of the Tohan, burned it and his family to the ground. With this one violent act, his destiny spirals out of his hands as his true history and future potential exceed anything quiet and gentle Tomasu could ever have expected… and his new life as Otori Takeo will most literally fill books.
The Tribe: families with a blood line spawning from the mystic history of the island and possessing abilities bordering on magic and impossibility. Isolated from the rest of the clans of the three nations as are the Hidden, they instead use their skills to churn and use the ruling classes to their advantage – performing assassinations here, working as mercenaries there, and always in an elaborate web everywhere. Muto Kenji slips in and out like an omnipotent wraith, helping to lead Takeo towards his future, proving that sometimes blood is held above loyalty, no matter what one’s heart might want.
Heart is also a strong motivating factor in this story, or more rightly love. Be it love hidden and stretched across the years with the powerful and graceful Lady Maruyama Naomi, or new lust kindled by former political hostage young Lady Shirakawa Kaede, the women of the realm are not ones to be crossed. Prepare to fall into a fast moving world of loyalty, love, and power, then prepare to scramble for the next in the series: Grass For His Pillow.

Monday, May 11, 2009

The Book Shanty

Okay, so I haven't played many games in the past couple of weeks. Disheartened by the lack of worthwhile Virtual Console purchases of the past couple of months, and in general feeling a little underwhelmed by a lot of the freeware I've been checking out lately, I've turned to books for solace. And by that I mean I've been reading like a maniac the past two weeks. Seeing as how I'm broke and all, my strategy is this: scour the Science Fiction Book Club website, refusing of course, to purchase my featured selections, then putting anything interesting in my wish list there and reading through user reviews to see if it suits me. I cross reference the general feedback there with that of Amazon, often adding the same items to my wish list there so I can receive recommendations for other books I may be interested in. Then, I go to the local library's online website, and add the chosen books to my wish list there, or outright request them, depending on what I'm interested in. They give me a call when my shizzle is ready, so I roll a mile down the skreet and make the pick-up, gangsta style. I'm talking free books, yall. As long as I don't accrue late fees.

I'll start with A Dirty Job and Practical Demon Keeping by Christopher Moore, both very funny and light reads. He seems to have a thing for thrusting the everyman into the most bizarre occult/supernatural situations possible, and the results are almost Pythonesque.
I also read the first two books of Alan Campbell's Deepgate Trilogy, Scar Night and Iron Angel, both of which are bit stranger and bleaker than what I expect out of a fantasy novel. I then devoured two books by my current favorite fantasy author, Peter S. Beagle, A Dance for Emilia, a novella, and Tamsin, hands down the best ghost story I've ever read. I first read another of his ghost stories, A Fine and Private Place about a year ago, and loved it.

By far the best book though, has been The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. An amazing bittersweet love story about a porn star who is hideously deformed after being burned in a car wreck, he finds meaning and love when he meets a mental patient who claims they were lovers in another life of his, though she herself is 800 years old. It get's really interesting and wonderful from there. If I had a top ten list for the best books I've ever read, this would be in it.

On the Sci-Fi front, I just discovered Robert J. Sawyer with his latest novel, WWW:WAKE, the first in a trilogy about a blind girl who, with the aid of experimental technology gains the ability to see, not reality at first, but the web itself--while at the same time, an awareness is forming in within cyberspace, and it's fate and consciousness is bound to that of the girl. I wasn't sure about it after reading the jacket, but it's was a great read, and I've added a few more of his books to my library que.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Doctor Who: The Time Meddler


One of the better First Doctor (William Hartnell) stories after the departure of Ian (William Russell) and Barbara (Jacqueline Hill), The Time Meddler is at its best when the Doctor and the Meddling Monk (Peter Butterworth) are on screen together. Their chemistry together is impressive and Hartnell is really on his game here, perhaps spurred to such heights because he was working with an actor (again Butterwoth) of his own caliber. Vicki (Maureen O'Brien) and Steven (Peter Purves) are quite a team as well and certainly better than some of the companions to come (i.e. Dodo Chaplet).

Keep in mind, this is the first time in the history of Doctor Who when audiences discovered there was another individual flying through time and space in a TARDIS. It's impossible today to fully appreciate the importance of the cliffhanger in 'A Battle of Wits' (Episode 3) when Vicki utters those words: "The Monk's got a TARDIS!" Furthermore, how the Doctor decides to deal with the Monk is simultaneously hilarious and rather cruel, but you can't say he didn't deserve it. All in all, a fun pseudo-historical romp and an excellent way to end the second season of the original Doctor Who!



4 Daleks (out of 5)

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

YAY

This comes out today. Do want!

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