Phaenomena

Phaenomena
Aratus
Johns Hopkins University Press
72 p., Hardcover $50, paperback $25

This is a fascinating little volume that may be of interest to some of you, especially if you like astronomy or have an interest in ancient science or poetry.  According to the cover copy, the Phaenomena was the most read poem in the ancient world after The Iliad and The Odyssey.  The purpose of the poem is instructive, giving information about the constellations and how to predict the weather.  In a more agrarian society, this type of information could at times be a matter of life and death.  Aratus lived during the period following the breakup of Alexander the Great's empire.

This is a thin volume.  The actual poem itself only takes up 38 pages, a little over half the book.  Extensive annotations form the bulk of the rest of the text in an appendix and are fascinating in and of themselves. 

Fans of epic fantasy or historical adventure are well aware of the importance many ancient cultures placed on poetry, especially in societies in which writing and literacy were rare.  Here's a sample:

The nearest guide
To the north Fish is on the left-hand side
Of Andromeda, on her shoulder.  Forever over
The shoulders of staunch Perseus, her lover
Her two feet circle.  As he marches forth,
Taller than the figures in the north,
His gallant right hand gestures to the seat
Of his love's mother. Staring at his feet,
He walks his father Zeus' property.  (p.10)

Some passages give detailed descriptions of certain constellations, especially those containing bright or prominent stars, and discuss the times those stars and constellations rise and set at different times of the year.

The price on this one is a little high, but that's to be expected from an academic press.  I got my copy last year when the publisher was sending out free copies to faculty as part of a promotion.  I've enjoyed the poetry and learned a bit from the appendix.  While I haven't read it cover to cover, it's been nice to dip into here and there.  It's one I'll return to on a regular basis.

Dianna Wynne Jones (1934-2011)

Diana Wynne Jones, British fantasy author, has died of lung cancer.  John O'Neill was written a eulogy on the Black Gate website.  Since I can't improve on it, I suggest you read it here.  Jones wrote a variety of books, from YA to adult, but my favorite is still The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, a tour guide of a generic land one might encounter in a fantasy novel.  It's one of the best books on how (not) to write fantasy that I've ever read, and hilariously funny as well.

Whatever Happened to Sense of Wonder?

Thursday, Daniel Abraham posted a brief essay on his blog entitled "In Defense of Exoticism" in which he examines the role exoticism plays in SFF.  He defines exoticism as "the commodification of the Other, appropriating the thoughts or clothing or music or food or religion of an unfamiliar culture for the charm of the unfamiliar."  He goes, in a wandering sort of way, to discuss some other aspects of this thought, specifically the concept of Other.  And when I say in a wandering way, I in no way intend anything derogatory.  Abraham himself says he's still thinking this topic through and his post would be a little rough around the edges, and I respect that.

But this essay got me thinking.  What's wrong with the charm of the unfamiliar?  And where are we to find it, if not in other cultures, epochs, music, etc.  Now I realize that the key verb in Abraham's sentence is "commodification" and that is sometimes in the eye of the beholder.  That's not a debate I want to get into at this point.  Instead, my thoughts went down a different avenue.

The Dark Griffin

The Dark Griffin
K. J. Taylor
Ace, 369 pages, $7.99

I came across this book in Wal-Mart of all places.  That's not a store known for its book selection, never mind its fantasy and science fiction selection, but the one close to my house (there are 4 where I live) has a dedicated section of stuff worth reading.  The cover caught my eye, with the Griffin in flight and the Eyrie in the background.  The guy riding the Griffin is Arren, who is described in the book as tall, thin, and pale complected with dark hair.  The guy on the cover doesn't really fit that description.  Instead he looks like he escaped from a romance cover.  On second thought, considering what tends to be happening on romance covers, maybe he's trying to get to one.  Yeah.  I bet that's it.

Anyway, the cover art caught my eye, and the synopsis on the back cover sounded intriguing,.  In leafing through the book, I noticed on the about-the-author page that Ms. Taylor wrote that she takes her inspiration from George R. R. Martin and Finnish metal.  Now I've never been much into metal, Finnish or otherwise, but I'm familiar enough with it and with Martin's works that I bought the book on the basis of that sentence. 

I really wanted to like this book.  And I do.  Just not as much as I had hoped. Part of that was the fault of my expectations of the book and part the fault of the author.  As far as my expectations, I was expecting something darker and more violent; I thought the book fell somewhat short of Martin in these areas.  From what I've been able to determine, this is Taylor's second book, and some of what I would consider to be her fault is simply she's still learning her craft. 

Arren is a northerner.  In the land of Cymria, the northerners are considered barbarians, and captured northerners were once kept as slaved.  Arren is the son of freed slaves, and the only northerner to become a griffiner.  Sent on a fool's mission intended to disgrace him, Arren captures a wild griffin, the titular dark griffin, but doing so costs the life of his griffin.  The dark griffin is taken to the arena to fight (read kill) convicted criminals, while Arren is stripped of his post in disgrace.  Of course Arren will end up in the arena himself fighting the griffin he captured.  I don't think I'm giving too much away by telling that, since it's a logical event in the plot.  There are other surprises that I wasn't expecting.

All griffins have one magic power, and the book implies the power is related to the griffin's color.  The dark griffin's power it turns out is unique and sends the plot in an unexpected direction, creating all kinds of complications for Arren.  The griffins are also at least as vain, arrogant, greedy, foolish, and scheming as the humans, which made me wonder who is really in charge.  It may not be who the humans think.

I had a couple of problems with the story.  First, it drug in places.  Some of that was due to the passage of time in which not much happened other than Arren going about his daily routine.  I've always found those types of narrative to be tedious, almost without exception.  In part the slow pacing was, I think, the due to the author's attempt to develop character.  And to be fair, with only a couple of exceptions, Ms. Taylor does a good job of developing most of her characters, better than most new writers do.  Unfortunately it seemed to me that Arren had a terminal case of the stupids.  He's whiny, self-pitying, and wishy-washy.  He's also prone to some really bad lapses in judgment.  In short, he's not very heroic for the majority of the book, and I wanted to knock some sense into him several times.  Even when he finally takes action against those who betrayed him, he came across to me as hesitant when he should have been aggressive. Again, in fairness, when the book ended, he was in a position where he was almost certainly going to have to be more assertive.

There were also some other things that bugged me.  A great deal is made throughout the book of the prejudices against northerners, but until Arren returns from capturing the dark griffin, this really isn't shown.  In fact, until he leaves, he's shown as being completely accepted and surrounded by friends from all levels of society.  The leader of the council is a woman, and her brother, Lord Rannagon, is the principle villain.  She disappears halfway through the book with no real explanation as to why, although it's implied that she would soon be stepping down from age.  It's her plans, and how Arren fits into those plans, that set off the events leading to his disgrace.  Lord Rannagon isn't very consistent in how he's portrayed, at times acting supportive of Arren and other times hostile.  He doesn't seem to have a problem with Arren's romance with his daughter, either, something I found hard to buy considering some of his other actions against Arren.  Also, Rannagon's bastard son briefly appears in two scenes.  In the first, he's unbelievably arrogant; in the second, a concerned and caring brother.  It was almost as though he were two different people.  He'll be back in the next book, so I'm sure he'll be fleshed out more.

And if you think that last sentence implies I'm going to read the next book, you're right.  I intend to.  In spite of the complaints I have about the book, the characters really are well developed.  Arren does go through some major changes, as do some of the other characters, most notably the dark griffin.  We only see a small piece of this world, and the northerners are a culture I want to learn more about.  Arren's fate takes an unexpected turn, and I'm curious to see how Ms. Taylor gets him out of the predicament he's in.  Or if she even does.  Taylor is a new writer, and I'm prepared to cut her some slack on the issues I have with the pacing.  I predict she will eventually be a major name.

The feeling I got when I finished the book was that this would have been a good first third to half of a much longer novel.  That may be the case.  The second (The Griffin's Flight) and third (The Griffin's War) volumes of the trilogy hit the shelves within weeks of The Dark Griffin.  I don't recall the last time a trilogy was published without at least a year's wait between books. 

The Dark Griffin might be a little slow and lacking in sufficient combat for some readers of this blog, but if you like griffins, give at least this volume a try. 

RIP, April Derleth

April Derleth, daughter of Arkham House founder August Derleth and current president and CEO of the publishing house, has died at the age of 56.  No cause of death has been announced.  Arkham House was founded by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei to promote the works of H. P. Lovecraft and other Weird Tales authors, as well as author who wrote in a similar vein for other publications, including volumes by Ray Bradbury, Clark Ashton Smith, William Hope Hodgson, and Robert E. Howard.  Upon August Derleth's death, Wandrei and then James Turner ran the publishing company.  When April Derleth became CEO, she tried to return to the company's roots by publishing more weird fiction.  During her tenure, she published volumes by Nelson S. Bond, Hugh B. Cave's autobiography Cave of a Thousand Tales,and  the anthology Arkham's Masters of Horror, among other volumes.  Arkham House has temporarily suspended all sales and unfilled orders. 

Brambling On

A couple of weeks ago, I reviewed a pair of novellas from Subterranean Press.  Written by Tobias S. Buckell and Paolo Bacigalupi, these tales revolve around a world in which the use of magic results in the growth of a plant called bramble.  Bramble, for those of you who haven't read my review or the novellas, is something like evil kudzu.  I'm sorry; that was redundant.  Anyone who's ever had to deal with kudzu knows it's evil.  Bramble is like kudzu on steroids.  With thorns.  It takes over everything (just like kudzu), and the thorns can send a person into a permanent sleep.

When I wrote the review I expressed a desire to see more of this world.  My wish has been granted.  If I can figure out how I caused that to happen....well, never mind.

Now, Buckell has written a sequel which went up on the spring 2011 issue of Subterranean Magazine a day or so before I started my traveling.  I tried to read it before I left, but I didn't quite get to it.  Last night, I finally managed to read it.  It was worth the wait.

This particular installment concerns one young man by the name of Mynza, who happens to be a thief.  The story opens with him climbing the wall of the keep of the Mayor of Alacan.  He brushes against a spot of bramble growing in a crack in the wall and just manages to make it to a balcony before losing consciousness.  Turns out this is the balcony of the Mayor's daughter, who in a twist on classic fairy tales motifs, awakens him with a kiss.  While there, Mynza takes several things, some freely given (the girl's virtue) and some not so freely given (jewels and a signet ring).  Because his burglary wasn't sanctioned by the head of the family that adopted him as a young orphan, they end up parting ways. 

At least for a few days.  Bramble has encroached to the point that the town has to be abandoned.  Instead of aiding the citizens in their escape, the Mayor and the merchants charge a toll to be taken out.  Most of the population can't pay the price, and bramble has spread to the point that even the only road out, controlled by the Mayor, is closing.  Mynza has spent most of his coin from the jewels he fenced.  It's at this point that responsibility finds him, and although he's fully grown physically, he finds himself forced to grow up.

I'll not say more about the details of the plot or the other characters.  This in many ways was the best of the three stories, although all of them are essentially stories of hope, despite their dark settings and events.  My reasons for saying that have to do with the changes Mynza undergoes, as well as those of one of the other characters.  To say more would be to spoil the story for you. 

I'm beginning to see a theme in the tales of this world.  A theme of how we, as people, as individuals, need each other.  Of how strong love is, propelling us to greatness and bringing forgiveness and hope where none appears to be.  I find these themes refreshing.  If this series takes off, and I hope it will, I'm sure either Buckell or Bacigalupi or both (either separately or collaboratively - that's a hint guys) will end up writing novels set in this world.  While I will certainly rejoice over them and read them, I hope the authors never leave the novella form behind when writing in this world.  It's the personal stories of the ordinary people, people trying to make a difference, however small, in a world that's getting darker that gives these tales their power.  In this day of fat fantasy and never ending series, it's nice to step back from the epic and focus on the personal.

There's been a lot of blogging in the last month or so about whether fantasy is too dark.  If you feel that way, then you need to read these works.  They're a breath of fresh air.

Hiatus Over

My trip was longer and more tiring than I expected.  It was work, not pleasure, and by work I mean manual labor.  Anyway, I worked on some posts in the evenings while gone, but don't have them ready to go yet.  One of them is a rather lengthy interview I'm still transcribing.  That one will probably run in at least 2 parts when I get it ready, maybe three.  I didn't get a lot of reading done, but what I did accomplish, I'll write about over the next few days.  Until then, consider this notice that new material will be going up soon.