Through the Seamy Side

So I splurged a little a while back and ordered a few books from B&N. Now me buying some books isn’t that unusual. What is unusual is that these books are graphic novels. In fact they are two novels in three books. I’ve read both of them in normal comic form, thanks to a friend. I liked them so much that now years later I bought the anthologies. Both of them are by J. Michael Straczynski. I recommend reading his Wiki article. And I read one of the graphic novels over again last night. It was great, so I decided to throw up a short review of Midnight Nation. You know I’m not sure if I should italicize that or put it in quotes. Eh whatever.

I’ll try to keep any spoilers to a minimum. Oh and Smitty you will read this when you move up.

Midnight Nation (Big spoilers in link so don’t look if you haven’t read the story already) was made in 12 issues and covers the year long journey of LAPD Lieutenant David Grey as he walks from LA to New York. Why would someone with a steady job and responsibilities do that? Well David got too close while investigating a murder and what appeared to be a new crime power moving in LA. As a consequence, he had his soul stolen by “The Other Guy”, and he only has a year to get it back. This has thrust him into an invisible world that exists alongside ours where all the lost people and discarded objects go. A woman named Laurel is his guide and possibly more on his journey to reclaim his soul. Together they must traverse the country in heat and snow to get to New York in time. All the while “The Walkers”, servants of “The Other Guy” try to slow him down. Will David make it or will he succumb to the growing urges creeping though his mind as his struggles get harder and the road never seems to end? And one question looms. What must he do once he gets there to reclaim himself?

It’s good. I mean it’s really good. I always love JMS’s writing and characterization. And he has a way with telling a story. Not many times you can read something so profoundly religious (not necessarily Christian), and political, and psychological all at once. I know this one is going to have to make the rounds with some family and friends.

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That’s a lot of beer

So I’m lazy. I think most of you already k now this. Well last weekend I got to go to visit some friends in Atlanta. There was lots of Wii action and such, but the main reason for going was the East Atlanta Beer Festival. All I can say is that it was hot, but at least a breeze was blowing. I don’t drink much beer, but I did enjoy the several varieties of hard cider I got to drink. That and watching friends try a couple dozen of the hundred or so beers there was fun. I think I have something scheduled for next year too.

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A Prince Among Narnians

Okay I’ve been remiss in putting this up. Almost two weeks back I went to see “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” at the movie theater. I’ll keep this short though. There’s my original review of the book that tells about the plot and such. As far as the movie, this is a worthy successor to the first one. In fact I think I liked this one just a little better, which is opposite to the books. It is a great movie for the whole family and I recommend people go see at a matinee if it is still playing in your area. If not, then rent it.

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Ocean of Fire

A few months back I bought the first 3 of The Uplift Series by David Bryn. I reviewed The Postman a while back by Brin as well. In fact The Uplift Series is why I bought Postman. The store didn’t have the Uplift Series, so I bought TP, so I would remember his name. Later I found the first 3 books, and while reading this one I went ahead and purchased the next three. That probably tells you a fair amount about Sundiver already. Well if you want to know more I’ll probably ramble on about it some.

I don’t consider this next part to be spoilers, because I knew it ahead of time myself.

Sundiver takes place several centuries into the future. The world and world politics have changed quite a bit by then. Man has taken to the stars and has made great strides in technology and stewardship of the Earth. One of the biggest changes is that Man knows he is no longer alone in the galaxy. When we went out, we made contact with peoples that told us of a galactic consortium of sorts. Really it’s a series of organizations that are supposed to keep everything somewhat orderly. Much of the interactions of the different sophonts in the galaxy are governed by a hierarchy of, essentially, prestige. Prestige based on lineage and accomplishment.

And that is where the problem lies. Humanity doesn’t fit into the system very well at all. All the races in known existence were raised to sentience with the help of an already advanced, patron, race. Well that is everyone except these upstart Humans. But even that is suspect. All the galactic knowledge and activities are stored in The Library. The galactics can’t fathom that a race achieved intelligence through evolution, because their great Library says it has never happened in hundreds of millions of years if not longer. All of the races that have popped up unexpectedly turn out to have been abandoned by a patron race, something that is frowned upon. The Library has always found an origin for them. That is until humanity stood up and said, “Hi.” The Library has no clue as to where we came from. The galactics can’t fathom our origin, and don’t know what to make of us in the order of the galaxy. Humanity has done a lot of things in its past that the galactics frown upon and normally the patron race would not have let happen, or the patron race would have been punished along with the new race. But humans had no guidance in this. In fact much of the damage we did to our own planet, especially extinctions of potential sophont species, would have been grounds for summary extermination, but for one saving grace we were essentially put under observation. Humanity had already begun raising two species, chimpanzees and dolphins to sentience before contact was made. In fact Sundiver has an intelligent chimp as one of the ship pilots. That fact threw a very large wrench into where this wolfling race of humans sat in the grand order of galactic politics. And lots of people don’t like wrenches in their systems of order.

This part has a bit of a spoiler to it.

Anyway, that’s a good background for the book. The actual book itself turned out to be different from what I was expecting. The whole galactic political situation unfolds as a backdrop and driving force behind what is essentially a mystery novel. A brilliant but troubled human named Jacob is asked by his alien plant based friend Fagin to assist him in looking into something. Jacob reluctantly is drawn into an affair that entwines murder, science, interstellar political maneuvering, and the fate of two peoples around the discovery of something the great Library has no record of. Life has been discovered on our sun.

And you know what? I liked it. I’ve never really read any honest to goodness plain old mystery novels. I’ve thought about it, and would probably like them given the TV shows I like to watch. But I really liked this one. And it does an excellent job of introducing politics and humanity’s place in the galaxy. I understand the rest aren’t like that. Oh well, but I’m still looking forward to reading the other 5 books.

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