I just got my hands on Relentless, Dean Koontz's newest thriller. I haven't had the chance to read it yet, but I think it will be next in the queue (I currently have 2 books going: Stephen King, and Spider Robinson).
Having mentioned King, it puts me in mind of a lot of pop cultural garbage against Koontz. It has become popular to hate Koontz as a second-rate, poor-man's King. That has never really struck me as a valid argument.
I come away with completely different feelings from each of them. Technically, they are both horror writers, but that's not where Koontz lives, and his stories never get as dark and dingy as King's (who has the distinction of being the only writer to make me want to take a shower after reading his work).
My feeling toward Koontz are mixed. When he's on, he is one of the greatest. When he's off, he's pretty bad (but more readable than other books I've suffered through, not naming any names). Interestingly, that's the same opinion King has of him. Just look at the interview where he famously said, "...Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn."
When it comes to Koontz, I'm not much of a critic. The problem is that I love Dean Koontz. I have read every book of his that I can get a hold of (43 at this point by my count. Relentless will be 44). When he's bad, I just shake my head as if the puppy just made a mess on the rug.
Reading Koontz is something of a homey experience, made so by the common threads that run through his books. There's probably a drinking game.
I intended at this point to take you through those common threads, but this post is already too long, so the threads will follow in a separate post.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
4 years
It has been 4 years since my writing education began in earnest. Of course, I've been a writer for several times that. I used to think you can't learn how to write from someone else. I'm still pretty leery of writing classes in school (you need to have the right teacher or it might become more of an impediment than help).
The one nice thing about having gone my own way so long was that I had well over 400,000 of my million "practice words" written by that time. The drawback is that most of those words sucked since I didn't know what I was doing (my first novel was an impenetrable doorstop coming in at 275,000 words). For those keeping track at home, that's 3x as long as a first book should be.
Anyway, I just wanted to give a big thanks to those folks who have helped me most over these last 4 years: Robert J Defendi, Scott Rhoades, John English, Carolyn Larson, Dave Tippets, and Dave Wolverton.
The one nice thing about having gone my own way so long was that I had well over 400,000 of my million "practice words" written by that time. The drawback is that most of those words sucked since I didn't know what I was doing (my first novel was an impenetrable doorstop coming in at 275,000 words). For those keeping track at home, that's 3x as long as a first book should be.
Anyway, I just wanted to give a big thanks to those folks who have helped me most over these last 4 years: Robert J Defendi, Scott Rhoades, John English, Carolyn Larson, Dave Tippets, and Dave Wolverton.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Administrative Change
I've decided to stop writing Book Reviews of every book I read. Simply, as of today I'm 22 books behind and that is daunting and keeping me from even wanting to think about this blog. And of the 40+ reviews I've written this year, only 1 or 2 (if I'm generous) actually have any insight in them. I'll still review books that particularly strike me.
I'll probably even remove some of my reviews because they have such negative value that their mere existence pulls down everything else (and not just on this site). You'll thank me when I delete an old post and you find your car has appeciated a smidge.
That said, any books in my sidebar or past years' collection you want my opinion on, drop a comment on any thread. If you'd like to start a discussion, say so, and I'll start a thread for it.
I'll probably even remove some of my reviews because they have such negative value that their mere existence pulls down everything else (and not just on this site). You'll thank me when I delete an old post and you find your car has appeciated a smidge.
That said, any books in my sidebar or past years' collection you want my opinion on, drop a comment on any thread. If you'd like to start a discussion, say so, and I'll start a thread for it.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Book Review: Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold
Synopsis: Miles Vorkosigan goes on a diplomatic mission to the Cetagandan Empire. Within minutes of arriving, he gets swept up in a silent coup d' etat that if it succeeds, blame will be placed on the Barrayaran government.
This was a fun story. The Cetagandans are a people who focus on improvement of the race by genetic engineering. They have a two-caste system: the Haut, who are artists--the cream of engineering--and the Ghem, the military. In addition, there are the Ba, a servitor race--think genetic eunuchs. It's an interesting societal construct mainly because one would think the Ghem would lead because they have all the guns, but the leaders of Cetaganda are the Haut.
The plot of the book deals with the Star Creche which is the gene bank for the entire civilization. I had a little problem with an eight-star empire relying on a single gene bank. Talk about all eggs, one basket.
Haut women are so beautiful they spend the majority of their time encased in opaque indestructible bubbles. When Miles first sees a Haut woman's face, he is effectively ensorcelled by it. That seemed a bit much to me, but that might be because Haut women are impossibly beautiful. what that really means is that you can't even imagine how beautiful unless you see one. So in my mind, Miles is mush-brained over the most perfect female I can imagine, and that doesn't really seem in character.
Overall, it's an enjoyable book. It brings the intrigue of politics into a locked-room murder into a spy thriller. Besides the points above, the only disappointment is that the Dendarii don't show up.
This was a fun story. The Cetagandans are a people who focus on improvement of the race by genetic engineering. They have a two-caste system: the Haut, who are artists--the cream of engineering--and the Ghem, the military. In addition, there are the Ba, a servitor race--think genetic eunuchs. It's an interesting societal construct mainly because one would think the Ghem would lead because they have all the guns, but the leaders of Cetaganda are the Haut.
The plot of the book deals with the Star Creche which is the gene bank for the entire civilization. I had a little problem with an eight-star empire relying on a single gene bank. Talk about all eggs, one basket.
Haut women are so beautiful they spend the majority of their time encased in opaque indestructible bubbles. When Miles first sees a Haut woman's face, he is effectively ensorcelled by it. That seemed a bit much to me, but that might be because Haut women are impossibly beautiful. what that really means is that you can't even imagine how beautiful unless you see one. So in my mind, Miles is mush-brained over the most perfect female I can imagine, and that doesn't really seem in character.
Overall, it's an enjoyable book. It brings the intrigue of politics into a locked-room murder into a spy thriller. Besides the points above, the only disappointment is that the Dendarii don't show up.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Book Review: Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer
Synopsis: Artemis Fowl and Holly Short work together again to rescue the Demons of Hybras and keep them from trying to kill all the humans.
I wasn't so hot on this story. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't that great either. Each Artemis Fowl book adds more characters. The problem with that is that there's only so much time in a story. The more characters there are, the less time they get on screen. Colfer does it pretty well, but I felt a few of the characters were somewhat redundant.
It has an interesting ending that relies on time paradoxes, and Colfer does a good job handling them. Makes me wonder about the next book since it's apparently about a time paradox. I wonder if it's dealing with fallout from this one or a new paradox.
I wasn't so hot on this story. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't that great either. Each Artemis Fowl book adds more characters. The problem with that is that there's only so much time in a story. The more characters there are, the less time they get on screen. Colfer does it pretty well, but I felt a few of the characters were somewhat redundant.
It has an interesting ending that relies on time paradoxes, and Colfer does a good job handling them. Makes me wonder about the next book since it's apparently about a time paradox. I wonder if it's dealing with fallout from this one or a new paradox.
Book Review: The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold
Synopsis: Three years after The Warrior's Apprentice, Miles Vorkosigan graduates from the academy and gets his first assignment. That goes bad, and Miles ends up struggling to save the Emperor and averting interstellar war.
Talking about Lois McMaster Bujold with a friend, his biggest criticism was the coincidences that go into making her plots work. This book is the one he was thinking about. There are quite a few coincidences running around this book. It's not too bad when you consider economy of characters and efficient plotting, but it can make the story feel contrived at times.
That said, the story is rather fun to read. Miles is a consummate protagonist. While things constantly happen to him to destroy his life, he struggles to keep afloat and alive. And inevitably everything he does just makes things worse. Just as it should be.
Talking about Lois McMaster Bujold with a friend, his biggest criticism was the coincidences that go into making her plots work. This book is the one he was thinking about. There are quite a few coincidences running around this book. It's not too bad when you consider economy of characters and efficient plotting, but it can make the story feel contrived at times.
That said, the story is rather fun to read. Miles is a consummate protagonist. While things constantly happen to him to destroy his life, he struggles to keep afloat and alive. And inevitably everything he does just makes things worse. Just as it should be.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Book Review: The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold
Synopsis: Miles Vorkosigan fails to make it into the Barrayaran military academy due to his frailty caused by events in the book Barrayar. He does however succeed in accidentally becoming an "admiral."
This was an absolute joy to read. Miles is a character with so much personality almost anything he could do would be fun to witness. Bujold did such a marvelous job crafting him. Without resorting to spoilers, there was a point in the middle where I had to stop and say, "Holy Crap! Did he just do what I think he did?" Short answer: Yes. And it was believable.
It is somewhat of a Space Opera, but once you are immersed in Bujold's universe, it seems like science. It's that internally consistant. And her handling of intrigue makes me realize how much I still have to learn.
This was an absolute joy to read. Miles is a character with so much personality almost anything he could do would be fun to witness. Bujold did such a marvelous job crafting him. Without resorting to spoilers, there was a point in the middle where I had to stop and say, "Holy Crap! Did he just do what I think he did?" Short answer: Yes. And it was believable.
It is somewhat of a Space Opera, but once you are immersed in Bujold's universe, it seems like science. It's that internally consistant. And her handling of intrigue makes me realize how much I still have to learn.
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