Reviews, New Products, The Information Age in 2012

Reviews, New Products, The Information Age in 2012

This is becoming the age of The Tablet and The Smartphone. Tons of retailing transactions are moving out of the realm of the physical and into the realm of the digital. From buying shoes and clothing online to grocery delivery subscriptions, the nature of sales and selling is being altered drastically.

This naturally is happening to the fields of Literature and Music. From downloads on web sites, to freebies and pay what you think it is worth options, to outright just Electronic Formats for books and magazines, the era of the hardcopy is narrowing moment by moment.

So how the heck do you know you will like what you are purchasing? That is the whole crux of this post. How do you know what you will like or wont like before clicking that Purchase Button? Reviews of course. Reviewers who already spent the money, or got a free copy, who tell you their opinions and hopefully help you in your selection process.

Of course a reviewer will not help you in ordering low boots. Well they could if they said that a style of boot was actually pretty narrow for the shoe size, instead of average or wide. Information like that will help in avoiding spending money on shipping and restocking to return a product.

For a book or a CD it is a different situation. Unless there are free previews, you really cannot thumb through a book/magazine or read the back cover blurb. For a CD there is no longer the option of listening to them in partial in such locations as FYI Music or in Barnes and Nobles Music Section on their headphones. So barring full disclosure on like Youtube or the performer's site, the options are now limited.







This is where reviews you like, you trust, come into importance. There are the ratings on various sites. Still words on paper or the screen will give you a great idea what to expect.


So there you are.

Book Review: Soul Hunter by Aaron Dembski-Bowden

"In Midnight Clad"

This is the call to arms, to armor up for The Night Lords. In the setting of Warhammer 40K they are one of the Traitor Legions. They were once one of the most prized of the Warriors of The Emperor of Man. Once led by one of the Emperor's Sons, their Primarch Konrad Curze (The Night Haunter). Now they are Traitors to their Race and their former comrades.

Their legion was raised on the night shrouded world of Nostramo where their Primarch can come to rest. The Legion was raised from murderers, killers, thieves, gangers and worse.
Among the Traitor Legions, they are not nice people.
By the standards of the time, of the setting, they are not nice people at all.
One step above mass serial killers, barely a step above.
They are the Night Lords, and they are one of the cooler Legions in the Warhammer 20K Universe.


About the Book Soul Hunter
The story tells of the tale of Talos, once an Apothecary (Healer) of his Space Marines Chapter. Now he is the de facto leader of a badly under strength squad. Once a part of the 10th Company, he now is plagued with prophetic visions and the captain of the ship he is on is posessed by a Warp Entity and is no longer human in any sense. The other members of his squad are as reliable and interesting as one can make an engineered super soldier.

The setting is familiar. The Imperium and the endless wars that plague it.
The protagonist is different. This is the first Apothacary in the spotlight that I am aware of. As it is a character that would skin his foes alive to increase their terror makes it a little different at the best. Still this is one of the more fleshed out, more realized Space Marines characters in the overall setting in a long while.

The novel deals with the politics and machinations as the Covenant of Blood and its complement of Night Lords are drawn into a series of battles that are aimed at conquering several worlds in a planetary system. One of the main villains in the setting, Abaddon the Despoiler, a Mighty Warlord of Chaos and essentially the leader of the largest remaining portion of the Heretical Traitor Legions, seeks to add more materials to his warfleets and armies. 

Pulled into the schemes by the aspirations of the leader of the ship, as well as his own prophetic powers, Talos becomes central to the plot and eventually begins to realize his past and future are different than that of his fellow Night Lords. With much battle, many wounds, losses as well as victories, Soul Hunter turns into a fight for survival in a universe that is completely against them.


People in the Wh40K setting tend to be very One Dimensional. Especially those like The Space Marines or Inquisitors or any character related to the Adeptus Mechanicus or Adeptus Ministorum. This is in part due to the setting (a Feudal Dark Ages with Ignorance and anyone different is wrong and very like to end up at the stake burnt as a witch) and due to the theme of Unending War and Enemies everywhere. Soul Hunter is no different in this respect. Most of The Space Marines are one dimensional, most of the crew of the ship that Talos serves on, The Covenant of Blood, do not even have names, being too low in the hierarchy to rate that. There are several normal humans that are in the book as essentially indentured servants (for life) to the Traitor Marines. Both end up surrendering their own names and are named for when they were taken into service with the crew. So it is a very dehumanizing setting.

When the rules for the Wargame first came out, the Rogue Trader edition, I read through them and I found it to be one of the most bleak and disheartening settings in fiction that I had read. Since them I have remained a loyal fan of the ideas and the overall landscape. Gothic Horror meets Genetically Engineered Soldiers fighting an impossible war across all of space, with monsters and hidden dangers all around. In the almost 30 years it has been around the setting has deepened and the material has increased.


This is truly one of the better WH40K novels I have read over the decades. It really tells a great story, full of old fashioned GW Battles, with a very different point of view. Few are the stories told of the Traitor Legions, outside of the Horus Heresy Series and the Soul Drinkers, so this is a different part of the 40k setting compared to most of the novels I have read.

With that said, of the well over 30 Novels, intermittent issues over the last 20 years of the gaming oriented magazine White Dwarf, this is one of the more memorable novels. There are two sequels that I am now on the hunt for. It is a worthy addition of a WH40K fan's library. I am definitely on the hunt for the follow on two novels, Blood Reaver and Void Stalker.

Written by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Cover Art by Jon Sullivan
Published by Black Library Publications in 2010

My copy was purchased in Books A Million on 06/17/12 and it cost $ 8.99 before Discount and Taxes

In the Queue as of 10/02/12

The following are the books in my 2 main queues, reading and to be reviewed.
Eventually I plan to review every book that I have. This is just the next few on the list.
Also these do not include the non-fiction, nor gaming books on my plate. 

To Read/Being Read:
Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson
The Crippled God by Steven Erikson
Jimmy Plush Teddy Bear Detective by Garrett Cook
Soul Hunter by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Sagamanda by Alan Dean Foster


To Review:
Broken Blade by Kelly McCullough
The Webmage Series by Kelly McCullough (all 5)
Echo City by  Tim Lebbon
Brass Man by Neal Asher


To Re-Read Pretty Soon:
Mainline by Deborah Christian
One Eye by Stuart Gordon
Light by M John Harrison
Nova Swing by M John Harrison
The Last Guardian of Everness by John C Wright
Mists of Everness by John C Wright

Book Review: Bared Blade by Kelly McCullough

Bared Blade
Kelly McCullough

Bared Blade by Kelly McCullough is the second novel in the Fallen Blade series. Continuing about a year or so after the events in Broken Blade, it follows more exploits of former Temple Assassin Aral Kingslayer and his Shadow Familiar Triss.

This time the action opens again in a tavern, a common feature in the life of Aral since the fall of the temple he had devoted his life too. However in Broken Blade he is quite a bit more dried out than at the end of Broken Blade. The novel title helps to prepare us for the movement closer to his old focused self, hinted at in Broken Blade.

In walks two females, both intriguing for different reasons, that Triss hints need to be paid attention too. Shortly after that the magic starts flying, chairs and tables are destroyed, Stone Dogs arrive and Aral is back in almost over his head aiding females of the species. Yes it sounds a bit like the first novel in the opening, and there are some gross similarities. However the different magics that come into play, politics, information on the history of the entire world Aral and Triss live in, as well as more fantasy with a different flavor than stock Euro-Centric makes this all seem plausible and more than a little enjoyable.

The plot continues with more political intrigue, Aral seems to keep getting caught up in politics, and the different factions in both his adopted city of Tien and outside of it in the greater scheme of nations and their interactions. There are killings, assassinations, machinations, ancient rivalries come into play, all far outside the scope of Aral's life, and he is drawn into all the competing factions with Triss, his boltholes, and his skills to help him to carry the day.

One really nice aspect to the novel is how the relationship between him and Captain Fei is looked at and expanded. Digging deeper into how they can work with each other, as well as more about the good Captain's background and abilities, is a welcome part of the overall reading experience. The character of Captain Fei is expanded beyond window dressing into an integral part of the city and how the entire place operates in the shadowy parts that Aral and Triss live in.

The various elements to the magic in the setting is expanded with a variation on the Spell Caster and Familiar motif he established in Broken Blade. The Dyads, I first read it as Dryad but after a few more times it was used I read it correctly. The idea of expanding the magic to include two humans linked is a logical progression. Not a lot of expansion on the Stone Dogs for magic purposes, and some hints that the longer someone is practicing the stronger they become. Which is logical as well, still the hero is focused in his abilities and there are some different aspects that are brought out in Bared Blade. Additionally the introduction of another species, The Durkoth, an ancient more elemental species tied to earth and stone, with some different abilities compared to who we have seen so far. There are a few others mentioned that hopefully will be expanded on in future novels as well.

Not as strong of love interest in this novel compared to the first one. This is more an implied and potential one, vice consummated. Still there is a faint chance for something to come to fruition in a later novel between Aral and the ladies he encounters. The addition of these parts does not detract from the overall look and feel to the story.

Kelly McCullough is one of the great idea generators of writers currently being published. His MythOS series was groundbreaking pretty much creating an entire new Fantasy Genre all by himself. In The Fallen Blade novels he has taken the idea of the Noble Assassin (First really seen in the Steven Brust Vlad Taltos Novels) and brought in way neat magic ideas. He has a real skill in coming up with awesome ideas that are just to the left of most any other writers I have come across in years.
It helps that he is very accessible to his readers in various online sites.

Overall Bared Blade, and the first novel Broken Blade, is a fine addition to my own Fantasy Library. There are some very favorable comparisons that can be made to the Vlad novels, with tons of new and innovative aspects to the overall genre of fantasy novels that he brings to the table. Well worth the cost to pick it up new in the bookstore in dead tree format.

Bared Blade written by Kelly McCullough published by Ace Fantasy

Creators and Reviewers:

Creators and Reviewers:
As I was reading Live Free or Die: Troy Rising I by John Ringo it occurred to me that as time passes along, and from reading lots of author webpages and discussions on epublishing as well as Seth Godin (Linchpin and Poke the Box especially) it occurred to me that the role of a reviewer is likely to become more important to independent book publishing.

From authors that state it is tiring to market themselves, to examples I see in the RPG field, it seems that a good reviewer could, soon, be the make or break. With the plethora of options out there and sheer difficulty in keeping up with small indie book publishers, I suspect people like me, that do write reviews, could become (as Consumer Review magazine used to be) the guiding force in helping out creatives (authors, photographers, musicians, artists, etc.) reach out and find their markets.

One potential aid would be aggregate sites, similar to Digg or Stumbleupon but focused on Reviews and Reviewers. Not a bad idea actually, a central place where people looking for particular tastes in their reading or other entertainment can find reviewers and see what hits their fancy.
Food for thought to be expanded as time passes.

Primordial Lands A Role Playing Game of Elder Times

Primordial Lands
A Role Playing Game of Elder Times
By
Mouse-Produced Games

Complimentary Copy Review
List Price $5.00

Primordial Lands is a Rules Lite RPG in the vein of the Older Editions of Dungeon and Dragons, with some more modern twists.
It is currently available in PDF format from DriveThruRPG. Size wise it comes in at 32 total pages and is a complete RPG by its self. No other text or books are necessary to use this game system. The Contents include a Table of Contents and then right into the character creation and rules. There is no cover page, etc, nothing like that. It is stripped down the the bare minimum to accomplish the mission, which is admirable in fact.

There are two main elements to characters in Primordial Lands, Attributes and Focuses. Attributes are generated from random die roll of 1d4 minus 1d4 yielding a starting result of +3 to -3 with the chart in the game running from -1 to +7 for Attribute Ranges. Basic Resolution is 1d20 + Rating of Attribute vs a Set Target Number (TN).

The attributes in the game are pretty stock and standard
Strength
Speed
Grace
Constitution
Intelligence
Wisdom
Charisma

Focuses take the place of Skills in other systems, allowing for a bonus to an Attribute Roll in particular circumstances. So if a player wanted an archer type character they could define a focus as +1 with Bows.
Additionally once a Focus is taken it cannot be improved further (on its own), however when a character takes a difference focus, all existing Focuses increase by a +1 (Note: I asked the author and that is how the text is written and how it is intended). So back to the Archer Example, if the second focus taken is in Woodland Combat, the Focuses would then be
Bow Combat +2
Woodland Combat +1
Each Focus can apply only once, they do not stack, but if there are different ones that can apply, they can be used in a synergistic fashion. There are examples of this in the rules to clarify some points.

Combat follows the character generation section, covering attacks, damage, healing, etc.
Next the weapons system, which is very streamlined based essentially on size of weapon rather than endless lists of different swords, knives, pole-arms, etc.

Following that is Experience and a discussion of Levels and how to create other character types. There is a scant discussions of using the idea of Classes and Focuses to create specific sorts of characters.
There are descriptions of Classes, showing sample Focuses and Advancements covering Other Races (Innate) Fighters, Rogues, Sages, Mages, and how to create your own classes.

Next sections deal with races and with Abilities. Abilities are where you can define magic abilities and spells with. Abilities ties into the Mages as a predefined class. Then there is a list of different Abilities to mix and match to create the spells or magic powers that are desired for each character. This is the most customizable portion to Primordial Lands.

Overall this is a decent effort, and if you are looking for a decent rules lite system that has a old school feel without tons of charts, then Primordial Lands is a great fit. Some kitbashing may be required and customization to a specific world setting will be necessary. There is not setting defined, however the descriptions of Elves and Dwarfs and Tobbits (Think Hobbits/Kenders) makes for a stock Fantasy RPG Feeling. Overall a strong 3.5 almost a 4 out of 5 Stars.

Reviewer Note: I received this copy for review purposes. I did not directly purchase it.

Cover Art courtesy of The great artist Clyhp Ahrt
(aka Postmortem Studios)

Relevant Links:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_-id=89868

Music Review: To All My Dear Friends

To All My Dear Friends
A Review of a Live Performance at that was held at Evolution Records in Lakeland, Fl


His voice is rough, ragged, sharp, and raw.
He evokes the feeling of the beat poet era, immortalizing it for a new generation.
His singing is more a recitation, or an enactment, or perhaps a wrenching of his heart and laying it bare before those seeing him live.

An Electric Violin, an Electric Six String guitar and pure unadulterated genius rounds out what I witnessed on that Friday night, sitting on an upholstered bench, most likely a long church pew my wife thought. We sat and enjoyed the prior two groups perform their 30 some minute long sets. Then a tall, lanky, vest buttoned up gentleman started setting up. One time he said, I Play the Voilin, there was more to that sentence but I cannot recall what else or the context.

My wife said we should stay and see what the last group, For All My Dear Friends, were like. I naturally agreed. I owe my wife for this recommendation.

From the moment he got up on stage, in those first few seconds, within the first four bars, I was hooked, unable to believe what was unfolding.
The entire performance was live and looped at the same time. He would play a minute to three minute piece on his violin, recording it, then set that to loop and play another 4 to 8 bars, loop that, repeat for a third element, sometimes adding in his guitar, and then with the 3 elements playing, would play more, riff hard, mute and then play and sing or speak/chant/recite his lyrics which are poetry that I wish I was writing, and then bring it all down. Bring it all down hard, and powerful, and utterly into his music.

I tried to watch his footwork, see where he set the MIDI or whatever he uses to start and stop, sometimes I got it, sometimes I was just too entranced with the music and the bodily performance that was being enacted on the tiny stage about 15 feet away from me.

Acoustics were a little ragged for all 3 bands, concrete walls echo and kids coming in and out, still it was sheer urban loop purity in strength and soul.The roughness being environmental vice performance for the most part.

If you make music, go see him perform.
If you love loops, violin, guitars, creation, go see him perform
If you love the unique, go see him perform
If you are alive at all, go see him perform

I know he played the following tracks:
Motions of a Generation
Clouds
The Book of Tofu
Vision

I believe he also played:
Synchro Convergence
Midnight at the Leucadian
Japan to Kenya & Back


He played a few other songs, all were incredible, insane, inspiring. It was only like a total of 6  or 7 tracks he performed (singing and playing just does no credit to this show, it was a performance).

At the end of the show the appreciative audience mobbed him, while I purchased his two CDs (one at $10 and the other at $6) along with two magnets for my home office area and we left for the night.

If you have a chance to see To All My Dear Friends, do not pass on the occasion. This is both new and eclectic and unique and as such, deserves praise and support for the courage to break boundaries and barriers.


Relevant Links to All My Dear Friends and to Evo Records:
http://www.facebook.com/TAMDF
http://www.toallmydearfriends.com/
http://www.myspace.com/toallmydearfriends

http://www.facebook.com/EvoRecords